UNCA Notes

WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University men's basketball team closes out a seven-game homestand on Saturday, Dec. 19, hosting UNC Asheville at Verizon Center. Tipoff is slated for noon.

The game will be shown on FSL (FOX Sports Local) and will be available locally on MASN2, with Rick Ackerman calling the play-by-play, and former Georgetown great Ron Thompson serving as the color analyst. In addition, the game will be available on the MSG Network, Root Sports (Rocky Mountain Region), Cox Sports Northeast, WCUU Chicago, as well as FOX Sports affiliates in Arizona, Detroit, Florida, Midwest, North, Ohio, Oklahoma, Southeast, Southwest (Plus), West and Wisconsin. The radio call from Rich Chvotkin can be heard locally on 106.7 FM The Fan WJFK.

The Hoyas had a five-game win streak snapped on Tuesday night and are now 6-4 overall.

Senior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central/Oak Hill) was selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 19.5 points and 4.5 rebounds as the Hoyas posted wins over Brown and UNC Wilmington last week. He connected on 55.0 percent of his field goals (11-of-20), including 45.5 percent of his three-point attempts (5-of-11). The senior co-captain had 12 points and four assists in a 74-57 win over Brown on Dec. 7 and followed that up with 27 points in an 87-82 win over UNC Wilmington on Saturday, Dec. 12. Against UNC Wilmington, he connected on a career-high 12 free throws.

Smith-Rivera scored another 18 points in Tuesday night's game and moved past Allen Iverson on Georgetown's all-time scoring list. The 6-3 guard now ranks tied for No. 13 all-time on the Hilltop with Brandon Bowman (C'06) with 1,548 points. He will move into 13th place alone with one more point and trails John Duren (C'80), who had 1,587 points and stands at 12th all-time. Smith-Rivera leads Georgetown in scoring with 16.2 points per game and with 3.8 assists per game. He is also averaging 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

Sophomore forward Isaac Copeland (Raleigh, N.C./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) is second on the team with 12.2 points and third on the team with 4.8 rebounds, while senior center Bradley Hayes (Jacksonville, Fla./Sandalwood) is third on the team with 10.4 points, leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game (10th in the BIG EAST), and has connected on 56.0 percent of his field goals (42-of-75), which is 11th in the league. Sophomore guard L.J. Peak (Gaffney, S.C./Gaffney) is fourth on the team in scoring with 9.8 points per game, and is grabbing 2.8 rebounds per game.

The Hoyas have received healthy contributions from their bench as well, with that group averaging 19.8 points, 14.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Junior forward Reggie Cameron (Hackensack, N.J./Hudson Catholic) is averaging 6.4 points and 2.5 rebounds.

Georgetown's freshman class -- freshman forward Marcus Derrickson (Bowie, Md./Brewster Academy [N.H.]), center Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y./Wings Academy) and forward Kaleb Johnson (South Hill, Va./Carlisle School) -- has combined to average 17.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

The Hoyas rank fifth in the BIG EAST in scoring offense (75.9 points per game) and are fifth in the league in scoring defense (69.4 ppg). GU also ranks fourth in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (45.7 percent) and is ranked second in the league, and No. 32 in the country, in field goal percentage defense (38.0 percent).

UNC Asheville enters the game on Saturday with a 6-4 overall record following an 84-64 win over East Tennessee State on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs have won four-straight games, beating Loyola Chicago (59-48), Johnson & Wales (103-36) and Campbell (80-60) before their win over ETSU. UNCA opened the season with a loss at Tennessee (82-78), and have also lost at Western Carolina (90-81), at Texas A&M (75-47) and against Middle Tennessee (63-61). Freshman guard Dwayne Sutton is one of four players scoring in double figures for UNCA, leading the team with 12.2 points while also grabbing a team-best 7.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Kevin Vannatta is second on the team with 11.0 points per game and leads the team with 2.7 assists, while senior forward Sam Hughes is third on the team with 11.0 points and third with 4.4 rebounds. Freshman guard Dylan Smith is fourth on the team with 10.6 points per game and has hit a team-high 18 3-pointers. The Bulldogs are scoring 76.2 points per game and shooting 47.5 percent from the floor.