Georgetown Travels to No. 8/8 Xavier Saturday

Men's Basketball 1/20/2023 11:30:00 AM

Georgetown Travels to No. 8/8 Xavier Saturday

WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team travels to Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday for a conference matchup with the No. 8/8 Xavier University Musketeers. Tipoff at Cintas Center is scheduled for noon. The Hoyas are coming off a 77-73 loss at Villanova on Monday afternoon while Xavier is coming off a 73-72 setback at DePaul on Wednesday evening.

FOLLOW THE HOYAS

Saturday's matchup can be seen live on FS1 with Matt Schumacker calling the play-by-play and Nick Bahe providing analysis.
The game will be broadcasted locally on The Team 980 and nationally on SiriusXM 382 with Rich Chvotkin on the call for his 49th season.
A link to the live stats can be found on GUHoyas.com.

ABOUT THE HOYAS

The Hoyas enter Saturday's game with a 5-14 record and an 0-8 mark in BIG EAST action after dropping their last contest at Villanova on Monday.
Primo Spears and Jordan Riley led the way for the Hoyas in their last outing with Spears recording 19 points and Riley tallying 18. Spears was 8-of-13 from the field and Riley was 8-of-12 while going 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
In Brandon Murray's return after missing the previous two games with an upper body injury, he recorded 10 points, five rebounds, and added a steal.
Bradley Ezewiro led the Hoyas on the glass with seven boards while also tallying three blocks off the bench.
Spears' 15.5 ppg leads a quartet of Hoyas averaging double figures, followed by Brandon Murray (14.7 ppg), Jay Heath (13.4 ppg) and Wahab (10.0 ppg).
On the glass, Qudus Wahab leads the team with 7.5 rpg while Akok Akok chips in 6.8 rpg.
Spears paces the offense with 5.2 apg, good enough for fourth in the BIG EAST Conference. Akok's team-leading 1.8 bpg is good for fifth in the league.

ABOUT THE MUSKETEERS

No. 8/8 Xavier (15-4, 7-1 BIG EAST) is coming off a 73-72 loss at DePaul on Wednesday night.
The Musketeers had four players in double figures with senior Zach Freemantle leading the way with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Freemantle recorded a double-double grabbing 12 boards in the loss. Graduate forward Jack Nunge also had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds as well as a block and a steal.
Soulely Boum (16.9), Nunge (14.8), Fremantle (14.6), Colby Jones (14.0) and Adam Kunkel (10.4) are all averaging double figures for the Musketeers this season. Fremantle and Nunge lead the team on the boards with Freemantle grabbing 8.3 rpg and Nunge tallying 8.1 rpg.
Sean Miller is in the first season of his second stint as Xavier's Head Coach after serving in the role from 2004-09. Miller has four Elite Eight appearances to his name, and has led his respective teams to the NCAA Tournament 11 times in 17 seasons of head coaching.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Saturday's matchup will be the 25th all-time between the two squads dating back to 1953. The Hoyas trail the series 18-6.
In their last contest, the Hoyas fell to the Musketeers 102-89 in the Blue & Gray's 2022-23 BIG EAST opener. Primo Spears led the Hoyas in scoring with 22 points on an 8-of-16 (50.0%) performance from the field and a 2-for-3 effort from beyond the arc, while Qudus Wahab tallied 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting to go along with a squad-best seven boards. Brandon Murray also tallied 15 points and Jay Heath rounded out those in double figures with 13 points.
This will be the first time Head Coach Patrick Ewing faces the Associated Press No. 8 team as he has never faced them as a head coach nor as a player.