Tenth-Seeded Hoyas Face Seventh-Seeded Providence in BIG EAST Tournament First Round

WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team is in New York City to take on seventh-seeded Providence in the first round of the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. The 10th-seeded Hoyas are coming off an 86-78 loss to St. John's on Saturday afternoon at The Garden, while Providence is coming off a 74-60 loss to No. 2/2 UConn in the regular season finale.

FOLLOW THE HOYAS

Wednesday's matchup can be seen live on FS1 with Tim Brando calling the play-by-play, Bill Raftery providing analysis and Kristina Pink courtside.
The game will be broadcasted locally on 106.7 The Fan and on the SiriusXM app with Rich Chvotkin on the call for his 50th season.
A link to the live stats can be found on GUHoyas.com.

ABOUT THE HOYAS

The Hoyas enter Wednesday's game with a regular season record of 9-22 and a 2-18 mark in BIG EAST play after falling to St. John's on Saturday in the regular season finale.
Jayden Epps led a quartet of Hoyas in double figures with 23 points, a career-high six steals and matched his career-best five rebounds. Jay Heath came off the bench to tally 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point land, to go along with a pair of assists.
Drew Fielder also came off the bench to chip in 12 points on an efficient 4-for-5 performance from the field bolstered by a 2-for-2 day from downtown. He pulled down five boards and dished out a pair of assists. Dontrez Styles rounded out those in double figures with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 3-for-4 from deep, to go along with four rebounds.
Epps is currently fourth in the BIG EAST in scoring, averaging 18.1 ppg in 28 outings. He leads a trio of Hoyas in double figures with Styles pitching in 13.0 ppg and Supreme Cook adding 10.8 ppg.
Cook's 8.1 rpg ranks fourth in the BIG EAST Conference and is bolstered by his league-leading 3.9 offensive boards per game, which ranks seventh nationally. Additionally, the East Orange native leads the squad in shooting efficiency, knocking down 58.1% (125-215) of his shots. He has tallied eight double-doubles on the season, with the most recent coming against Xavier (15P/14R) on March 2.
Epps dishes out 4.3 apg, holding on to eighth in the conference, while his 2.2 3-pointers made per game checks in at 10th in the league.
The Hoyas are led by Ed Cooley who is in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach and his first season with Georgetown. In 2022, Cooley was the recipient of the Naismith Coach of the Year Award, named the Sporting News Coach of the Year, the BIG EAST Coach of the Year, the NABC District 5 Coach of the Year and the USBWA District 1 Coach of the Year.

ABOUT THE FRIARS

Providence (19-12, 10-10 BE) is coming off a 74-60 loss to No. 2/2 UConn in the regular season finale on Saturday.
Junior Devin Carter led the way for the Friars, finishing with 24 points and 15 rebounds. It marked Carter's 12th double-double of the season. Graduate student Josh Oduro added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Earlier this week, Carter was named All-BIG EAST First Team, Oduro was named Honorable Mention and Rich Barron was named to the All-Freshman Team.
Carter leads the Friars and ranks second in the BIG EAST averaging 19.4 ppg. He leads a trio of Friars in double-digit scoring followed by Oduro's 16.1 ppg and Bryce Hopkins' 15.5. Hopkins was sidelined with a season-ending injury earlier this year.
Carter grabs 8.6 rpg, ranking third in the BIG EAST Conference and bolstered by his 7.6 defensive boards per game that rank second in the league. Oduro chips in 7.3 rpg on the glass.
Carter (3.6 apg) and Jayden Pierre (3.2 apg) pace the offense as the duo rank 12th and 14th, respectively, in the BE in assists per game.
Carter is a threat on both ends as his 1.7 steals per game is tied for fourth in the BIG EAST while his 2.6 3-pointers made per game rank fourth in the league. Oduro registers 1.4 blocks per game, good enough for fifth in the conference.
The Friars are led by Head Coach Kim English, in his first season at Providence. He spent the previous two seasons as the head coach at George Mason before taking over at PC.

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

Wednesday's game will be the 84th all-time between the two programs, dating back to a 1956 contest. The Hoyas hold the 47-36 advantage but have lost the previous six outings including a 71-58 matchup last week at Capital One Arena as Epps led a quartet of Hoyas in double figures with 16 points on six made field goals and a trio of rebounds.
Styles tallied 13 points and a squad-best eight rebounds, Rowan Brumbaugh chipped in 10 points and Drew Fielder came off the bench to score 10 points on four made field goals, including a 3-pointer, and grabbed four rebounds.
The Hoyas are 7-1 against Providence all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament. In its last tournament meeting, #3 Georgetown defeated #6 Providence 68-67 in the first round of the 2002 tourney thanks to a dunk from Wesley Wilson with 3.8 seconds remaining.
The lone loss to the Friars in the BET was in 1994 when the #6 Hoyas fell 74-64 to the #4 Friars in the BIG EAST Championship Game.
Georgetown is 2-0 in the first round against Providence with meetings coming in 2002 and 1999 (W, 68-66).

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