WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team fell 68-60 to the No. 9/10 University of Connecticut Huskies on Saturday afternoon in front of 17,168 fans at Capital One Arena. With the setback, GU slides to 12-4 and 3-2 in conference action while the Huskies improve to 13-4 and 5-1 in BIG EAST play.
 
ON THE RECORD
"What I am very, very proud of, is we got down pretty big, and we continued to fight and chip at that lead. I'm very proud of our men for that." - Head Coach Ed Cooley
 
"We need them at our games, and I think we're earning their trust and showing our fans how hard we play. We don't always play the smartest, but we play hard, and I think at the end of the day, that's all people want to see, especially when we're growing and still developing our program." - Head Coach Ed Cooley on fan attendance
 
"We have to do a better job of getting open earlier. I think that we're trying to get open at the three point line, but we need to start working our way inside earlier so we can catch it in a scoring position." - Micah Peavy
 
"We just have to take them head on and work on playing more physically. Today they had moments where they were bringing it to us and we were trying to complain our way through it instead of just playing. We know it's the BIG EAST and we know we got to play through contact." - Malik Mack
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Curtis Williams Jr. led a pair of Hoyas in double figures as he tallied 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting off the bench and a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the charity stripe. It was a season-best for Williams Jr., who also added a pair of rebounds and one assist in 22 minutes of action.
• Micah Peavy was the other Hoya in double figures, tallying 14 points.
• Thomas Sorber led the Hoyas on the glass, grabbing 10 rebounds for his sixth game in double-figure boards. He added a squad-best four assists and four blocks on the day.
• Georgetown shot 38.8% (19-49) from the field and knocked down 7-of-15 (46.7%) from downtown.
• The Hoyas held the narrow advantage on the glass 31-29.
• Georgetown forced 15 UConn turnovers on seven steals with Sorber and Malik Mack leading the way with two apiece.

 
No. 9/10 UCONN HIGHLIGHTS

• Alex Karaban led a pair of Huskies in double figures with 19 points on a 7-for-10 performance on the day, including 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc, while Solo Ball added 15 points, including a trio of three pointers.
• Karaban led the Huskies on the glass with six rebounds while Samson Johnson tallied five boards.
• Karaban and Hassan Diarra paced UConn's offense with four helpers apiece.
• UConn shot 46.4% (26-56) from the field and 34.6% (9-26) from behind the arc.
• The Huskies forced 15 GU turnovers on eight steals and managed nine blocks.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hoyas jumped out to the 6-2 lead early behind buckets inside with a pair from Sorber and one from Mack. The Huskies cut it to a one-point deficit behind a trey but the Blue & Gray answered right back with a Peavy steal and dunk followed by a Drew Fielder triple for the 11-5 lead.
• UConn staged a 12-2 run to take the 17-13 lead before a pair of Jordan Burks free throws made it a one-possession game (8:43). The Huskies got hot from deep, leading by as many as eight (25-17) but five unanswered from the Blue & Gray, fueled by free throws sandwiching a Sorber bucket, pulled Georgetown within three (25-22).
• The ninth-ranked Huskies would lead by as many as nine (35-26) down the stretch, but a Burks layup and a Jayden Epps 3-pointer off the Mack dish sent the squads into the locker room with UConn holding the 35-31 advantage.
• UConn jumped out to a quick start in the second half, ballooning the lead to as many as 23 (64-41) but Georgetown reeled off eight straight to cut the deficit to 15 behind a pair of Curtis Williams Jr. 3-pointers and a Peavy layup.
• The Hoyas closed on nine unanswered including six from Curtis Williams Jr., but it was not enough as the ninth-ranked Huskies won 68-60.

 
OF NOTE

• Saturday's attendance was the largest home crowd for a Georgetown game since December 5, 2015, a 79-72 win over No. 14 Syracuse.

 
UP NEXT
Georgetown will return to action on Tuesday, January 14 as the Hoyas travel to play St. John's at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff at the World's Most Famous Arena is slated for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Peacock with John Fanta calling the play-by-play, Donny Marshall providing analysis and Caroline Pineda reporting from the sidelines. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 with Rich Chvotkin, in his 51st season as the Voice of the Hoyas, calling the action.