WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team couldn't contain a hot-shooting St. John's team, falling 95-83 to the Red Storm on New Year's Eve in the District. With the setback at Capital One Arena, Georgetown slips to 9-5 on the year with a 1-2 mark in BIG EAST play while St. John's improves to 9-4 overall with a 2-1 record in league action.
 
ON THE RECORD
"There are days where the ball goes in the basket, and you've got to give them a lot of credit. I thought they had some open shots that they made, and they made some contested ones. You've got to give them a lot of credit when you look at a veteran team - Ejiofor, senior, Hopkins, fifth year senior, Sellers, senior - they're a senior-laden team, playing against still the youngest team in the BIG EAST. We'll get better because of this game." - Head Coach Ed Cooley
 
"I think it played a major factor. It forced us to play more inexperienced players, or go smaller, and they had size on the inside, and I feel like that's what they tried to take advantage of. So [Julius Halaifonua] getting in foul trouble kind of put us in a tough spot." - Malik Mack on the impact of foul trouble for Julius Halaifonua
 
"I think overall, we just got to be better at accepting the challenge one-on-one, and as a team, collectively, you know, all five guys got to be on the same page when we're on the floor, offensively and defensively." - KJ Lewis on the team's perimeter defense
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• KJ Lewis led a pair of Hoyas in double figures with a game-best and career-high 27 points on eight made field goals to go along with a perfect 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line. He added a trio each of rebounds and steals.
• Malik Mack added 18 points on 46.7% (7-15) shooting from the field, including a 57.1% (4-7) performance from distance. He added a game-best eight rebounds, three rebounds and one steal.
• Jayden Fort came off the bench to grab a squad-best and career-high eight rebounds.
• Mack's eight helpers paced an offense that tallied 15 total assists on the night.
• Georgetown shot 45.9% (28-61) from the field and 42.9% (9-21) from deep.
• The Hoyas narrowly lost the battle on the glass as St. John's outrebounded GU 36-33.
• Georgetown forced 11 SJU turnovers on seven steals but committed 12 turnovers of its own as the Red Storm matched with seven steals.

 
RED STORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Zuby Ejiofor led a quintet of St. John's players in double figures with 25 points on an efficient 7-for-9 performance from the field. Oziyah chipped in 16, followed by Ian Jackson (14), Joson Sanon (13) and Dylan Darling (11).
• Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins shared the rebounding duties, each pulling down 10 with Ejiofor tallying the double-double.
• Ejiofor and Hopkins paced the offense with seven and six assists, respectively, as the offense tallied 20 assists on the night.
• St. John's shot 50.0% (30-60) on the night and 55.6% (15-27) from deep.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Georgetown got on the board first behind a pair of Isaiah Abraham 3-pointers to open a 6-2 lead early. Early on, it was a battle from deep as both teams traded treys and free throws in the opening minutes as the game was knotted at 11 apiece (16:08).
• St. John's took a four-point advantage (17-13) before the Hoyas staged a 9-0 run over 3:00, sparked by a Mack bucket, followed by a Jeremiah Williams triple and buckets from Langston Love and Lewis, taking a 22-17 lead (11:59).
• The Johnnies tied the game at 22, but a Love driving layup put the Hoyas ahead once again. Every time the Red Storm tied it up, the Blue & Gray had the retort on the other end to pull ahead.
• Leading by one (29-28), Georgetown reeled off six unanswered bolstered by a Fort layup and four points from Caleb Williams. The Hoyas led by as many as seven (38-31), but SJU staged a 10-0 run to regain the lead (41-38) before a pair of Lewis free throws ended the run. The Red Storm went into the break with a 52-47 lead.
• Out of the locker room, SJU struck first and would build the lead to 12 (63-51, 16:24) before the Blue & Gray staged a 7-2 run fueled by a Mack 3-pointer sandwiched between layups from C. Williams and J. Williams to make it a seven-point game.
• Back-to-back buckets from Lewis and Mack prompted the SJU timeout as the Hoyas trailed 75-64. A Love triple cut it to 10 (77-67, 8:05), but that was as close as GU would get as the Red Storm secured the 95-83 victory at the final whistle.

UP NEXT
Georgetown will return to action on Tuesday, January 6 when the squad travels to Chicago, Illinois to face the DePaul Blue Demons at Wintrust Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on truTV and HBO Max with Spero Dedes calling the play-by-play, Chris Spatola providing analysis and Andy Katz reporting from the sidelines. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 as well as on the SiriusXM app with Rich Chvotkin, in his 52nd season as the Voice of the Hoyas, calling the action.