BREAKING: Malik Mack Commits to Georgetown

The Hoyas land the prized Harvard point guard and DMV native.

Georgetown is continuing its strong momentum that has picked up in the last few days, landing a commitment from Harvard point guard Malik Mack, the former St. John’s College High School star.

Mack, who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year after a stellar freshman season for the Crimson, averaged 17.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He was third in the country in scoring average among all freshmen.

The 6-foot-1 point guard originally committed to Harvard over offers from Canisius, Rhode Island, St. Peter’s, and Rice. He was unranked coming out of high school, according to 247Sports.

Mack is ranked #6 overall in On3.com’s transfer portal rankings, and is the top-ranked point guard in the portal currently.

The addition of Mack gives the Hoyas a blue-chip point guard to pair in the backcourt with rising junior guard Jayden Epps, who averaged 18.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game last season, his first with as a Hoya.

Officially, Georgetown beat out Virginia and Texas for Mack. Stanford, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, and Indiana were also in pursuit as well.

Mack, who took a visit to Georgetown on Friday, was scheduled to visit UVA on Saturday. That visit was subsequently canceled after Mack concluded his visit to Georgetown.

Mack played his AAU basketball for Team Takeover, another sign of the rapidly-growing connection between the elite AAU program and Georgetown since Ed Cooley took over as head coach.

The Hoyas and Mack were focused on each other from the jump, but Mack still did his due diligence upon entering the portal, and had conversations with other programs before deciding on Georgetown.

Word of Georgetown’s interest in Mack circulated during the season, but there was a lot of uncertainty about whether Mack would end up entering into the portal. Mack and his family were described as putting a lot of stock in the education Mack received at Harvard, and it was not an easy or quick decision for him to transfer from Harvard.

Ultimately, Georgetown’s academic reputation and being close to home helped sway Mack, along with the ability to finally capitalize on his NIL rights after not being able to as an Ivy League student-athlete.

Mack was the subject of a recent profile in the Washington Post, titled, “Harvard offers a lot to star guard Malik Mack. Except big NIL money.”

Now, Mack will receive a top-notch education closer to home, all while cashing a sizable NIL check now too.

On the court, Mack is a true floor general who is capable of being a primary scorer (Harvard’s leading scorer this season) AND creator (Harvard’s leader in assists per game) for his teammates.

Per EvanMiya.com, Mack was the best offensive player (1.57) on his Harvard team by a significant margin, according to the OBPR statistic, which reflects the offensive value a player brings to his team when he is on the court. The next closest player for Harvard was Chisom Okpara at 0.83.

His 33.2% assist rate was tops on Harvard by a wide margin, and he had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.9.

Defensively, Mack, at 6-foot-1 and 170 lbs., will be on the smaller end going up against other guards in the Big East. Alongside Jayden Epps in the backcourt at Georgetown, there will be questions about how Georgetown will stop other guards on defense.

At Harvard, Mack was fourth on the team in DBPR, at 0.17, and was 10th in defensive rating (107.0).

With Micah Peavy now on the roster, Georgetown has an elite wing defender to help Epps and Mack on the perimeter. The Hoyas will need to find a center in the transfer portal who offers more rim protection ability than what they currently have on the roster, to add the necessary insurance on defense behind Mack and Epps.

Figuring out the defense is a problem for tomorrow though. Today, we celebrate an important commitment for Georgetown. Hoya Saxa!