Exorcising Their Demons: Can Georgetown Snap Its Losing Streak Against DePaul?

Georgetown will look to halt a five-game losing streak at home against the 1-4 Blue Demons on Wednesday night.

Happy gameday!

Feel the five-game losing streak excitement!

Usually, games against DePaul result in automatic wins. That is not the case this season for Georgetown, who has plenty of problems of its own. The Hoyas are 1.5-point home favorites, which is pretty scary considering that DePaul is winless in the Big East and has only played five games this season.

If you’ve missed our recent coverage, we wrote about Jamorko Pickett’s offensive struggles coinciding with Georgetown’s current losing streak on Sunday, and also took a deep dive into the numbers and advanced statistics for the Hoyas so far this season. Give those a read if you haven’t already!

Without further ado, here’s our opponent preview for tonight’s matchup.

DePaul Blue Demons

Head Coach: Dave Leitao (15th season; 123-136 school record; 208-231 career record)

Conference: Big East

Current Record: 1-4 (0-4 Big East)

Last Season’s Record: 16-16, 3-15 (10th in Big East)

Projected Starting Lineup: PG Charlie Moore, SG Ray Salnave, SF Javon Freeman-Liberty, PF Romeo Weems, C Nick Ongenda

Blue Demons By the Numbers

• KenPom Rank: #91

• KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 104.2 (115th in the country)

• KenPom Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 96.4 (76th)

• KenPom Adjusted Tempo: 34th

• FG%: 46.5 (94th)

• 3FG%: 37.1 (57th)

• FT%: 66.7 (260th)

• Turnovers per game: 18.6 (4th)

• Total Rebounds per Game: 36.8 (150th)

• Three-Point Attempts per Game: 17.8 (306th)

Players to Watch

• Javon Freeman-Liberty, Guard

A transfer from Valparaiso, Freeman-Liberty is averaging 14.2 points (leads the team), 5.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. Freeman-Liberty is second on the team in usage rate (24%), and is third on the team in Player Efficiency Rating (18.2).

He is the top offensive threat for DePaul this season, so far.

• Charlie Moore, Point Guard

Moore is back for another go-round with DePaul, and is off to an extremely inefficient start to his senior season. Moore is averaging 13.0 points and 4.8 assists per game, but is eighth on the team in both offensive rating and PER.

Moore’s strength is as a passer, but he tries to do too much as a scorer, leading the team in field goal attempts per game at 14.2 shots per game. He is 9th on DePaul in true shooting percentage (43.4%) and leads the team in usage rate (26%)

• Romeo Weems, Wing

Weems is a potential NBA prospect, at 6-foot-7, 215 pounds, and is now in his sophomore season, where he is a starter, and averaging 10.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.

Weems is the top defender on DePaul, according to the Bayesian Performance Rating, but is less of an offensive threat: he is 7th in both offensive rating and PER, and his offensive BPR is -1.1. What he lacks in offensive skill, he makes up for with his physical attributes, and a high motor.

• Nick Ongenda

A sophomore, Ongenda has played a larger role for DePaul in his second season, after averaging 9.9 minutes per game last season, and now leads the team in eFG% and is second in rebounding percentage, averaging 23 minutes per game as the team’s starting center.

DePaul lacks size behind Ongenda, so if Qudus Wahab can get him into foul trouble, Georgetown should have the upper hand here.

Keys to the Game

Dominate the Boards

Georgetown should have another rebounding edge in this matchup, although that didn’t really work out for them against Syracuse this past weekend. DePaul is 150th in the country in total rebounding per game, and is an abysmal 238th in defensive rebounding.

Georgetown needs to play to its strengths more in this one, unlike against Syracuse.

Turn the Blue Demons Over

If you thought it couldn’t get worse than Georgetown’s issues with turnovers, well, may I present to you, the DePaul Blue Demons!

DePaul (18.6) is averaging more turnovers per game than the Hoyas (15.8). Its top three players, Moore, Freeman-Liberty, and Weems, are also the leaders in turnovers per game for the Blue Demons. Yikes!

Lucky for DePaul, Georgetown is not great at forcing turnovers, so the Hoyas may not be well-equipped to expose this weakness.

Be Aggressive, Draw Contact

DePaul is allowing its opponents to shoot an average of 22.4 free throws per game. Georgetown has not gotten to the line often this season, as they are 317th in the nation in free throw attempts per game, but if there was ever a game to be aggressive and draw some fouls, this would be the team to do it against.

Prediction: Georgetown 78 - DePaul 76