Georgetown Stacks Wins As Tough Road Tests Loom

Riding a four-game win streak and winning in impressive fashion, can this resurgence in momentum be enough for Georgetown to get an important win against West Virginia or Syracuse?

If you were disappointed after Georgetown’s 84-63 loss to Notre Dame, then the following four games, in which Georgetown has beaten its opponents by an average margin of 25.5 points, has been just what the doctor ordered to regain some hope and optimism about this team.

Since November 20th, Georgetown has taken care of its business in impressive fashion, starting with its 28-point blowout against Mount St. Mary’s and carrying on through yesterday, which saw the Hoyas romp to a 32-point victory against the Great Danes of Albany.

The statistical snapshot for Georgetown has become a far rosier picture than it was a couple of weeks ago. According to CBBAnalytics.com, Georgetown’s net rating of 21.3 is ranked 41st in the country. On KenPom, the Hoyas’ offensive rating (110.0) and defensive rating (101.8) are ranked 89th and 95th in the country, respectively.

During the four-game win streak alone, Georgetown’s defensive rating of 82.6 is good for second in the nation according to CBBAnalytics.com. They are also averaging 19.3 assists per game, good for 11th in the country.

After a mess of a performance against Notre Dame that saw poor ball movement and porous defense, Georgetown has done what it needed to do to right the ship.

And of course, it certainly doesn’t dull the good vibes surrounding this team right now to witness Providence’s struggles, which have led to the Hoyas leapfrogging the Friars in the KenPom ranks, much to Friar fans’ dismay.

But just like Georgetown’s 2-0 start to the season lost its shine after they took their thumping against Notre Dame, this four-game win streak, in hindsight, won’t look as good if Georgetown can’t make it count against its final two high major opponents before Big East play begins— West Virginia and Syracuse.

Thirty-point blowouts are a lot of fun. And Georgetown deserves credit for not letting the Notre Dame loss drag them down for too long. But until Georgetown can show that it can compete with high major opponents, it’s hard not to view results against the 256th, 317th, 313th, and 250th-ranked teams on KenPom with a healthy amount of skepticism until Georgetown proves it can do the same against better competition.

During this win streak though, there have been positive trends emerging that hopefully can carry over now as Georgetown gets ready for an increase in the caliber of its opponents, starting on December 6 at West Virginia.

Freshman center Thomas Sorber has continued his strong start to his college career, and looks to be firmly in the mix for Big East Freshman of the Year. He is nearly averaging a double-double, with 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, as well as averaging 3.1 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1.7 steals per game.

His defensive rating of 86.3 is second on the team to only Micah Peavy, who is proving to be one of the best wing defenders in the nation so far this season. His Player Efficiency Rating of 36.6 is also tops on the team by a wide margin, with Peavy ranking second at 24.2.

Peavy has been incredible in his own respect.

Peavy is the top-rated player on the team according to EvanMiya.com’s BPR metric, which measures a player’s overall value to his team when he is on the floor. In the Big East, according to Miya’s Box DBPR metric, which is an estimate of a player’s defensive value, Peavy is the best defender in the conference.

Another player who deserves recognition is freshman wing Caleb Williams, who scored a season-high nine points in 12 minutes against Albany on Saturday, and looks to be carving out a role in the rotation moving forward a third option off the bench on the wing behind Jordan Burks and Curtis Williams.

In many ways, Georgetown finds itself in a similar situation as it was heading into the Notre Dame game. Fan morale is surging, vibes are good, and the on-court product has been pleasant to watch.

With the added benefit of more games under their belt for the players to get comfortable with each other on the court, Georgetown will have two more shots to get a potential season-defining win in tough road environments at West Virginia and Syracuse before Big East play begins. How they respond will say a lot about just how much progress has really been made since November 16th against the Fighting Irish.