Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

MEN’S BASKETBALL | Hoyas Look for Red Redemption

The calm before the Red Storm has come to an end for the Hoyas.

A rough 1-4 start to Big East play has been followed by two road wins and a week off, and No. 21 Georgetown (14-5, 3-4 Big East) is about to begin a crucial stretch that will determine the fate of its season. The gauntlet begins tomorrow night when St. John’s (11-7, 4-4 Big East) visits Verizon Center for the second game of the two teams’ home-and-home series.

The Hoyas’ matchup with the Johnnies starts a 22-day run through the league that includes No. 23 Louisville at home and No. 8 Villanova, No. 9 Syracuse and No. 5 Connecticut on the road. Because of its slow start to conference play, Head Coach John Thompson III’s team has little margin for error if it wants to finish in the top half of the Big East. With the Hoyas sitting in a tie for 11th in the league but just two games out of the top three, every game is crucial.

On paper, the Red Storm at home is a game the Hoyas should win, and given the Hoyas’ 3-4 league record and their meeting with Villanova in Philadelphia on Saturday, it’s a game they must win. St. John’s is much better this season under Head Coach Steve Lavin, and one of its signature wins came at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3 over the Hoyas, but since starting 3-0 in the Big East, the Johnnies have lost four of five and two straight.

Georgetown, on the other hand, has senior guard Austin Freeman — who was named the Big East player of the week after pouring in 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting against Seton Hall — back on track, and the team has won two in a row after its shooting slump and defensive inconsistency led to a 1-4 beginning to conference play. Thompson has had a full week to work out some of the Hoyas’ kinks and to prepare his team for St. John’s, which took advantage of 13 Georgetown turnovers and made clutch plays when it needed to in the teams’ first meeting.

A hot 11-1 nonconference slate was followed by a Big East bump in the road, but the Hoyas will take the court tomorrow night in downtown D.C. with a golden opportunity to use the momentum from their New Jersey road trip to start a climb up the conference standings.

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