Missing starting center senior Vince Iwuchukwu, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team had their first chance to prove the depth of their frontcourt against the Wagner College Seahawks on Nov. 22, and sophomore center Julius Halaifonua and forward Jayden Fort largely delivered with a 92-75 win. 

The Hoyas (5-0) continued their strong start, opening the season with 5 straight wins for the first time since 2017. The Seahawks (0-5) have struggled both on and off the court and are shaping up to be one of the bottom teams in Division I college basketball. With that said, a Hoya victory was never significantly in question.

The Hoyas took the helm from the get-go, as Halaifonua secured the tip off and junior guard KJ Lewis made a pullup jumper from the paint for the first points of the day. The Seahawks responded with a 3-pointer and a subsequent field goal to pull into the lead early amidst a missed layup from junior guard Malik Mack. 

This was the Seahawks’ only lead all game, as a graduate guard Jeremiah Williams and-1 put the Hoyas ahead just after the under-16 timeout. Georgetown held that lead until the final buzzer. 

Georgetown established a strong presence for the rest of the first half, but the Seahawks seemed to pick up an edge in the half’s final minutes and secured a 9-4 run over the Hoyas —  though it wasn’t enough to dislodge the lead. The first half ended with Georgetown ahead, 44-27.

Back for the second half, the Hoyas started strong, with Mack quickly draining 2 3-pointers. Both teams picked up a foul about a minute in, in what became a foul heavy half. Halaifonua went to the paint for the Hoyas first and drained 2 shots; he quickly picked up a foul of his own and his first of the game two minutes in. Halaifonua sank the next 4 points for Georgetown with a turnaround jumper and layup.

Wagner drained a 3-pointer heading into the under-16 timeout, and the Seahawks outscored the Hoyas 12-10 to begin the second half. 

Jeremiah Williams became the first of three Hoyas to pick up his fourth foul with over 13 minutes remaining. Fort followed with close to 11 minutes remaining and Halaifonua with over eight minutes left. Sophomore center Seal Diouf was given the chance to prove his worth in his third game for the Hoyas, but in less than three minutes of play, he fell short. 

Diouf went up for a layup twice and missed both, allowing Wagner to grab the second rebound, which ended in a 3-pointer. Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley looked ready to take Diouf out and sent Fort to the scorer’s table, but a made dunk gave Diouf another minute of play. 

Cooley later said that Diouf played solidly in his few minutes.

“Seal came in and gave us a quick, solid cup of coffee,” Cooley said in a postgame press conference.

The Hoyas had a string of missed opportunities to end the half, to the dismay of Cooley. Georgetown took the easy win, 92-75. 

Georgetown outscored Wagner in every category and went 25 for 28 from the charity stripe, recording 89.3% from the line compared to their average 77.5%. Their 3-point percentage also stood well above their average of 26.9% at 40.9%. 

Mack led the Hoyas with 18 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block. Halaifonua recorded 16 points and 9 rebounds in fewer than 19 minutes of play. Sophomore forward Caleb Williams was the silent hero of the game, playing over 37 minutes, recording 15 points — including going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe — 5 rebounds, 3 assists and only 2 fouls. 

Without Iwuchukwu, the Hoyas will need to continue working on their frontcourt. While Halaifonua and Fort both performed well, they were also both on the verge of fouling out — and Halaifonua picked up all of his fouls in the second half. Diouf did not prove to be an adequate replacement at center, and with Georgetown’s next game against the University of Dayton (5-1) Nov. 27, the team does not have much time to figure their frontcourt issues out.

Cooley said that sophomore forward Isaiah Abraham — along with Fort, Halaifonua and sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready — played one of his best games and he is impressed by Abraham’s growth since this summer.

“With respect to his growth, we played Brazil in a friendly game in August and we started him unbeknownst to him,” Cooley said.

“He had 5 turnovers in 6 possessions. I thought he was actually on the Brazilian team,” Cooley added. “I couldn’t be more proud and happy for him of his development and growth.”

Cooley said the team’s main mistakes came toward the end of the game.

“In the last four minutes, we had 3, 4 horrendous shots,” Cooley said. 

Cooley added that the team will work on finishing strong ahead of next week’s tournament.

“Had we finished that four minutes, I wouldn’t be as edgy as I’ll be in film tomorrow,” Cooley said. “Because that’s what we’re going to show is the last four minutes, right? That could come to haunt us at some point. Practice being great, not good.”

The Hoyas next play in the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla., over the holiday weekend for two tough non-conference tests. They will take on the University of Dayton on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. The next day Georgetown will either face No. 9 Brigham Young University (4-1) or the University of Miami (4-1).