Sophomore guard Malik Mack scored a career-high 37 points in Georgetown's 85-82 victory over the Washington State Cougars in the first round of the College Basketball Crown Tournament March 31. (GU Hoyas)
Despite a last-minute “health incident” forcing Georgetown to play with a limited roster, sophomore guard Malik Mack led the Hoyas (18-15, 8-12 Big East) to victory on Monday night, dropping a career-high 37 points to beat the Washington State Cougars (19-15, 8-10 West Coast) 85-82 in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown Tournament.
Just an hour before tipoff in Las Vegas, Georgetown announced it would be playing short-handed, casting doubt over the Hoyas’ hopes of advancing. In a postgame interview, Head Coach Ed Cooley said that Mack was initially not expected to play.
Washington State opened the scoring after tipoff and controlled the pace of the game early on, taking advantage of Georgetown’s shaky transition defense. The Hoyas got into foul trouble quickly, with first-year forward Drew McKenna and sophomore forward Austin Montgomery picking up 2 fouls each in the first five minutes.
After a 7-0 run for the Cougars, the Hoyas went down 10 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. Yet, Mack would not let them pull away.
Knocking down three consecutive 3-pointers in a 40-second stretch, Mack cut the Cougars’ lead to just 1, and a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Jordan Burks put the Hoyas up 36-35 with under a minute and a half left in the half.
Although Washington State quickly responded with a 3-point play from forward Ethan Price and a jumper from forward Rihards Vavers, Georgetown stayed close behind, ultimately heading into halftime trailing just 42-39.
While Georgetown had only logged 3 points off the bench at the break, Mack had already recorded 20, a season high in his first-half scoring for the Hoyas, and was on his way to what would become the highest scoring performance of his career.
Head Coach Ed Cooley said defense was a critical issue for both teams in the first half.
“Neither team is defending,” Cooley said in a halftime interview. “It looks like Stevie Wonder is guarding Ray Charles out there.”
Mack opened the second half with yet another 3 to cut Washington’s lead to 1, but the Cougars quickly went on an 8-0 run, bringing the score to 53-44 as Georgetown struggled to connect in the paint.
Washington State outscored Georgetown 44-26 in the paint, with the Hoyas clearly feeling the absence of first-year center Thomas Sorber, who has been out since late February following toe surgery, and sophomore forward Drew Fielder, who recently entered the transfer portal.
Yet, as the Cougars looked to stretch their lead, McKenna stepped in to score his first points of the game on a 3-point play. Mack followed with a fastbreak layup and McKenna added another 4, bringing the score to 60-58 with a little under 11 minutes to play.
Until the final buzzer, the rest of the game was a back-and-forth affair. The Cougars hit a 3, which first-year forward Caleb Williams responded to with a jumper. With 8:22 remaining, Burks hit a deep 3, once again bringing the Hoyas within 2.
With just over five minutes left, a Burks dunk and then a Mack jumper tied the game at 72, and tied Mack’s career high of 32 points. A Burks block followed by 2 made free throws from Williams gave the Hoyas their first lead of the half, which a Mack 3-pointer extended to 5.
Fouls once again created issues for the Hoyas, allowing the Cougars to cut Georgetown’s lead to 1 with three and a half minutes remaining in regulation. After a series of back-and-forth scores that left the Hoyas down 80-79 with 1:44 to go, Cooley called a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Burks grabbed an offensive rebound and finished through contact to put the Hoyas up 1. He then secured a rebound on the defensive end, leading to a sophomore guard Curtis Williams Jr. jumper on the next possession, putting the Hoyas up 3 with 41 seconds remaining. But Washington State forward LeJuan Watts, who gave the Hoyas trouble all night on both ends of the floor, answered with a layup to make it 83-82.
On Georgetown’s last possession, following a timeout and failed Cougar challenge on an out-of-bounds call in favor of the Hoyas, Mack missed a 3-pointer, but grabbed his own rebound and was fouled. With 6.8 seconds left, he sank both free throws for his final points of the game to give the Hoyas an 85-82 lead.
Georgetown fouled immediately after, sending Watts to the line. After a missed first free throw and a Washington State timeout, the Cougars successfully executed a play to put the ball in the hands of Vavers, who narrowly missed a 3-point attempt to tie the game.
Mack’s 37-piece came on 13-for-24 shooting and 8-for-12 3-point attempts, along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Burks and Williams also recorded career highs, with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Additionally, Burks added 13 rebounds.
Mack said not forcing shots and plays was key to his performance.
“I think just letting the game come to me was most important,” Mack told Georgetown Athletics. “Whenever I felt like it was a good shot, I made sure I was taking those shots, believing that I can make them and knowing that I work on those shots. I was just playing with the flow of the game.”
The win marks Georgetown’s first postseason victory since 2021 and Cooley’s first with the Hoyas. Georgetown will now advance to the quarterfinals of the Crown Tournament, where they will face the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday, April 2 at 9:30 p.m. EDT.