Though the Georgetown University men’s basketball team fought long and hard during their Jan. 11 Big East matchup against the University of Connecticut Huskies, the team ultimately fell 68-60 to a more experienced, consistent and aggressive opponent.
An offensive dry spell during the first six minutes of the second half, which saw UConn go on a 17-2 run, doomed the Hoyas (12-4, 3-2 Big East), who otherwise showed continued resilience throughout the game. Sophomore guard Curtis Williams Jr. led Georgetown in scoring with 15 points, followed by graduate guard Micah Peavy with 14 points. First-year center Thomas Sorber and sophomore guard Malik Mack contributed 9 apiece. Sorber also notched 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.
During the first half, Georgetown went back and forth against UConn, holding them to a close 35-31 score. The Hoyas replicated the same competitive energy later in the second half, but their effort was too little too late to keep up with the Huskies.
The Hoyas entered this afternoon’s matchup riding a high tide of momentum, having defeated three longtime division rivals in a row — the Creighton Bluejays, Seton Hall Pirates and Xavier Musketeers — and putting on a impressive showing against the No. 7 AP poll-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in a close 74-66 loss. For Hoya fans, the recent hot streak represented a very welcome turn of events after several consecutive seasons of bottom-dwelling in the Big East.
Sorber, Mack, Peavy and junior guard Jayden Epps, the team’s standout players, have been instrumental in sparking the Hoyas’ run this season. Sorber, with averages of 15.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 blocks, won Big East freshman of the week honors four times and has even drawn first-round buzz for the 2025 NBA draft. Mack, Epps and Peavy, with their respective averages of 14 points, 4.8 assists and 4 rebounds; 14.7 points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds; and 13.3 points, 4.1 assists and 5 rebounds, have added critical firepower and hustle.
Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies (13-4, 5-1 Big East) entered this season off back-to-back national championships. The team lost several starters from the 2023-24 season to the NBA draft, but still fields a potent starting five led by forward Alex Karaban and guard Solo Ball, who are averaging 15.9 points, 5 rebounds and 2.9 assists and 13.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game respectively. The Huskies registered their lone loss in Big East play this season to the Villanova University Wildcats 68-66 last Wednesday, Jan. 8, and were hungry to come back with a win against the Hoyas.
From the outset, Georgetown leaned into their upstart, underdog status against UConn, playing rapidly and bringing out maximum effort and infectious energy. Sorber, matched up against UConn center Samson Johnson, won the opening tipoff to set himself up for a well-positioned layup right under the basket. On the Hoyas’ second possession, Sorber recovered a lost ball with an offensive rebound, then emphatically dunked on a crowded Huskies defense in the paint. Mack kept up the team’s promising start with a drive to the basket, followed by a successful layup, to give the Hoyas a 6-2 lead.
Though Ball cut into Georgetown’s early momentum with a 3-pointer at the 16:15 mark, the Hoyas kept pushing for more on offense, resulting in a Peavy fast break dunk followed by skillfully executed ball movement that left sophomore forward Drew Fielder open on the wing for 3 points. Up 11-5 less than seven minutes in, the Hoyas appeared to be locked in, playing an extremely competitive game against the Huskies.
Midway through the first half, Head Coach Ed Cooley subbed in Epps, who has been sitting out the past few games with a lower-body injury. His substitution brought a momentary spark of energy to Georgetown, but Karaban answered with several 2-point scores to swing the momentum towards UConn. Later in the first half, back-to-back threes by Ball and Karaban put UConn ahead 33-25. With just under three minutes left in the first half, however, Georgetown pulled themselves back together for a back half run. Epps’ earlier substitution proved pivotal, with the junior guard sinking a 3-pointer at the 00:14 mark and reducing the deficit to 35-31 before the half.
The Huskies started out the second half with a successful layup from guard Hassen Diarra, followed by two free throws from Ball, to go up 39-31. Diarra then capitalized on Georgetown’s sloppy ball handling on the other side of the court for a steal and another layup. Putting a stop to UConn’s 6-0 start, Sorber made a free throw after getting fouled at the basket, but his one point would be Georgetown’s only score for the first three minutes of the second half. UConn kept up the offensive barrage with a Ball jumper and a Karaban 3-pointer for a 14-point lead, larger than any other lead the Huskies had had up until that point. With the Huskies up on the Hoyas 46-32, Cooley called a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Hoyas failed to right the ship, giving up three consecutive dunks to the Huskies, the latter two of which came off steals by Karaban and Diarra. Without answers on offense, Cooley had no choice but to call for yet another timeout. The second time around, Georgetown showed more hustle, with Peavy making a layup off an assist by sophomore forward Jordan Burks right out of the gate. Curtis Williams Jr.’s 3-pointer at the 11:35 mark put Georgetown on the scoreboard once more, but the Hoyas still sat at a 53-39 deficit.
Georgetown’s defense, however, collapsed, allowing UConn to go on an unanswered 8-point run. Simultaneously, the Hoyas’ offensive play also stalled, until Peavy converted an and-1 with 5:55 left in the game. While his missed free throw left the Hoyas down 64-46, Williams Jr. picked up the slack with another successful 3-pointer that brought the game back to life, capping off an unanswered 8-point Georgetown run. UConn staved off a potential Georgetown comeback, putting up a jumper and two free throws to once again pull ahead, this time to 68-51. The Hoyas tallied nine more points on the scoreboard before the clock expired, but the deficit ultimately proved too large to overcome.
After the game, Cooley expressed pride in his team’s persistence, acknowledging how emotions proved challenging for the Hoyas.
“I thought they played emotional and had their emotions intact, and I thought we played emotional and we weren’t disciplined with our emotions,” Cooley said at the postgame press conference. “I thought physically they bothered us; offensively, we were out of sorts. What I am very, very proud of is that we got down pretty big and we continued to fight and chip at it.”
The loss drops Georgetown to a 3-2 record in the Big East, though the team still has plenty of chances ahead to continue on the up. The Hoyas next play the St. John’s University Red Storm (13-3, 4-1 Big East) at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m.