The Hoyas have a few basic strengths that most teams already know about. First and foremost, they feed off of their defense. Leading the nation with a turnover margin of plus-8.3 and third in the nation in steals per game at 13.4, the Hoyas run a trapping, full-court defense. Opposing guards are often flustered by three swarming Hoya defenders. The result is often a steal and a few fast-break points or at least an errant pass by the ball handler.

arist averages about 16 turnovers per game, and its offense strategically allows them to share the ball, resulting in an average of 14.5 assists per game. Look for the Hoyas to give the Red Foxes problems in the backcourt.

The Hoyas’ defensive inside game is an entirely different story. Rebounds specifically have been a problem all year as Georgetown finished last in the Big East in defensive rebounds with less than 20 per game. The good news for the Hoyas is that Marist is a terrible offensive rebounding team, averaging 10.5 offensive boards per game. The Hoyas barely outrebound their opponents, grabbing less than one more board per game.

The Red Foxes have a similar statistic but are a strong defensive rebounding team, averaging over 26 per game. Further proving that the two teams are opposites on the glass, the Hoyas are one of the best offensive rebounding teams with 15.8 boards off their own shots per game.

Turning to the offensive game of Georgetown, the Lady Hoyas are a big-time shooting team. Their offensive boards provide a good amount of points, but their outside shooting will determine a lot, especially how well they shoot from three-point range. The Hoyas average between six and seven three-pointers per game, but only shoot 32 percent from three-point land. The bad news for the Hoyas is that Marist allows opponents to shoot less than 30 percent from beyond the arc. On the flip side, Marist is also an excellent shooting team and similarly puts up more than six made threes per game and shoots 34.4 percent from long range.

In terms of sharing the ball, Georgetown posts 16 assists per game and is willing to spend a large chunk of the shot clock moving the ball around, trying to find that open shot.

Overall, the Hoyas have the better talent and more experience playing in a conference that sent seven teams to the Big Dance. However, the Hoyas, who were granted a No. 5 seed because of their loss to Rutgers in the Big East tournament, must take the Red Foxes seriously and not look forward to a possible matchup with Baylor.  

Georgetown vs. Marist by the Numbers  

Georgetown

RPI Rank: 18

Record against AP Top-25 teams: 2-2

Strength of Schedule: 54 

arist

RPI Rank: 49

Record against AP Top-25 teams: 1-3

Strength of Schedule: 102 

Key Stats:

Georgetown shoots 40 percent from the field overall

In Georgetown’s 25 wins, they shot 41.8 percent from the field

In Georgetown’s six losses, they shot 31.4 percent from the field  

arist ranks 15th in the country in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 34.9 percent and shoots 42.1 percent overall . “