Charles Nailen/The Hoya Sophomore swingman Gerald Riley couldn’t push the Hoyas past UVA.
Georgetown men’s basketball team will attempt to recover from its four-game losing skid as it faces No. 16 Boston College Saturday. The 13-2 Eagles are coming off a come-from-behind overtime victory against divisional foe Villanova on Wednesday.
Headlining the Eagles team is what some believe to be the best backcourt combination in college basketball in sophomore guard Ryan Sidney and junior All-American guard Troy Bell. Bell is averaging 24 points per game and broke out for 36 against Villanova, including 13-for-14 from the foul line. Sidney complements him well, posting 15.1 points per game, while shooting 49.7 percent from the floor. He also averages 4.1 assists per game.
Kenny Walls provides the Eagles with a deep-shooting threat. Walls has made 39 of 92 three-point attempts this season, the most on the team. Bell has hit 33 of 97 three-point attempts. This potent behind-the-arc offense could pose as a threat to the Hoyas if Georgetown suffers any recurring defensive lapses that plagued the team against UCLA and Miami.
Boston College has looked solid but never dominant this season and has shown that it is certainly fallible, losing to Miami of Ohio and Pittsburgh this year. If the Hoyas control the perimeter, or if the Eagles are cold from the outside, Georgetown should be able to capitalize on its frontcourt advantage and pull out a victory.
Sophomore forward Mike Sweetney continues to recover from his early season ankle-injury to post 25 points or better in the last two games against Miami and Rutgers, complementing that figure with 20 rebounds between the two games. Sweetney’s effort has upped his averages to 19.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, both team highs.
While Sweetney has caught fire, junior center Wesley Wilson has fallen back into the shadows. Since the UCLA game, he has averaged just 13 minutes of playing time per game, and his scoring is virtually non-existent, averaging only three points per game over that stretch. Georgetown needs Wilson to reassert himself if it wants to prevent teams from collapsing on Sweetney every possession.
The Hoyas will also have to cut down on turnovers. Georgetown has turned the ball over 20 or more times against five opponents this season: Georgia, South Carolina, Bethune-Cookman, UCLA and Rutgers. The Hoyas lost the games against Georgia, UCLA and Rutgers, and only defeated South Carolina on a last second shot by senior point guard Kevin Braswell.
Braswell needs to make intelligent decisions, and Georgetown must find a way to break the full court press, which Rutgers worked to perfection for the Hoyas to have a chance against Boston College.
The game is the first meeting between the teams in two years. Boston College was one of three teams Georgetown did not meet due to the East-West division of the Big East Conference. Georgetown won the last match up in 2000 72-69 in Conte Forum. Tip-off is tomorrow at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS.
