When Georgetown meets St. John’s on Sunday, it won’t resemble the 1980’s. First place will not be on the line. There won’t be any talk about NCAA tournament seeds.
For Hoyas head coach, Patrick Ewing, the question will center around year 3 of his tenure as coach. When Ewing took the job, some had hoped that he would lead Georgetown (12-9, 2-6) to the NCAA tournament by year two. Not only did Georgetown fade out of tournament talk late last season, the Hoyas have a difficult climb to be in this season’s NCAA tournament talk.
Mike Anderson, St. John’s head coach, knows this feeling all too well. He played at Tulsa but cut his coaching teeth with Arkansas under legendary Nolan Richardson. The thought was, the program would return the the “40 Minutes of Hell” days. When the Razorbacks were feared because of their defense and the pace of the game. Anderson’s record at Arkansas was 169-102 with four 20-win seasons and three NCAA tournament appearances but that wasn’t enough. He was fired after the 2018-2019 season.
Like Anderson, fans hoped the Hoyas would return to the “Hoya Paranoia” days or, at least, a modern day version of it.
Instead, the Hoyas have faded behind porous defense and four player transfers after the season started. It has derailed a season that could’ve culminated with a tournament appearance.
First Meeting:
Georgetown dominated the first meeting at home, 87-66. The Hoyas were led by Mac McClung’s 24 points. Jamorko Pickett played one of the best games of his career finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
- Hoyas have lost three in a row
- St. John’s has lost four or their last five
- Georgetown leads the Big East in assists (15.6 assists per game)
