Nearly Three Years Later, Both Providence and Georgetown are Still Searching for Answers

Photo courtesy of Carl Rizzo at gameone_photography

Almost three years have passed since Ed Cooley left Providence for Georgetown, and despite all of the hand-wringing and one-upmanship between fans of the two programs since, neither is where they’d hoped to be in year three.

At 2-6, Providence is currently tied with Marquette for the Big East’s second-worst record — ahead of only Georgetown at 1-7.

The Friars were consistently in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid under Cooley, while he vowed to take Georgetown a step further.

“Ian Eagle’s going to be talking to me at some point really, really soon when Georgetown wins a national championship,” Cooley said at his first press conference after being hired on the Hilltop.

As recently as this fall, Cooley reiterated that he had to move on from Providence to reach his goal of competing for a national championship:

With the end of year three in sight, the tale of the tape isn’t kind to Georgetown, even with the Friars’ struggles over the past two seasons.

Kim English is 42-44 overall and 18-30 in the Big East, while Cooley is 36-49 and 11-37 in league play. Providence is 2-2 in the Big East Tournament, while the Hoyas are 0-2, with losses to the Friars and DePaul.

Last fall, Saturday’s Providence-Georgetown matchup felt like it might be for more than bragging rights. The Friars were predicted to finish fourth in the Big East by the league’s coaches, while the Hoyas smashed Kentucky and defeated a solid George Washington team in exhibition play.

Cooley said on Big East Media Day how much he loved this group — a team that looked to be built in the likeness of his Providence teams. Maybe they weren’t designed to get to 80 points with regularity, but you were going to have to scrap to get to 70 against them.

That was the idea, at least.

Early on, Georgetown had the look of a Cooley bunch. They went on the road and took out a Maryland team (that has since faltered) in the second game of the season, and knocked off Clemson as part of a 5-0 start.

Cracks started to show in late November. They lost in overtime to Dayton at the ESPN Events Invitational, then turned around the next day and were handled by a resurgent Miami club.

December was a bit of a disaster. They were no match for North Carolina (81-61), beat St. Peter’s in overtime, but then won their Big East opener at Marquette on Dec. 17.

Georgetown hasn’t won with Cooley on the sidelines since.

A late collapse against Xavier on Dec. 20 led to the most embarrassing moment of Cooley’s tenure in D.C. — when he threw a water bottle in the stands in the closing seconds, which hit a nearby toddler.

He was suspended for a game (a 97-67 win over Coppin State) and the Hoyas are 0-6 since then.

Much like Providence, Georgetown likely has two or three games they felt they should have taken. There was the narrow loss to Xavier at home, blowing a seven-point lead with 1:45 to go at Creighton, losing a double-digit second half lead to Seton Hall, and last weekend’s close loss (64-62) to UConn.

Georgetown currently ranks outside of the top 100 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, per KenPom. Offensively, ball security is their biggest strength (31st nationally in Turnover Percentage), but they struggle to make shots with any consistency. They somehow managed to shoot just 1-23 from the field in the second half of a 56-50 loss at DePaul.

Despite their record, Georgetown has some solid pieces, starting with Arizona transfer KJ Lewis. Lewis is an outstanding defensive guard who serves as the tone-setter. He averages 14.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game, and while his shooting numbers aren’t great (40% FG, 29% 3PT), he brings a competitiveness that exceeds that of most of his opponents on Saturday.

Their swing player is point guard Malik Mack. The junior guard is putting up 13.8 points per game on 36% shooting from the field and 31% beyond the arc. He scored 35 points across November victories against Maryland and Clemson, then had 24 against Dayton two weeks later. He’s also had some big scoring nights in the Big East against Xavier (21), St. John’s (18), and Creighton (17). He’s been inefficient, but against a team like Providence that struggles to stop screen-and-roll scorers, he’s capable of going for 20+.

Cooley has a pair of seven-footers in Julius Halaifonua (10.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG) and Vince Iwucukwu (9.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.6 BPG). The loss of Iwucukwu for a few weeks (heart surgery) really hurt Georgetown, but the transfer from St. John’s looks to be rounding back into form.

He’s an athletic presence at the rim and is at his best when scoring over his right shoulder. He finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds against UConn last weekend. Georgetown was 4-0 before Iwucukwu was sidelined, but they are 0-5 since his return.

Transfer portal misses have hurt the Hoyas this year. Cooley chose not to add a freshman to his roster, and while Lewis and Iwucukwu have been solid, there are some real swings and misses. Baylor transfer Langston Love has battled injuries throughout his career, and hasn’t been able to add the needed punch from beyond the arc. He was supposed to be a big piece, but instead Love is playing 13 minutes a night and shooting 27% from three. Both his points per game average (3.6) and 3-point percentage are career lows.

Meanwhile, UConn transfer Isaiah Abraham has flashed at times, but hasn’t turned into a consistent producer yet (6.5 PPG, 45% from three).

Maryland transfer DeShawn Harris-Smith left the program earlier this year. He was supposed to bring added physicality, if not shooting, to the wing, while backup point guard Jeremiah Williams is a steadier contributor than his numbers indicate. He had 15/5/5 in the win over Marquette.

Similar to Providence, Georgetown has been in just about every conference game this season, but they’ve not done enough in the late going to get over the hump.

Saturday figures to be quite the afternoon in Friartown. PC is coming off a late-game collapse of their own: a 105-104 overtime loss at Marquette in which they let the game slip away more than once. The Friars’ struggles may lead to slightly less fervor in the stands, but the hometown crowd certainly hasn’t let go of its hard feelings toward Cooley and the fellow Big East school that lured him away.