UConn basketball welcomes Cooley, Georgetown to Storrs for Valentine’s Day date
What could possibly be more intimate than watching a surging Big East cellar dweller barge into Storrs for a date with the No. 6 team in the nation Saturday night?
Nothing.
UConn basketball (23-2, 13-1) hosts Ed Cooley’s Georgetown Hoyas (13-11, 5-8) for a Valentine’s Day showdown in Gampel Pavilion – the first game back home for the Huskies since their 18-game winning streak was snapped by St. John’s last Friday.
Below is a look into their date’s profile and a cheat sheet for how to sweep the Hoyas off their feet (and out of the building).
Opponent Profile: Georgetown Hoyas (13-11, 5-8 Big East)
Georgetown has won four of its last five since Cooley blessed his team in mid-January, anchored by a defense that ranks in the top 35 nationally in adjusted efficiency the last three weeks, according to Bart Torvik.
The linchpins of the unit, which ranks 48th in effective field goal percentage allowed (47.8), are St. John’s transfer Vincent Iwuchukwu and fiery Arizona transfer KJ Lewis, who combine for over three steals and two blocks per night.
Iwuchukwu has also stepped up as a scorer since returning from injury in mid-January, rattling off five consecutive double-digit performances, including a season-high 17 points at Butler on Jan. 31.
But the chief threat remains in the backcourt; Malik Mack, Cooley’s trusted point guard, has thrived in his second season with the Hoyas, stringing together four 20-plus point games and 10 with 5-plus assists. Outside of being a terrific transition player, Mack thrives as a slashing, surgical guard in the halfcourt, dishing a team-high 102 assists.
Cooley deploys a relatively stable 10-man rotation, with supplementary scoring coming from burly Julius Halaifonua (9.7) down low, venerable forward Caleb Williams (9.6) on the wing, and UConn transfer Isaiah Abraham (5.7).
UConn basketball’s cheat sheet
Here’s a good jumping off point: don’t model January’s meeting with the Hoyas, which came down to the last possession. The Huskies have notched two near-30-point wins since then, however, and look to have finally ridded themselves of the ‘close game bug.’
Speeding the Hoyas up offensively will be paramount. Georgetown ranks 279th in 3-point attempts per game (20.3) and 237th in 3-point percentage (32.8). Cooley’s group isn’t sterling from inside the arc either, hitting on less than 50% of its 2-point attempts. The full-court press Dan Hurley has utilized with Silas Demary Jr. as the tip of the spear could return Saturday.
Georgetown also excels in transition, headed by the silky-smooth Mack at the point. Slowing down offensively and limiting turnovers early in the shot clock (a la St. John’s) will give the Huskies time to get back and lean on its top 10 ranked defense.
With Mack having to choose between one of Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins, expect one of the two marksmen to get a lot of attempts off from behind the line with Langston Love questionable with an injury.
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