Off to hot start, Georgetown out to limit UMBC's shooters

Field Level Media|published: Sun 1st December, 16:03 2024

NCAA Basketball: Fairfield at Georgetown

Nov 9, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Georgetown Hoyas head coach Ed Cooley celebrates during the first half against the Fairfield Stags at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

Coming into his second season at Georgetown, coach Ed Cooley looked at his young roster and came up with a plan for building them up before Big East Conference play.

So far, it's working.

Georgetown (6-1) is off to its best start since the 2018-19 season and will complete its season-opening, eight-game homestand against UMBC on Monday in Washington.

The Hoyas have won four straight since their lone setback to visiting Notre Dame on Nov. 16.

"When you're playing the schedule the way we're playing, we're trying to get continuity, chemistry," Cooley said Saturday after a 100-68 win over Albany.

"It's not going to happen overnight. The competition is about to pick up."

Despite Georgetown's youth -- there are a combined 15 freshmen and sophomores on the roster -- it's fifth-year graduate student Micah Peavy leading the way for a program hoping to return to college basketball prominence.

Peavy, a TCU transfer, arrived at Georgetown with the reputation as a top-level defender but has expanded his offensive game. He leads the Hoyas in scoring (15.9 points per game) and 3-point shooting (45.2 percentage).

Peavy scored a game-high 24 points in the win over Albany, while Thomas Sorber notched his third double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Sorber is averaging 14.7 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

UMBC (5-4) completed a seven-game homestand with consecutive wins over Howard and Morgan State. The Retrievers' path to success through nine games seems clear -- it's the offense.

In its five wins, UMBC is averaging 98.8 points, but that number drops to 63.5 points in its four losses.

"Offensively, 21 assists on 29 makes is how we dream of playing basketball here," coach Jim Ferry said after defeating Morgan State 92-69 on Wednesday.

"That's two games in a row now that we've been able to play our style, and hopefully we continue to build on that."

Bryce Johnson leads the Retrievers in scoring at 15.9 points per game and shoots 41.5 percent on 3-point attempts. UMBC is in the top 20 nationally in 3-point shooting, hitting 40.4 percent.

--Field Level Media