Providence looks to continue mastery of Georgetown

Providence looks to continue its decade-long dominance over Georgetown when the two teams complete their season series on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

The Friars (12-14, 6-9 Big East) have won eight straight and 18 of their last 21 games against the Hoyas dating back to 2015. Providence won this season's first meeting 78-68 at home on Jan. 25.

In its most recent game, Providence snapped a four-game losing streak with a 75-62 home win against Villanova on Saturday. Jayden Pierre scored a team-high 19 points while playing all 40 minutes. He was 5 of 9 from long distance as the Friars shot 48.1 percent (13 of 27) from 3-point range.

Friars coach Kim English thought the game was won on the other end of the court, however, as Providence improved to 5-1 in the league when holding an opponent to fewer than 70 points.

"We really had to get back to defense," English said. "We have to guard. That's our focus moving forward, playing great defense against Georgetown."

Georgetown (15-10, 6-8) is coming off a 97-86 loss Saturday at Butler and could be without Big East Freshman of the Year contender Thomas Sorber.

Sorber, who averages 14.5 points and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds, left the game with a lower-body injury after scoring 10 points in 12 minutes. Sorber and leading scorer Micah Peavy (15.4 ppg) combined to score 52 in the Hoyas' loss at Providence last month.

Hoyas coach Ed Cooley, who is 0-4 against his former team since moving on to Georgetown, said Monday that he doesn't know Sorber's health status, although he preached that whoever plays on Wednesday needs to improve defensively.

"Scoring 86 points and losing the game is unacceptable," Cooley said after the loss to the Bulldogs.

One bit of good news for the Hoyas is that Jayden Epps, who has battled multiple injuries, scored 15 points in 27 minutes off the bench at Butler.

"He's as healthy as he's been in probably seven weeks," Cooley said.

Georgetown still leads the overall series 47-38, but Providence has narrowed the gap to single digits for the first time since 1985.

--Field Level Media