Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Georgetown knocks off Providence to continue recent surge

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

Georgetown guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera celebrates his three-point-shot during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Wright State, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

AP

Georgetown looked dead in the water as of two weeks ago. The Hoyas had lost five straight games in Big East play and it didn’t seem like head coach John Thompson III and Georgetown had a lot of hope going into February.

But after a win at Madison Square Garden over a top-10 program in Michigan State, and three Big East wins, are the Hoyas ready for a run in the Big East? Following Georgetown’s 83-71 win over Providence at home on Monday, the Hoyas certainly have some hope.

At 15-9 -- and 6-6 in the Big East -- Georgetown’s record is hardly something to fawn over, but they’ll have plenty of opportunities to win against quality opponents down the stretch.

Georgetown has a ridiculous six-game Big East stretch that includes games at St. John’s, at Seton Hall, home against Xavier, at Marquette, home against Creighton and on the road at Villanova. Of the six teams I just mentioned in Georgetown’s remaining schedule, the Hoyas lost to five of them during that aforementioned Big East losing streak.

So have the Hoyas changed since that losing streak and are they turning it around?

The short answer is, yes, and the return of Jabril Trawick is a big reason why. The 6-foot-5 guard doesn’t have gaudy statistics -- he’s averaging 7.4 points a game in nearly 24 minutes of action -- but he gives the Hoyas the guard depth that they were lacking without him on the bench when he was injured in January.

Trawick missed four out of the five Georgetown losses during that losing streak and he only returned to play 12 minutes in the fifth loss against Villanova.

With Trawick getting 20-plus minutes a game -- as he has in his last four -- Georgetown has been able to win because he stabilizes their backcourt enough to be a big difference maker for a team that struggled on offense at times without him.

Georgetown now has another secondary ball handler to alleviate the pressure thrown at D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Markel Starks and it gives them another dribble-penetrator that can do a bit for himself off-the-bounce.

Nobody is mistaking Georgetown for any kind of major contender, but with Trawick back in the lineup, they’ll make for a really tough out during the rest of Big East play.

The question remains, can Georgetown get revenge on those teams that beat them during this difficult final six-game stretch, or are the Hoyas overmatched and in for a mediocre finish to a mediocre season?

Follow @phillipshoops