The Georgetown Hoyas (12-8) will try to slow down the Big East’s top scoring team when they take on the Creighton Bluejays (14-6) at the Verizon Center. The game starts at 6:30 pm ET on Tuesday, Jan. 26 and will air on FS1.
The Hoyas were beaten by Connecticut 68-62 on Saturday. L.J. Peak was one of the best players for the Hoyas, finishing with 12 points, three rebounds, and one steal. The Bluejays are coming off a 72-64 win over Butler on Saturday. Maurice Watson Jr. led the team in scoring with 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
From an eFG% perspective, this will be a battle of strength versus strength when the Bluejays have the ball. Their sweet-shooting offense ranks 20th in the nation in that metric at 55.2%, while Georgetown is 18th-best in the nation in eFG% defense (44.3%).
This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. The Bluejays won the first game 79-66. Watson Jr. was a standout player in the game, producing 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal, and two three-pointers.
Georgetown is a three-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 147 points. The Hoyas enter the game with records of 12-8 Straight Up (SU) and 11-7 Against The Spread (ATS). The Hoyas are an exceptional shooting team from the line with 17.0 free throws made per game, one of the highest marks in Division I. Turning to the defensive side, the Hoyas are the 48th-best team in the country at blocking shots, averaging 4.8 blocks per game.
Across the court, the Bluejays head into the game with records of 12-7 ATS and 14-6 SU. Creighton has done particularly well ATS over its past 10 matchups, going 7-3. Creighton is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, hitting 8.0 shots from three-point range per game. The Bluejays rarely make costly errors handling the ball. They have the 22nd-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country at 1.48. Creighton may be taking trips to the free throw line early and often with the Hoyas averaging 21.9 fouls per game, one of the highest marks in Division I.
Creighton beat Georgetown in their most recent meeting this season, but Georgetown still leads the head-to-head record, 4-2 SU, over their most recent matchups. At 3-3, they are even ATS. Georgetown held the edge in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers once in the last five games, while Creighton wasn’t able to do so in that span.
Predictions: SU Winner – Cre, ATS Winner – Cre, O/U – Over
Notes
Georgetown is 11-5 SU in its last 16 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Georgetown’s last 6 games.
Georgetown is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Georgetown’s last 6 games when playing Creighton.
Ranked 20th, the Creighton Bluejays have an offensive rating of 115.6. The Georgetown Hoyas rank 121st with a defensive rating of just 100.1.
The Georgetown Hoyas average a field goal percentage of 44.2% this season. The Creighton Bluejays are 6-4 when opponents have a FG% of 44.2% or greater.
The Georgetown Hoyas and the Creighton Bluejays both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Georgetown is 165th and 103rd in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Creighton is 27th and 20th in these categories.
Creighton ranks 38th in assists, recording 16.3 per game. Georgetown performs worse at 107th with 14.7 assists per game.
Georgetown, the 48th-ranked team in blocked shots, records an average of 4.8 per game. Creighton does worse, ranked 176th with 3.5.
Creighton ranks 246th in offensive rebounds, while Georgetown ranks at 98th in defensive rebounds.
On average, Creighton forces a turnover rate of 18.7%. When Georgetown turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a winning 9-4 record.
