College Basketball on Wednesday and we will see the Depaul Blue Demons travel to the Nation’s Capital to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on the Big East Network. Currently the Odds for the game have Kansas State favored by 13.5 points while the total sits at 138.
Analysis: The Blue Demons had been suffering in a nine-game losing streak before topping Rutgers, 75-69, at home on Saturday. DePaul is still just 11-14 overall and 2-10 in league play which has it just two spots ahead of last place in the Big East standings. In road contests DePaul is 4-5 overall but it has lost its last four games away from Allstate Arena. DePaul begins a two-game homestand against Connecticut next. Scoring isn't normally the problem for the Blue Demons. They rank third in the conference in points (73.3 pg) though they are in the bottom half of the league in field goal percentage (.437). Where the Blue Demons have struggled is the defensive end where they are getting lit up for 73.5 points per game on just under 45 percent shooting. Normally it is Brandon Young (16.7 ppg, 4.5 apg) and Cleveland Melvin (16.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg) leading the charge as one of the more productive one-two scoring combinations in the Big East. Worrel Clahar (7.2 ppg) has picked up his play with increased court time as he has scored in double figures in three of the last four games.
With wins in its last seven games, Georgetown has slowly been rising up not only the conference standings but the national rankings. The Hoyas are 19-4 overall and sitting 11th in the most recent top-25. The Hoyas have dropped just one game in 14 tries at the Verizon Center but a showdown with rival Syracuse at the Carrier Dome is next on the schedule. In a grueling battle with Cincinnati last Friday the Hoyas pulled out a 62-55 victory. Georgetown held the Bearcats to just 17 field goals on 31.5 percent shooting in the contest. Markel Starks had a game-high 17 points in the game and Porter scored 16 points and brought in seven rebounds. Porter had a strong week in leading the Hoyas in important wins over Marquette and Cincinnati. He averaged 18.5 points and seven boards in the two contests and earned Big East Player of the Week honors. Porter (15.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg) is the leading scorer and rebounder on the roster and has scored in double figures in 10 straight games. Starks (12.6 ppg) has also been heating up of late scoring at least 16 points in five of the last six outings. The Hoyas are without another double figure scorer however relying more heavily on their defensive success to pull out victories. Georgetown is ranked 10th in the nation in both points allowed (55.7 pg) and opponent field-goal percentage (.375).
Pick: Contrasting styles here as Depaul likes the uptempo game, while the Hoyas prefer to slow it down and they play great defense. This is a high OU line for a Georgetown game as their average OU line has been just 120.5 within the Big East this year. Georgetown's Big East games have averaged just 118.5 ppg and only 1 of their 12 BE games put up more than 132 points and that was the 139 points scored in their game vs Providence. The Blue Demons can score some points, but they also needed OT to get to 70+ points in 3 of their Big East games, were held to just 55 vs Pitt and 62 to St Johns in their first meeting. Now they take on perhaps the best defense in the league in Georgetown. The Hoyas have allowed more than 65 points just once in their BE games and 63 points or less in each of their last 8 games. Georgetown has allowed just 54.4 ppg at home and just 54.1 ppg in their last 7 games overall. Offensively Georgetown just doesn't have the horses or the will to take advantage of a bad Depaul defense. The Hoyas prefer a slower game and they averaged 64.2 ppg overall and just 64 pg at home. I don't see them running up and down the floor, while their defense will keep the Demons from putting up more than 60 here. 69-56 sounds about right.
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