BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: CONNECTICUT @ GEORGETOWN

January 12, 2008


A classic Big East battle commences at the MCI Center on Saturday afternnon when Georgetown hosts the Connecticut Huskies. The Hoyas are 2-0 in the conference, cruising past both DePaul and Rutgers on the road, now they return home to host a UConn team looking to make a statement.

Here are the local media previews on the contest:

Hoyas on the Rebound (Washington Times)
Hoyas Swap Places with Connecticut (Washington Post)
Chance to Send Instant Message (Hartford Courant)
Thabeet Eager for Hibbert, Georgetown (Connecticut Post)

The Huskies have opened conference play with wins over Seton Hall and St. John's which bookend a loss to Notre Dame. Against the Irish, UConn found themselves down 19 at the half and rallied to take a 2nd half lead, but the Irish made big plays down the stretch to save the win.

The Hoyas have a little bit of everything, with 7'2 ROy Hibbert nearly matching the height of UConn's 7'3 Hasheem Thabeet. Patrick Ewing Jr and Vernon Macklin also add size and athletic ability to the mix. Multi-dimensional Dajuan Summers plays both forward spots and cool and steady lead guard Jonathan Wallace adds experience and dead-eye shooting to the Hoya mix.

Georgetown also has another element this season with freshmen Austin Freeman and Chris Wright joining junior Jesse Sapp as players who can excelt in the open court as well. If UConn is successful in pushin tempo, Georgetown adds more weapons to their traditional Princeton-style attack.

The patience and high effeciency execution that trademarks Georgetown is a touch match-up for UConn, especially this group that is still coming together as a team. The Huskies tend to lose focus at times, but their improvement has been steady and Jim Calhoun has been harping on 40-minutes of effort from this squad. The Huskies like to play fast and Georgetown is very good at preventing teams from playing at their preferred tempo.

For UConn to win this game, AJ Price is going to have to be at his very best, especially when the game slows down and UConn is forced to play in the halfcourt. Price will need to get the big men in position to score. Despite several exceptional athletes, UConn does have trouble with players being able to create their own offense in a halfcourt setting. Outside of Price and Jerome Dyson, the rest in the regular line-up are much more capable in transition or picking up baskets on the offensive glass. The presence of Hibbert will limit the advantage that Thabeet has over most teams. The Hoya depth should also be able to battle Jeff Adrien in the paint and Georgetown's experience migh be a stiff challenge for Stanley Robinson.

This should be a great learning tool for Connecticut as they still have to learn to fight through a game against a good opponent that will force them to play out of their element. I think the Huskies match-up well, but until they have road success playing teams of a different style, I am going to wait on them before predicting they spring an upset.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 76 UConn 68