GAME THREAD: Georgetown at Butler

Hoyas are 7-3 at Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse (vs the Bulldogs)

Game 12: Georgetown Hoyas (7-4) at Butler Bulldogs (9-2)

When: Tuesday 6:30 PM

Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse (Indianapolis)

TV: FS1 (Jeff Levering and LaPhonso Ellis)

Radio: 1067 The Fan, Sirius XM 383 (The legendary Rich Chvotkin/50th season)

Series: Tied at 11 (Hoyas lead 7-3 away)

Last Meeting: Georgetown won 68-62 at Butler on Feb. 19. It was Patrick Ewing’s last win as the Hoyas coach.

KenPom rankings: Butler 59, Georgetown 178

KenPom Projection: Butler wins 83-70. Bulldogs with an 88% win probability.

Line: Hoyas +10, o/u 150, Georgetown ML +470

What’s At Stake: Georgetown is hoping to snap a bad streak as the Hoyas have lost their last four Big East openers and six of their last seven. That one win you ask? Well it of course came at the Hoyas favorite home-away-from-home at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Georgetown came away with an 84-76 victory at Butler on 1/2/2019 and it remains the last time the Hoyas were above .500 in the league, starting 1-0. A loss tonight could quickly turn into 0-3 in the league with two ranked teams – at Marquette and home to Creighton – coming up next.

A Few Words: Georgetown is coming off a massive – for them – win at Notre Dame and they did so without leading scorer Jayden Epps (illness). For his role in Epps absence, Rowan Brumbaugh earned Big East Freshman of the Week Honors on Monday. If the award didn’t go to Brumbaugh, classmate Drew Fielder could have laid a decent claim to the award himself. As far as the big question on the availability of Epps, there hasn’t been official word from Georgetown as to his whereabouts which seems like bad news for those hoping to see him magically appear at Hinkle.

On the Bulldogs: Butler coach Thad Matta came back to the sidelines last season after a five-year hiatus and suffered the first losing record of his career. It doesn’t seem as though Matta will make that a habit as he has taken a new roster -the top five scorers are new to the program – and started out 9-2. Michigan State transfer Pierre Brooks is looking like all he needed was more playing time to prove his high ranking coming out of high school. St. John’s transfer Posh Alexander has fit right in while staying in the league. BTW, Alexander is 4-1 against Georgetown, scoring in double figures in all five meetings. Butler already has three wins against major conference teams and one of their losses – a 91-86 defeat to Florida Atlantic in Florida – was one of the more entertaining games during the Holiday tournaments. Butler has a Top 50 offense thanks to being one of the better shooting teams in the country from 2pt range and from the free throw line.

Injury Updates: Ok so it’s not the gameday news we are all looking for but, Butler, like many college teams, provides pro like updates with regards to injuries. Rotation player Connor Turnball – 11 minutes per game – is out tonight.

EPPS UPDATE: Georgetown’s leading scorer is in uniform and warming up.

OK, this is the place to leave your insightful comments….starting now!