Despite entering as the lowest seed, Head Coach Ed Cooley said the outcome of this year’s tournament is not predictable.
“This is the most open the Big East tournament’s been, in my opinion, in the 24 years I’ve been in the league,” Cooley said during a March 9 press conference before the team travelled to New York City.
This year, Georgetown and DePaul split their two regular-season matchups. The Blue Demons won the first meeting Jan. 6, defeating the Hoyas 56-50 in Chicago after Georgetown went 1-for-23 from the field in the second half. On Jan. 28, the Hoyas responded with a 70-61 win at home.
Even in their loss, Cooley said Georgetown has played well defensively against DePaul this season.
“Overall defensively, the two games we’ve played them, I think it’s been two of our better defensive games,” Cooley said.
Georgetown will need to contain key DePaul players, including guard CJ Gunn and forward NJ Benson, and Cooley said finishing defensive possessions will be critical.
“We’re doing a great job on everybody’s initial actions,” Cooley told The Hoya. “But in the last couple of games, what’s hurting us is our inability to complete the defensive possession by rebounding the ball.”