Georgetown Basketball

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Various news items posted during April 2025.
 
 

Inbound: Isaiah Abraham, DeShawn Harris-Smith

 4/7/25

Activity in the NCAA transfer portal continues with the report of Georgetown's addition of a pair of local high school alumni in Connecticut forward Isaiah Abraham and Maryland guard DeShawn Harris-Smith.

The 6-7 Abraham signed with UConn from Paul VI HS in Chantilly, VA, where he was an honorable mention All-Met selection in 2024 and was a Top 75 national prospect through his AAU play with Team Takeover. Abraham chose UConn in November 2023 over offers from Providence, Marquette, and Virginia Tech. Abraham's tenure at Storrs was a brief one, with 14 points in only nine games as a freshman, and just seven minutes of combined action after November 30. Abraham has three years of eligibility.

Harris-Smith, a 6-5 guard, was the 34th ranked recruit of the national class of 2023 when he signed with Maryland from Paul VI and Team Takeover as the Washington Post's All-Met Player of The Year, averaging 17.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Harris-Smith averaged 4.8 points in two seasons at College Park, but just 2.5 as a sophomore, with only four starts as a sophomore compared to 30 as a freshman, with a career high of 17 points as a freshman versus Iowa. He has two years eligibility beginning in 2025-26.



The basketball office has not commented on the transfers.

 

Casual Hoya: Under New Management

 Updated 4/7/25

SB Nation's Casual Hoya has posted notice that it is under new management, after briefly suspending operations last week.

Late last week, a message at the Casualhoya.com read "The blog has been shut down until further notice." No further comment was posted; its last update was the recap of the April 2 Georgetown-Nebraska game.

On Monday, the site changed course and announced that "the lunch blog is back, under new-but-familiar management."

Casual Hoya dates to 2008 and it the third oldest active Georgetown basketball web page behind this site (1996) and Hoya Report (2003), currently managed at Rivals.com.

 

Inbound: Duncan Powell

 4/5/25

Redshirt junior forward Jordan Powell is the latest Georgetown addition from the NCAA transfer portal, as reported Friday.

A well traveled player, Powell originally committed to Arkansas in September 2019 from DeSoto TX in the Dallas suburbs. Six months later, he decommitted from Arkansas but in lieu of reestablishing contacts with the other schools on his finals list (TCU, Mississippi, St. Louis, SMU, Tulsa), he sighed with North Carolina A&T, redshirting as a freshman and averaging 8.0 ppg with four starts. A season at Sacramento State followed, whereupon he committed to Louisiana-Lafayette, than decommitted two weeks later for Georgia Tech. He saw his best efforts to date at Georgia Tech, averaging 12.2 points on 44 percent shooting from the field. Powell started in 13 of 33 games for the Yellow Jackets, with a season's best 24 versus Duke in the ACC tournament.



 

Outbound: Jordan Burks, Drew McKenna

 4/4/25

Two starters from Georgetown's run in the College Basketball Crown announced transfers Friday.

Forward Jordan Burks will leave Georgetown in search of a third school in three years, following his freshman season at Kentucky in 2023-24. Burks started 11 games overall for the Hoyas and the last nine of the season following Thomas Sorber's injury. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds overall, with season highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds against Washington State in the Crown: these last nine games saw Burks average 10.4 points per game compared to just four points a game as a reserve. Burks averaged 1.9 points while at Kentucky.

Drew McKenna's tenure at Georgetown was in stark contrast to his potential when he was the top ranked junior in the state of Maryland.

McKenna opted to forego his senior season at Glenelg Country School for Georgetown but did not complete his high school requirements in order to enter college in the fall of 2023. He arrived as a greenshirt that spring, but saw no action that season.

McKenna's sophomore season mirrored that of a promising greenshirt from a decade earlier, Stephen Domingo (2012-14), who shot just 3 for 27 from three point range and transferred following his sophomore season. In 2024-25, McKenna averaged just 1.8 points in 20 games, with his only start coming in the injury depleted Crown games. His three point shooting of 1 for 16 limited his on-court time, with an 0 for 13 statistic since the Notre Dame game in early November, and was not effective enough on defense to garner significant playing time, averaging just seven minutes per game. A nine point, six rebound game versus Washington State was a career high.

Destinations for the two transfers have not been announced to date.

 

Inbound: Langston Love

 4/3/25

In the midst of the transfer portal, Georgetown's first inbound transfer has been added to the list.

Langston Love, a 6-5 guard from Universal City, TX who played three seasons at Baylor, announced a transfer to Georgetown via the portal Wednesday. This announcement was not confirmed by the basketball office, which no longer comments on inbound recruits or outbound transfers.

Ranked 28th in the ESPN class of 2021, Love averaged 8.9 points this past season, with 11 starts in 20 game appearances. Parts of his career at Baylor were limited by injury, with an ACL tear as in 2021-22, an eye injury late in the 2022-23 season and an ankle injury in 2023-24. Love has one season of eligibility remaining.

Recruiting services are favorable that Love can contribute to the Hoyas in 2025-26, though he does not appear to be a direct replacement for either the graduating Micah Peavy or the transferring Drew Fielder. It is unclear, at least for now, whether this addition might be preemptive to a pending transfer by someone else.



 

Nebraska 81, Georgetown 69

 4/3/25

Brice Williams scored 28 points as the Georgetown Hoyas fell to Nebraska in the quarterfinal of the College Basketball Crown.

POST-GAME COVERAGE  
With the same short-handed starting lineup that held together in the win over Washington State, Georgetown started 2 for 10, but hung around for much of the first half, forcing seven turnovers and adding six offensive rebounds. Runs of 7-0 and 9-0 carried the Cornhuskers to a 34-24 lead at the half, with the Hoyas shooting just 29 percent from the floor, 28 percent from three (4-14) and 28 percent from the foul line (2-7), with Mack limited to 1 for 8 shooting at the break.

Mack opened the second half with a turnover and two misses and the Hoyas struggled, giving up a 11-2 run and trailing by 19 four minutes in. Back to back threes from Mack brought GU to 12 with 13:18 remaining, and a three to close to 10 at the 10 minute mark, 57-47. Mack scored 11 of GU's next 16 to close to nine with 3:29 to play, 76-67.

A Mack pass to Austin Montgomery brought the Hoyas to eight, 77-69, but the Huskers got an offensive rebound tip-in, 79-69, and Montgomery missed a long three with 1:34 remaining, ending a spirited Georgetown run.

Nebraska's 34-18 advantage in the paint proved decisive desite Malik Mack's 25 points for the Hoyas, 23 of which came in teh second half.

"It's my goal to never be in this tournament again," said Georgetown coach Ed Cooley in post-game remarks. Though not critical of the venue, Cooley explained that he is seeking a return to the NCAA tournament.

"I think the accommodations are great, it's nice to see all the bright lights, but this is not what we're trying to build our program to be."

Georgetown ends the sason 18-16, its foirst winning season in six seasons. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:


            MIN   2FG   3FG  FT   REB  A  PF  PTS
Starters:    
Mack         40   3-8  4-8  7-9     1  3   0   25
Ca. Williams 29   4-7  0-0  1-2     4  2   5    9
Cu. Williams 30   0-1  1-5  1-2     3  1   4    4
McKenna      19   2-6  0-2  2-3     5  0   1    6
Burks        37   1-4  3-8  0-0     6  1   2   11 
Reserves:
Montgomery   12   1-2  0-2  0-0     2  0   0    2  
Van Raaphorst 4   0-0  1-1  0-0     1  0   0    3
Mulready     29   0-1  3-4  0-0     3  1   1    9
Team Rebounds                       6
Totals      200 11-29 12-30 11-16  31  8  13   69
Injured: Halaifonua, Moses, Sorber
DNP: Fort, Peavy, Epps, Asadallah, Diouf
 

Georgetown 85, Washington St. 82

 4/1/25

A career high 37 points from Malik Mack steered Georgetown to an 85-82 win over Washington State in the opening round of the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas.

POST-GAME COVERAGE  
Because nothing comes easy for the 2024-25 Hoyas, three players, including starters Micah Peavy and Jayden Epps, were sidelined by an undisclosed illness. A patchwork lineup of Mack, Curtis and Caleb Williams, Drew McKenna and Jordan Burks had the feel of a summer scrimmage against a depleted Washington State team of its own, down two starting guards from exits to the transfer portal.

Early returns were not promising. McKenna picked up two fouls in the first five minutes, as three Georgetown walk-ons saw action before halftime. Georgetown shot 3-11 to open the game, as the Cougars opened up an eight point lad six minutes in, 16-8, with little resistance inside, as neither Burks not McKenna could contain WSU inside. The Hoyas trailed throughout a first half where the Cougars were largely uncontested inside, and led 35-25 with 4:05 to halftime having shot 11 for 16 in the paint.

If there was ever a point of the game where the Hoyas could have packed it in, this may have been it. Having lost six of eight without Thomas Sorber, and now without Micah Peavy, Jayden Epps, and Drew Fielder, Georgetown was shooting just 33 percent and gave up 20 rebounds in the first 16 minutes. Instead, Ed Cooley and the staff put all the chips on the table with sophomore Malik Mack.

"Neither team is defending. It's like Stevie Wonder is guarding Ray Charles out there."
-- Georgetown coach Ed Cooley

For all its height inside, WSU had issues on defense, having lost its two starting guards to the portal. Mack had open looks early in the game, shooting four for six, but had only one shot over a six minute stretch where Curtis Williams and Drew McKenna were ineffective and GU shot 2 for 10.

WSU's guard plan opened a door for Mack and for the Hoyas, where the 6-2 sophomore scored nine points in a 47 second stretch on thee consecutive three pointers, followed by a three with 55 seconds to halftime that gave GU its first lead since early in th gam, 39-38. The Cougars closed out the period with a pair of easy baskets to lead 42-39 at the break, but mack served notice: 20 points overall, finishing the half 7 for 10, the remainder of the team 7 for 26, as a Georgetown team with no center lived on the perimeter, with eight threes by halftime.



In a game that started off with a sense of low expectations, the team took it upon themselves to make a statement after halftime. The Hoyas started out cold to open the second half, shooting two for its first 10 as the Cougars built a 56-47 lead seven minutes into the second half, only for GU to call upon an unlikely option for a comeback: sophomore forward Drew McKenna. Following a first half where he went 0-4 with an air ball that seemed to sum up the last half of the Hoyas' season, McKenna topped his career high in a little over three minutes, scoring seven straight for GU to close to 60-58 at the 10:40 mark.



Neither team led by more than five points down the stretch, a run where Georgetown's rebounding helped it stay in the game. After having been rebounded 16-10 in the first 12 minutes of th first half, GU turned the tables in the second, with a 15-9 advantage with 8:20 to play. As the rebounds arrived, so did the opportunities: a Mack three at the 6:25 mark to close to 70-68, a Burks offensive rebound and put back with 5:37 remaining 72-70. Mack tied the score on an open jumper 30 seconds later, and this game was on. Burks picked up a block, Caleb Williams added a defensive rebound, and Mack dropped a three with 4:10 remaining, 77-72.

Six straight points at the foul line led the Cougars to retake the lead 78-77 at the 3:04 mark, and 80-79 with 2:18 to play. In a key stretch where Georgetown missed three consecutive shots, it picked up three consecutive offensive rebounds, the latter resulting in a Jordan Burks layup with 1:34 to play, 81-80 and the Hoyas extended the lead to three on a Curtis Williams drive with 41 seconds to play.

The lead narrowed to 83-82 three seconds later. With GU holding for a final shot, an out of bounds play under the Georgetown basket (initially ruled in Georgetown's favor) went to an official's review with 12.8 seconds remaining. Though there was evidence Mack had last touched the ball before going out of bounds, the call stood, and on the ensuing play Mack missed a three but recovered the rebound and added two at the line, 85-82. A Washington State three to tie the game fell short at the buzzer.

Mack's 37 was a career high and the most scored by a Georgetown player since Mac McClung versus Little Rock in 2018. The team's 36 three point attempts were two off the school record and helped rescue the shorthanded Hoyas, who gave up 44 points in the paint on the evening, but the story of the game was a smaller team earning its comeback on the boards with 18 offensive rebounds, 14 after halftime. For a team missing so many key resources to have as many offensive rebounds after halftime than the Cougars had in total for the half was remarkable, led by Jordan Burks, with six of his game high 13 rebounds coming on second offensive boards.

Despite shooting 48 percent in the second half, the Cougars connected on just two threes after halftime and finished 2 for 7 from the field in the final 5:25 of play. In that same period, Georgetown took 11 shots and connected on five, thanks to its offensive rebounding.

The Hoyas advance to meet Nebraska (18-14) in the second round of the Crown Wednesday evening.



Monday's late press drop that two starters were out of action just one hour before game time remains largely unanswered.

At that time, the sports information office announced that due to a "health incident", multiple players would not be available for the game, but failed to identify neither the cause nor the players. It was not until the starting lineups for both teams were posted online that, absent Drew Fielder, some combination of Micah Peavy, Jayden Epps, and Kayvaun Mulready would not see action. As such, Georgetown had only five active scholarship players, with walk-ons Austin Montgomery, Hashem Asadallah, and Michael Van Raaphorst seeing first half duty. (Walk-on Mason Moses is out for the season with a knee injury.)

"If I had to guess, this is not as serious as the Hoyas made it sound," writes reporter Graham Weir. "I would imagine that the cryptic statement probably relates to something like food poisoning, the flu or norovirus. Perhaps the players ate some bad food at one of the buffets in Las Vegas. Maybe they hit it too hard at Omnia. Perhaps they just didn't want to play in The Crown. Nobody outside of the locker room knows for certain."



Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:


            MIN   2FG   3FG  FT   REB  A  PF  PTS
Starters:    
Mack         40   5-12  8-12 3-4    5  4   2   37
Ca. Williams 34   2-4   2-5  3-5    8  2   3   13
Cu. Williams 39   2-5   1-10 0-0    3  4   3    7
McKenna      30   4-7   0-3  1-2    6  1   4    9   
Burks        40   5-11  1-3  3-4   13  3   3   16
Reserves:
Montgomery   10   0-1   1-3  0-0    1  0   3    3
Asadallah     2   0-0   0-0  0-0    0  0   0    0
Van Raaphorst 5   0-0   0-0  0-0    1  0   0    0
Team Rebounds                       5
Injured: Halaifonua, Moses, Sorber
DNP: Fort, Peavy, Epps, Diouf, Mulready
TOTALS      200  18-40 13-36 10-15 42 14  18   85