Georgetown 73, Butler 70
A 15-0 second half run led the Georgetown Hoyas to a 73-70 win over Butler before 6,729 at Capital One Arena.
POST-GAME ARTICLES
"Today was an interesting game," said Georgetown coach Ed Cooley in post-game comments, a game Georgetown needed after having dropped six of its prior seven. The Hoyas were without Jayden Epps and had struggled at points of the game, but never let it get out of hand and in doing do, gave them a chance to win at the end.Thomas Sorber was the early star for Georgetown, scoring eight of the Hoyas' first 10 points in the first four minutes of play. Butler opened the game with 6-11 Boden Kapke at center but quickly went to 7-1 reserve Andre Screen off the bench, who shut down Sorber offensively for the remainder of the half and matched him with 10 points by halftime. Up 12-7, the Hoyas missed its next eight attempts as the Bulldogs took advantage with a 9-1 run--a miserable 1 for 11 run from three was the only thing that kept Butler from running away early as St. John's had done three days earlier.
From a 20-20 tie at the 7:34 mark, the two teams played serve and volley for the remainder of the first half, with 13 lead changes. A tip-in at the halftime buzzer from Jordan Burks brought the Hoyas to 37-36 at the break, shooting 47 percent but just 1 for 9 from three point range. For its part, Butler shot 46 percent, with an extra free throw the difference at the break.
Opening the second half, the Fox Sports 1 broadcast displayed a pair of sobering statistics for Butler. In ten Big East games, the Bulldogs were a combined +3 at halftime and a a combined -42 after halftime, having tied or led at the break in five of its eight losses. Past was prologue, as the Bulldogs were soon grounded at a key moment of the game.
The Hoyas had played well defensively in the first half but had only forced one Bulldog turnover in the initial 12 minutes of the first half and four by halftime. Following baskets by Sorber and Caleb Williams to tie the score at 44, the defense began to take over. Four Butler turnovers in the next four minutes framed a 15-0 run, as Georgetown shot 6 for 7 and took a 55-44 lead at the 13:21 mark behind six points each from Sorber and Williams and a three from Drew Fielder.
Two more Butler turnovers soon extended the Georgetown lead to 60-49 midway in the second half, but the Hoyas struggled thereafter. A pair of second chance baskets by Micah Peavy were the only points Georgetown scored over the following six minutes, where three GU turnovers over a three minute stretch brought the Bulldogs to 64-60 with 3:03 remaining.
In other games, this might have been the point in the game where Jayden Epps would try to take over the game with dribble drives and to pick up foul shots, something Butler avoided for much of the game. Without Epps, the mantle for steadying the offense fell on Mack, who was at this point was a shaky 1 for 9 after halftime. After a defensive stop by Micah Peavy held off Jahmyl Telfort from a drive inside, Mack took it down the lane for a layup, 66-60, with 1:57 to play.
A Patrick McCaffrey three closed the margin to 66-63 with 1:40 to play. Mack was again at work, hitting a short range jumper to go up 68-63 with 1:11 to play. Curtis Williams forced a turnover on the next series, cashed in by Mack with two at the foul line, 70-63.
The Hoyas looked to have this one in hand following a Sorber block with 24 seconds to play, but the Bulldogs were not done yet. Curtis Williams split a pair at the line and McCaffrey answered with an open three with 0:11 remaining, 71-66. Mack missed the front and of a one and one, with Bizjack running the length of the floor for a layup and a 71-68 score with four seconds remaining. Williams sank two free throws with four seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.
The Hoyas' defense was front and center in this game, particularly Peavy and Sorber. For his part, Peavy helped the Hoyas limit Butler's leading scorer, Jahmyl Telfort, who arrived to Capital One Arena averaging 22.3 points over his last three games, but was held to one field goal after halftime and nine points in 34 minutes. The Hoyas forced 13 turnovers, nine after halftime, which contributed to a 17-3 Georgetown advantage on points off turnovers that proved consequential.
Watch the 20 seconds of Georgetown's Micah Peavy on defense here
— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) February 1, 2025
Switch. Switch back. Guard the best player on the floor. Take the ball away.
That is special stuff pic.twitter.com/FLN4IuGcGS
A lack of cheap fouls by Georgetown kept Butler off the foul line, where they were a combined 73 for 91 (.802) over its past four games. In this game, they took only 12 attempts, making nine.
Offensively, Peavy and Sorber scored 19 each, with Mack finishing with 14. The Hoyas were inefective from outside, with two Drew Fielder threes the only points in a combined 17 attempts, and adding just one field goal from the bench: Burks' tip-in to end the first half. After giving up 16 turnovers to St. John's on Tuesday, it lost only six in this game, matching a season low but picked up 10 steals, threee each form Peavy and Sorber.
The final was Georgetown's first game above 70 points since December 29, and its first win versus Butler at Capital One Arena since the 2014-15 season.
The Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Mack 40 6-12 0-5 2-3 5 6 2 14
Ca. Williams 36 4-4 0-2 0-0 6 0 2 8
Peavy 37 9-15 0-1 1-2 9 2 1 19
Fielder 19 1-1 2-4 0-0 2 0 2 8
Sorber 35 8-12 0-2 3-4 5 2 0 19
Reserves:
McKenna 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Cu. Williams 21 0-1 0-1 3-4 2 0 4 3
Burks 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2
Mulready 9 0-0 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Team Rebounds 3
Injured: Halaifonua, Moses
DNP: Epps, Fort, Montgomery, Asadallah,
Van Raaphorst, Diouf
TOTALS 200 29-46 2-17 9-13 33 10 12 73
