BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ CONNECTICUT

December 29, 2008



The Big East regular season gets an early start this year, before the New Year, and begins with a bang with Georgetown visiting the XL Center in Hartford to battle Connecticut in a match-up of conference goliaths.

college basketball odds currently list Connecticut as 6 and a half point favorites in tonight's game.

Here are some of the pre-game stories and previews found on the internet this morning:

No. 12 Georgetown @ No. 2 UConn (Hartford Courant)
Big Challenge at the Start (Washington Times)
Huskies Host Hoyas to Start Big East Play (Norwich Bulletin)
Ready for Bog East Play (Courant)?
UConn Men's Gameday (Connecticut Post)
Ho-Hum, Here Come the Hoyas (New Haven Register)
Huskies Happy to Have Walker Back in the Mix (Norwich Bulletin)
They're Back in the High Life Again (TheDay.com)
Hoyas Set for a Big Challenge (Washington Post)

With Big East play getting underway, UConn Huskies Basketball Tickets are in demand and nothing is better than a match-up between the defending Big East regular season champion Georgetown Hoyas and the pre-season Big East favorite for this season Connecticut.

Connecticut comes into the contest undefeated with an 11-0 record. Non-conference victory highlights included wins over Miami and Wisconsin as the Huskies captured the Paradise Jam in November and a thrilling OT win over Gonzaga just nin days ago in Seattle.

Jerome Dyson leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.5 points a game, but the player separating UConn from others is 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet who averages 14.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks a game, teamming with Jeff Adrien (14.5 points, 9.5 rebounds) to form a menacing frontline.

AJ Price has been a little bit slow coming back from off-season ACL surgery (10 PPG, 37% shooting from the floor), but he showed he was still a clutch performer with 24 points and 10 assists in the win over the Zags, which included a game-tying three-pointer in the final moments of regulation.

The new-look Georgetown Hoyas made it through their pre-conference slate with a 9-1 record, highlighted by a 75-48 win over Maryland in the Old Spice Classic consolation and an overtime win over Memphis. Their lone blemish was a semifinal loss to Tennessee in the Old Spice Classic in Florida back in November.

Gone from the Hoyas back-to-back regular season championship clubs are Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Pat Ewing Jr, Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers. The Hoyas only return four players with real Big East experience (and that includes Chris Wright who was limited as a frosh due to a broken foot), so this is a new experience for many on their roster.

Junior DaJuan Summers leads the balances Hoya attack with 14 points a game which sophomores Austin Freeman (13.7) and Wright (13.2) and highly touted freshman Greg Monroe (12.4) also average double figures in scoring. Monroe also leads the club in rebounding at 5.6/game.

The Hoyas will have five players on the floor that can handle the ball and pass away from the basket, hoping to draw Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket and make them defend in space. That is an interesting match-up to watch and if they are successful it will cause some problems for UConn. However, if Thabeet is able to play a one-man zone inside, he could erase virtually all of the Hoyas game in the paint by himself.

UConn has the edge in depth and size and the new-look Hoyas will be put to the test from start to finish tonight. The opening of Big East play will bring some added pressures to the Huskies with a big target on their back as the conference favorite, but they will have too much firepower up and down the line-up and when teams need to go to tthe bench tonight, they have a decided edge and should come out with a win.


Georgetown tickets are always in demand, no matter where they are playing and tonight's game is no exception when the Hoyas and Huskies lock horns in what promises to be a highly watched event by college basketball fans around the league and nationally.


NBE Blogger Prediction:

Connecticut 71
Georgetown 63