Memories of early loss to Golden Eagles linger
Georgetown, the hottest team in the Big East, will put its five-game winning streak on the line and play for a share of second place in the conference when it faces Marquette at Verizon Center on Monday. It's a far cry from when the teams met for the first time Jan. 5 in Milwaukee, where Marquette won 49-48.
The Hoyas (17-4, 7-3) enter allowing the fewest points (56.8) and the lowest shooting percentage (.376) in conference play. At the offensive end, Georgetown and Marquette (17-5, 8-2) are ranked first (.464) and third (.444), respectively, in field goal percentage.
"They got us the first time, but we're a different team now! #PayBack," Hoyas guard Jabril Trawick said on Twitter after the Hoyas' 69-63 win at Rutgers on Saturday.
| Up next |
| No. 24 Marquette at No. 20 Georgetown |
| When » Monday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » ESPN |
Otto Porter Jr. led Georgetown with 19 points, 14 rebounds and four assists against the Scarlet Knights, but the Hoyas also got a crucial career-high 14 points from Mikael Hopkins, who played 32 minutes to help fill in for foul-plagued Nate Lubick.
Porter and Marquette leading scorer Vander Blue are both averaging 15.0 points overall and 16.8 points in Big East games. The Eagles have lost their last two games -- their only conference defeats -- against teams that had been ranked at some point this season. Both were on the road -- at Cincinnati (71-69 in overtime on Jan. 19) and Louisville (70-51 on Feb. 3). Georgetown has won two straight and three of its last four at home against Marquette, with the only loss coming in February 2009.
