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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.
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.
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.
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
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