LINKS: Hoyas Beat Bearcats Ahead of Clash With Clemson
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Your Georgetown Hoyas moved to a promising 3-0 on the season with a hard-fought, yet perhaps slightly concerning, 83-70 victory over the Binghamton Bearcats on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. Now, the Hoyas face their first major home test of the Ed Cooley era’s third season with a Saturday afternoon tilt against the Clemson Tigers.
The victory against Binghamton saw junior transfer guard KJ Lewis put up his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, leading the team in scoring.
Senior transfer center Vince Iwuchukwu was highly efficient, adding 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line, dominating the paint as the Hoyas outscored the Bearcats 46-20 inside. Sophomore guard Malik Mack pitched in 13 points, all in the second half, as the Hoyas pulled away.
However, the game was closer than many of the Georgetown faithful would have liked for a home matchup. The Hoyas struggled with defensive discipline at times, sending the Bearcats to the line frequently, though Binghamton’s 92% free-throw shooting certainly played a part.
Ed Cooley was candid after the game, stating that he thought the team only “played for 11 minutes” and that the “discipline defensively has to improve.” The team’s low turnover count (just four on the night) was a positive sign, but the defensive lapses and overall attention to detail will need to be rectified quickly before a major challenge on Saturday.
Clemson, like Georgetown, enters Saturday’s matchup with an identical 3-0 record, having cruised through their first three home games with victories by 25 or more points, including an 83-56 win over Morehead State this week.
Head Coach Brad Brownell, in his 16th season with the Tigers, views this game as a “major step up in class” for his team, recognizing the tough, physical identity Cooley has instilled. Brownell brought in six transfers to rebuild his roster, and the new-look Tigers have shown excellent ball movement, committing only five turnovers against Morehead State, and balanced scoring, with three different players leading them in scoring across their three games.
In their last outing, the Tigers saw strong contributions from forward RJ Godfrey (13 points, 11 rebounds) and forward Jake Wahlin (14 points, including four three-pointers). Guard Ace Buckner also provided solid bench scoring with 12 points.
A potential concern for the Tigers is their rebounding, as they were out-rebounded by Morehead State, and Coach Brownell stressed the need for his team to “become a little bit more physically tough.”
This highlights a key potential matchup advantage for the Hoyas, whose frontcourt of Iwuchukwu and Julius Halaifonua (7-0) could look to exploit the paint and the glass, especially if Clemson’s forwards get into foul trouble as they did against Morehead State.
For Hoyas fans, this game is truly a proving ground. It’s the next step in the program’s revitalization and a chance to show on a national broadcast (Peacock, noon tip-off) that this 3-0 start—which includes an exhibition win over Kentucky and a true road win at Maryland—is no fluke (SI).
Many of the Georgetown faithful have said that this is the best start since the 2018-19 campaign, and the toughness and physical play noted by Clemson’s coach suggest that Cooley’s efforts to revive the program are working.
A win here against a quality ACC opponent would be a tremendous boost to the team’s resume and growing national perception.
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“So definitely just give Binghamton a lot of credit, a lot of credit hung around today. I thought we played for 11 minutes. If the game was 11 minutes, I would have been really, really happy. You never want to be discouraged about it but a win is a win. And we want to get better every single time. I thought we got better today for 11 minutes when we came out of the locker room. I thought overall, our focus, our attention to detail, our will, we’ve had back to back games where we’ve given up 25 plus free throws, so our discipline defensively has to improve. But you’re going to have games like this here, and you got to give Binghamton all the credit. They came in here and they did a really good job. They made some shots, they made seven threes. We have not shot the three well, but I did like the way we came out of halftime. So the positive energy will go off as we prepare for Clemson.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley
“I’m enjoying the experience at Georgetown and I’m enjoying the guys, to be honest. I’m enjoying the coaches, and there is just a belief. They believe in me and I believe in them. It’s all working out.” – Vince Iwuchukwu
Junior guard Jeremiah Quigley had team-highs of 17 points and eight assists and graduate guard Jackson Benigni added 15 points – 12 in the second half. Binghamton put four in double figures as junior guard Bryson Wilson contributed 13 points and six boards and senior center Demetrius Lilley added 11 points and eight boards in 25 foul-plagued minutes. The Bearcats were even in the game’s first five minutes before Georgetown used a 7-0 run to build an eight-point margin.
But with Quigley (14 pts. in first half) leading the way, Binghamton kept it close and trailed 35-34 late in the half before the Hoyas scored six of the final eight points of the period. Binghamton made 14-of-15 free throws and shot 47% in the half but because of 11 turnovers, the Bearcats took 13 fewer shots than Georgetown and the hosts used the volume to help overcome their shooting struggles (41%). After the initial opening second-half Hoyas run, Benigni sparked the Bearcats, who kept within striking range after Georgetown threatened to run away with the score several times. Ultimately, however, Binghamton couldn’t get enough shots to fall in the closing 10 minutes to rally.
Lewis’ 20 lead Georgetown past Binghamton 83-70 | CBSSPORTS
KJ Lewis’ 20 points helped Georgetown defeat Binghamton 83-70 on Wednesday. Lewis added 10 rebounds for the Hoyas (3-0). Vincent Iwuchukwu scored 17 points while going 5 of 9 and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line and added six rebounds. Malik Mack shot 5 for 11, including 1 for 3 from beyond the arc to finish with 13 points. Jeremiah Quigley led the Bearcats (1-3) in scoring, finishing with 17 points and eight assists. Binghamton also got 15 points from Jackson Benigni. Bryson Wilson finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
With second-half surge, Hoyas reach 3-0 for first time since 2018 | WASHINGTONPOST
Georgetown’s 15-6 run to open the second half wobbled the Bearcats (1-3), and the haymaker came during a 13-1 flurry that expanded the Hoyas’ lead to 79-56 with less than five minutes to play. During the opening stages of the second half, a renewed commitment to defense stifled Binghamton into 1-for-11 shooting.
The Hoyas allowed 36.7 percent shooting in the second half, including 3 for 12 on three-pointers. They also benefited from another solid performance in terms of ball security, committing a season- low four turnovers. Georgetown has not turned the ball over more than nine times this season. At 7-foot-1, Iwuchukwu provided a presence on the low block that contributed significantly to the Hoyas’ 46-20 margin in points in the paint. Georgetown had 32 points in the paint in the second half, with Mack repeatedly beating defenders to get to the rim for a layup or to draw a foul.
Clemson Basketball Hits Proving Ground Saturday | SI
Georgetown sports an identical 3-0 record as Clemson, and has been one of the feel-good stories of the early 2025 college basketball season. Under Cooley’s identity, the Hoyas have enjoyed their best start since the 2018-19 campaign. A tough, rugged roster has revived a program that appeared lifeless in recent years. “It’s a major step up in class,” Brownell said of the matchup with Georgetown.
“Ed [Cooley] does an unbelievable job. He’s a terrific coach. They beat Kentucky, at Kentucky, in an exhibition. They just went to Maryland and won. That doesn’t happen very often. He’s got a really good team. Some good guards, a big, physical, tough team. He coaches the fire out of them. We’ll have our hands full. It’ll be a great challenge on the road. It’s what we need to do after playing three games at home. We need to go on the road against a high-major opponent, see how we do, and learn and grow from it.”
What we’ve learned about Clemson men’s basketball early in the season | TIGERNET
Morehead State out-rebounded Clemson 41-40 on Tuesday night, securing 19 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points to make Tuesday’s result more uncomfortable than it likely needed to be. Facing some of the bigger teams in the ACC, that challenge will only continue to grow. Heading into a tougher gauntlet of the non-conference schedule, Brownell acknowledged that this team has to get tougher as the competition grows. “We have to become a little bit more physically tough team,” Brownell said. “Obviously we have a lot of young guys. That’s a big step up. And we have some guys that even have played at lower levels, mid major basketball and the level is going to be different with the physicality. And so, there’s no question that handling those kinds of things consistently will be another step. And we talked about that after the game today.”
Godfrey Double-Double; Wahlin’s 14 Help Lead Tigers Past Eagles 83-56 | CLEMSONTIGERS
Jake Wahlin (Provo, Utah/Timpview/Utah) led Clemson University men’s basketball with a season- high 14 points, while RJ Godfrey (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett/Georgia) totaled his first double- double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds to help lead Clemson past Morehead State by a score of 83-51 on Tuesday night in Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers (3-0) led their third consecutive game wire-to-wire en route to their third-straight 25+ point victory of the season. Clemson took a 19-point lead into the half, before pushing the margin to a game-high 30 in the second half and coasting to the 27-point victory. Ace Buckner (Dallas, Texas/La Lumiere School (Ind.) netted his third-straight double-digit scoring effort (12) off the bench. He finished 4-for-8 from the field with five rebounds and two assists. Jestin Porter (Houston, Texas/Cypress Ridge/Middle Tennessee State) knocked down two threes in his nine-point output. Dillon Hunter (Atlanta, Ga./Westlake) led the team with four assists, while committing zero turnovers. As a team, the Tigers turned the ball over just five times. It extended a Tiger record for turnovers to start a season and now Clemson has just 14 in three games.
Georgetown really pushing for a good crowd at Capital One… | TIGERNET
This Saturday. Usually don’t draw well for early non conference games until the Big East schedule starts. Also, usually they don’t have good teams come there for non conference games. Think they might have had Syracuse a couple times before, but that is an old rival they have a history with. They consider Clemson a good team and program from the ACC and want to see if they can get over 8K to 9K in attendance with a couple K students included. I think HC Ed Cooley now in his 3rd year is trying to change that. They just restarted the series with Maryland who they just beat in College Park and the return game at Capital One is next year, and also started a home and home with UNC, but the 1st game is in Chapel Hill later this December, and they go to DC next year.
Ian Schieffelin paced his team in rebounds per game (9.4) last season, and also posted 12.4 points and 2.7 assists. Defensively, he put up 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocked shots. Chase Hunter averaged 16.5 points and 2.5 assists per game last year — both team highs. He also posted 3.0 rebounds, shooting 47.0% from the field and 40.7% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game. Viktor Lakhin put up 11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game last year. At the other end, he averaged 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocked shots.
Men’s Bracketology: Houston claims No. 1 overall seed, Georgetown cracks the field | ESPN
The Georgetown Hoyas were a fixture in the bracket after it first expanded to 64 teams. Coming off the 1984 national championship, they were a 1-seed in three of the next five NCAA tournaments, and a single-digit seed in all but one season between 1979 and 1996. John Thompson III did a fair impersonation of his father — the architect of that aforementioned stretch — after taking over the helm in 2004, collecting eight single-digit seeds in 10 campaigns with a Final Four run in 2006. But in the decade since that era ended in 2015, Georgetown has snuck into the tourney only once — as the 2021 Big East tournament champion — and hasn’t come close to an at-large bid the past four seasons … until Friday night. The Hoyas waited out the Beltway traffic then belted Maryland on the Terps’ home floor. Their reward is a spot in our latest bracket as the Last Team In. It will be a fascinating five months to see whether they can stay there.
Established by the league’s presidents in 2015, the John J. DeGioia Presidents’ Award is bestowed annually to the BIG EAST institution that has excelled at the highest levels in academics, athletic accomplishments, and citizenship during the previous academic year. Fittingly, this year’s recipient was Georgetown University, which earned the prestigious honor for the fourth time.
“The BIG EAST Conference is deeply indebted to Jack DeGioia for his extraordinary contributions to our sustainability and success and for his thoughtful and collaborative leadership as our conference and college sports have navigated a decade of unprecedented change,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman.
“The BIG EAST of today was made possible because of Jack’s vision and his long-standing determination to preserve the league’s priorities, values and history, and his continuing input played a critical role as we managed key decisions and steadily rebuilt our operation and standing. Most of all, he implicitly understood the value of athletics in the context of higher education, and the many successes of Hoyas student-athletes are a testament to his ideals.”
The Tigers (3-0) got revenge on the Eagles (1-3) after Morehead State upset them in the 2023 NIT Tournament at Clemson. The Tigers did not trail to an opponent for the third straight game as they had 20 more bench points than Morehead State. Clemson continued to take care of the ball, having five turnovers to 19 assists and scoring 12 points off of the Eagles’ 11 turnovers. The Tigers had three players score in double figures, including guard Ace Buckner (12 points) and forwards Jake Wahlin (14) and RJ Godfrey (13). Godfrey also recorded his third career double- double with 11 rebounds.
Godfrey’s Double-Double Paces Clemson to Third Win of Season | THECLEMSONINSIDER
RJ Godfrey’s first double-double of the season helped pace the Tigers, with the senior finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ace Buckner added 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while Jake Wahlin finished with 14, hitting 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Wahlin hit back-to-back three-point baskets after the opening tip to ignite a 20-5 run by the Tigers to start the contest. Clemson’s swarming defense helped limit the Eagles to 4-of-20 from the floor over the first 15 minutes of play, as the Tigers took a 39-20 lead into halftime. Morehead State went on a small run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 15, but the Tigers scored the next five points to push the lead back out to 20, and Clemson never led by less than 15 points the rest of the way.
What We Learned From Clemson Basketball’s Strong Win Over Morehead State | SI
Foul trouble to forwards RJ Godfrey and Carter Welling saw Clemson struggle to pick up momentum on the offensive glass, creating scoring runs for Morehead State throughout the game. The Eagles outrebounded the Tigers, 41-40, although the team rallied back from a bigger deficit before the end of the game. Although the damage was mostly done in the first half, Godfrey recorded three fouls with about 17 minutes to go in the game, and the Eagles began to take over the paint with potential second chance points. Welling picked up two in the first half and another with 15:53 remaining in the contest, having to be sidelined. This led the only big player on the court to be Nick Davidson, who Morehead State head coach Jonathan Mattox used to his advantage, recording eight offensive rebounds and nine second chance points in the half with his team.
