Georgetown Basketball: Keys to success for the Hoyas against St. John’s

Georgetown basketball heads to NYC in need of a conference win if they want to stay within reach of the top. St. John’s finds themselves in the same situation.

Georgetown is currently 2-4 in the conference with all the losses coming by six points or less. Three of the four games were lost down the stretch, including their overtime loss in Washington DC to St. John’s. The Red Storm are 3-4 in the Big East.

In what proved to be an instant classic, their first meeting against St. John’s might have been the catalyst for late-game collapses in conference play. The Hoyas held a five-point lead with 52 seconds left in regulation only to allow St. John’s to tie the game and send it into overtime. In the overtime, the Red Storm would lead by as much as six points as they came away with the 97-94 win.

Some of the lack of execution seen in that game came up again in Georgetown’s latest close loss. This one came to the hands of Creighton. Down one, James Akinjo would hit a 3-pointer with 2:09 left in the game. On the next possession, Jessie Govan would commit a foul, allowing Creighton to score without the clock moving. After a Jessie Govan miss, Creighton’s Ty-Shon Alexander (26 points) would hit a wide open 3-pointer. The Blue and Gray would only score two points after Akinjo’s 3-pointer in the 91-87 loss.

Georgetown sits near the bottom of the muddled Big East Conference. Here, though, are three keys for the Hoyas to take down the Red Storm.