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No. 5 Georgetown Makes Final Preparations for Showdown with No. 2 Memphis |
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Written by Media Relations
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Friday, 21 December 2007 |
Washington, D.C. – The No. 5-ranked Georgetown University men’s basketball team arrived in Tennessee on Thursday evening in advance of the team’s biggest game to date, an outing with second-ranked Memphis at Fed Ex Forum. Tip-off for the game on Saturday, December 22 is slated for noon (ET).
The game will be shown live on ESPN, with Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas calling the game and Andy Katz on the sidelines. Rich Chvotkin will provide the play-by-play on SportsTalk 980 AM.
On Friday, the Hoyas arrived at Rhodes College in Memphis and went through a two-hour workout in preparation for the game. Following the practice, Head Coach John Thompson III and the student-athletes met with the local media and discussed Saturday’s game.
“Every game you play, and as the kids get closer to the end of their careers, whether it’s collegiate or in the pros, every game is special,” Thompson said. “Every time you take the court, it’s special.”
The matchup with the Tigers pits two of the nation’s 13 undefeated teams against one another. Georgetown enters the game with an 8-0 record, while Memphis improved to 9-0 on Wednesday with a win at Cincinnati.
Television and print reporters from Memphis brought up the history of the series between the schools, most notably in 1982-83, when the Tigers defeated the Hoyas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the only time a Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown team did not make the Final Four.
In many ways, the programs do have some history and tradition together,” Thompson said after the team’s workout. “especially during that period, when Pops was coaching and Keith Lee was here and Big Pat (Ewing) was playing. Hopefully, tomorrow’s game will resemble those in some way. I’m pretty sure it will in terms of the energy and enthusiasm in the building.” is coming off a 110-51 win over Radford last Saturday, the seventh-largest win in school history. Freshman guard Austin Freeman (Mitchelville, Md./DeMatha) scored a career-high 21 points to lead five players in double figures as the Hoyas connected on 65.9 percent of their field goals, the highest single-game percentage under Thompson.
Senior preseason All-American center Roy Hibbert (Adelphi, Md./Georgetown Prep) leads the team in scoring and rebounding, pouring in 12.8 points and grabbing 7.1 boards per contest. Hibbert, who is averaging 2.3 blocks per game, leads the team in field goal percentage, shooting 65.6 percent from the floor.
Sophomore forward DaJuan Summers (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh), who has scored in double figures in the last four games, is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game. In the last four games, Summers is averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 58.3 percent from the floor.
Junior guard Jessie Sapp (New York, N.Y./National Christian Academy [Md.]) is third on the team in scoring (10.1 ppg), leads the team in assists (4.6 apg) and is third on the team in rebounding, grabbing 3.8 per game.
Georgetown leads the head-to-head series, 6-1, and has won the last six meetings. The last game between the schools was during the 1997-98 season, a 73-69 Hoya win.
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Georgetown 