Head coach Ed Cooley will not be present when Georgetown hosts Coppin State on campus for its final nonconference game of the season Monday in Washington.
In conjunction with the Big East Conference, Georgetown (8-4) suspended Cooley for the Coppin State game on Sunday after an incident at the end of the Hoyas’ 80-77 loss to Xavier the day prior. The veteran coach threw a water bottle into the stands that struck a child immediately after time expired.
Cooley opened his postgame press conference with an apology. The bottle apparently hit a relative of Hoyas center Vince Iwuchukwu.
“Definitely out of character to be so frustrated, but really that’s not called for,” Cooley said about the incident.
“I apologize to the fans, I apologize to our players, the university. Totally, totally out of character for me to be that way.”
Georgetown has not made an additional statement nor revealed who will serve as acting head coach for Monday’s game. Cooley has been a head coach in the Big East since the 2011-12 season with Providence before taking over at Georgetown three seasons ago.
Georgetown failed to build off their comeback victory at Marquette on Dec. 17 and fell to 1-1 in the league after being outrebounded 45-36 and connecting on just 25 of 43 free throws (58.1%) in the loss to the Musketeers. The Hoyas average 72.5 % on the season from the charity stripe.
KJ Lewis, who returned to the starting lineup after a one-game stint off the bench due to an illness, scored 15 points and went 9 of 9 from the line. The junior transfer from Arizona had a simple message for his team going forward.
“We just have to look ourselves in the mirror and get better,” Lewis said.
Coppin State (2-13) enters its penultimate nonconference game of the season on a six-game losing streak with an average defeat by 30 points. Picked to finish last in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference preseason poll, the Eagles have played just one home game to date — a victory over non-Division I opponent Central Pennsylvania on Nov. 18.
First team All-MEAC preseason selection Khali Horton is third on the Eagles averaging 7.3 points per game but has reached double figures scoring just three times in 14 games since hitting for a season-high 19 in the opener at Maryland. Horton has hit 24 of 60 3-pointers on the season (40%) to lead Coppin State.
Demariontay Hall leads the Eagles with 8.8 ppg and 5.7 rpg.
