Ed Cooley will be coaching against his former team when Georgetown visits Providence in a Big East tilt Saturday.
Cooley, who is in his third season as Georgetown’s head coach, served as Providence’s head coach from 2011-23 and went 242-153 with seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Hoyas (9-10, 1-7 Big East) are coming off Wednesday’s 66-51 loss to Villanova, which stretched the team’s losing streak to six games.
Georgetown shot 34% from the field in the loss, and was outscored 40-28 in the second half.
“Obviously not very happy with the way we played in the second half,” Cooley said. “Loved our energy and toughness in the first half. … I didn’t like our overall team discipline, but on to the next game in the Big East. So there’s opportunity knocking, looking forward to our next game.”
Providence (9-10, 2-6) leads the Big East in scoring (89.7 points per game), but is last in points allowed (86.3). Senior guard Jason Edwards is the No. 2 scorer in the Big East (17.2), but has missed the last three games with a foot injury. Jaylin Sellers is the Big East’s No. 5 scorer (15.9), and forward Oswin Erhunmwunse leads the conference in blocked shots with 48 in 19 games.
Providence, which is 7-3 at home this season, dropped a 105-104 decision at Marquette in overtime Monday. Sellers scored 27 points in the loss, the Friars sixth in the past eight games.
“We all have to look in the mirror and continue to improve,” Providence coach Kim English said following the Marquette game. “That’s what we’ll do. Get better and go back home and play Georgetown.
“We had every opportunity to win that game. They had 16 steals. That’s one thing we do not practice is defense after a steal. Just really could never get it defensively in the second half.”
Georgetown has four players scoring in double figures: KJ Lewis (14.7 points), Malik Mack (13.8), Julius Halaifonua (10.3) and Caleb Williams (10.1). Lewis has scored in double figures in 17 of Georgetown’s 19 games.
