After an action-packed night featuring several entertaining matchups, outstanding performances, and potentially pivotal results, tonight’s college basketball schedule appears to be pretty light on the intrigue and entertainment value. But one of the games that does stand out, if for no other reason than the fact that it is the only matchup tonight between two power conference teams, sees Georgetown visit Rutgers (8:30 pm ET, FS1).
Expectations aren’t particularly high for neither the Hoyas nor the Scarlet Knights this season, and early losses to mid-major opposition will not have altered that.
Bet on College Basketball Tonight at BetDSI
The Hoyas, who were picked to finish eighth in the Big East this season, are coming off of their first loss of the Ed Cooley era, a 68-67 setback against Holy Cross last Saturday.
Georgetown led by 11 with under eight minutes left, but the Crusaders, led by Joseph Octave’s 33 points, stormed back and held the Hoyas scoreless over the final two minutes, rendering Jayden Epps’s 22-point game in vain.
Rutgers, who was picked to finish tenth in the Big Ten, opened the season with a loss to Princeton. Since the loss to the Tigers, the Scarlet Knights have picked up wins over Boston University and Bryant. But tonight’s game should be a much tougher test, even if the Hoyas are still very much in rebuilding mode.
Georgetown vs Rutgers Odds
Odds are courtesy of Bovada.
Spread
- Georgetown +10 (-110)
- Rutgers -10 (-110)
Over/Under
- Over 133.5 (-110)
- Under 133.5 (-110)
Moneyline
- Georgetown +375
- Rutgers -525
Georgetown vs Rutgers Prediction and Picks
Prediction: Rutgers to win
Picks: Georgetown +10 (-110 at Bovada) & Georgetown team total over 61.5 (-125 at Bovada)
This is the first matchup between Georgetown and Rutgers since March 2, 2013, a 64-51 home win for the #7 Hoyas at what is now Capital One Arena (then the Verizon Center).
At the time, the Scarlet Knights were on their way to a 15-16 season and a 12th-place finish in the final season of the old Big East, in what would also be the last season of Mike Rice’s tenure as head coach.
The Hoyas, meanwhile, were on the way to finishing 25-7 and tying Louisville and Marquette for the Big East regular season title, in a campaign that would end with an upset loss to 15-seed Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA Tournament.
Since that season, Rutgers (2021 and 2022) has made as many March Madness appearances as Georgetown (2015 and 2021) and found respectability in the Big Ten, while Georgetown floundered through the final four seasons of the John Thompson III era and Patrick Ewing’s six mostly forgettable seasons.
They aren’t quite on equal footing at this point, but we could be in line for a much more competitive contest than there would have been in the past couple of seasons.
Cooley has reshaped the roster and appears to have a number of nice building blocks for the present and future, which should ease the pain of bumps like the Holy Cross loss.
Notable Players for Georgetown
- Rowan Brumbaugh: 15.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 54.5% 3PT
- Supreme Cook: 13.5 PPG, 11.5 RPG
- Jayden Epps: 13.5 PPG, 7.0 APG
- Jay Heath: 11.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, 40% 3PT
- Dontrez Styles: 11.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG
Rutgers lost starters Caleb McConnell, Paul Mulcahy (transferred to Washington), and Cam Spencer (transferred to UConn) from last year’s team. But the Scarlet Knights have one of the Big Ten’s better big men in Clifford Omoruyi, as well as a veteran scorer in Aundre Hyatt, and they will hope to be in the March Madness conversation once again.
Notable Players for Rutgers
- Aundre Hyatt: 13.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG
- Gavin Griffiths: 11.3 PPG, 3.0 RPG
- Clifford Omoruyi: 10.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG
- Antwone Woolfolk: 7.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG
- Derek Simpson: 5.3 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 4.0 APG
As for tonight, I think that the Hoyas can hold their own. They are still very much trying to gel and figure out how to play and win together, but they have some very interesting pieces.
Rutgers doesn’t exactly light it up on the offensive end, and if Georgetown can be respectable defensively, they should be able to keep it competitive the entire way.