Georgetown Travels to Butler for Key BIG EAST Matchup on Tuesday Night

March 2, 2015

WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University men's basketball team plays its final BIG EAST Conference road game of the regular season on Tuesday, March 3, visiting famed Hinkle Fieldhouse to play Butler.

The game will be shown live on FOX Sports 1 at 7 p.m., with Joe Davis calling the play-by-play and Bob Wenzel serving as the color analyst. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin can be heard locally on Sports Talk AM 570.

Georgetown enters the game with an 18-9 overall record and a 10-6 mark in the BIG EAST following an 81-70 loss at St. John's on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas, who have won 8 of their last 12 games, are ranked No. 24 in the latest RPI Ratings and have a strength of schedule tabbed No. 4 in the country.

Junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central/Oak Hill) was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 24.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in a pair of games last week for the Hoyas. This is the third-straight week that Smith-Rivera has been named to the honor roll and the fourth time in the last five weeks.

In a win over DePaul last Tuesday, the BIG EAST Conference Preseason Player of the Year recorded his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds in a 68-63 win over DePaul. On Saturday against SJU, Smith-Rivera scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He has scored at least 20 points seven times this season and has 18 career 20+ games.

Smith-Rivera leads Georgetown, and ranks fifth in the BIG EAST, with 16.0 points per game. He is also averaging a team-best 3.3 assists and is third on the team with 4.1 rebounds per game.

Senior center Joshua Smith (Kent, Wash./Kentwood/UCLA) is second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points and leads the team with 6.2 rebounds. Smith, who was named to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Watch List last week, also ranks first in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage, connecting on 63.7 percent of his shots from the floor (114-of-179).

Senior guard Jabril Trawick (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends) has been one of the team's most consistent players this season as he is fourth on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg), second in assists (2.3 apg) and tied for third in rebounding (3.9 rpg). Senior forward Mikael Hopkins (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) is scoring 5.0 points per game, but is second on the team with 6.0 rebounds and leads the team with 1.6 blocked shots per game, which ranks fourth in the league.

Freshman forward Isaac Copeland (Raleigh, N.C./Bridgeton Academy [N.H.]) is one of four freshmen playing significant minutes this year, joined by L.J. Peak (Gaffney, S.C./Gaffney), who has started all but one game. Peak is third on the team in scoring with 8.6 points and is contributing 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists. 

Copeland, who has been named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week 3 times this season, is averaging 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. In the last 10 games, he is averaging 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 49.4% from the floor (41-of-83).

Freshman forward Paul White (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) is seventh on the team with 5.4 points and 3.1 rebounds and freshman guard Tre Campbell (Washington, D.C./St. John's College HS) is averaging 2.8 points and 1.0 rebounds. 

Georgetown's freshmen have combined to average 24.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game. They have accounted for 37.7% of the team's minutes and for 33.8% of the team's scoring (623 of 1866 points). 

 

Tuesday's game against Butler will already be the third between the teams this season as the teams met during the non-league portion of the schedule at the Battle 4 Atlantis in November, 28th. 

Georgetown leads the head-to-head series, 4-1, including a 61-59 win earlier last January, 17th when Copeland hit a 3-pointer to seal the victory. 

The Hoyas won at Hinkle Fieldhouse last year, 70-67, in overtime.