DePaul, Georgetown look to extend much-improved seasons

NEW YORK -- Georgetown showed major improvement in coach Ed Cooley's second season as Micah Peavy earned a spot on the All-Big East first team and injured center Thomas Sorber made the third team and the conference's all-rookie team.

Still there were moments of inconsistency for the seventh-seeded Hoyas (17-14), who oppose 10th-seeded DePaul in the first round of the Big East tournament Wednesday night with the winner advancing to face second-seeded Creighton on Thursday.

The Hoyas improved by eight wins after going 9-23 in 2023-24, their third straight 20-loss season. Cooley was able to land Peavy in the transfer portal following three seasons at TCU and recruited Sorber.

Peavy averaged 16.9 points overall and 19.2 in conference games as the Hoyas finished with eight wins in those games. He became the first Hoya to make the Big East first team since Jessie Govan in 2018-19.

Before undergoing season-ending foot surgery, Sorber averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds, receiving the league's Freshman of the Week honors seven times.

The Hoyas are 2-4 since Sorber's last game and ended the season with an 83-77 loss at DePaul on Sunday that infuriated Cooley. While Peavy scored 29 points, the Hoyas allowed 56.6 percent shooting.

"We know in order to win games, everyone has to step up," Peavy said. "We haven't had a full squad for most of the year, but we've still been in close games, and we've learned how to execute when it counts."

DePaul (13-18) nearly beat Villanova in the opening round last season before taking a one-point loss to end a 3-29 season. The Blue Demons improved by 10 victories in coach Chris Holtmann's debut season and are coming off consecutive wins over Providence and Georgetown.

DePaul scored at least 80 points and shot at least 50 percent in the wins over the Friars and Hoyas. It was the first time the Blue Demons shot at least 50 percent in consecutive conference games since Jan. 2-6, 2019, and the first time it scored at least 80 in consecutive conference games since Feb. 27-March 2, 2022.

"I think that you want to be playing well late," Holtmann said. "One of our goals this year, I said, 'I'd like for us to be able to say we're playing well late.' And that's clearly demonstrated here. So I think we hit that goal, now we need to play well in New York."

DePaul is led by CJ Gunn (12.8 points) and Isaiah Rivera (10.7), who combined for 38 points on 13-of-26 shooting on Saturday. Rivera scored a season-high 21 against the Hoyas for his fifth straight double-figure outing.

--Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media