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The No. 21 Hoyas hit the road to Omaha on Saturday, where they'll face the 10-12 Creighton Bluejays. Georgetown recently lost at home to Xavier, completing a sweep at the hands of the Musketeers. The Jays got their first conference win of the season last time out against St. John's. Here are three things to watch for in Saturday's CBS Sports Network contest:
1. The home crowd
Creighton has just two wins away from home this season (Nebraska and Middle Tennessee). But at home they're much better, owning an 8-4 record at the CenturyLink Center, including a win against Oklahoma. The Omaha crowd shows up regardless of the opponent. Saturday's opponent is a ranked Hoyas squad and you can bet the crowd will be juiced for the game. If the Jays keep this game close, look for the crowd to become a factor. The best case scenario for the Hoyas is to come out of the gates hot and get up by double digits to keep the crowd hushed.
2. Shooting is contagious
The worst case scenario for Georgetown would be that the Jays continue where they left off against St. John's and hit from deep early, energizing the crowd and creating belief in a team that is only 1-8 in conference this season. While the Jays were only shooting 43 percent from deep last game against the Red Storm, that certainly felt a lot better than their season average of 33 percent. Toby Hegner and James Milliken were a combined 8-of-12 from beyond the arc against St. John's, hitting clutch threes to give the Jays their first Big East win this season. You can bet that Georgetown will be honing in on Creighton's shooters.
3. Battle in the paint
If you watched the last meeting between these two teams, you could immediately tell that Creighton was intent on stopping Georgetown big man Joshua Smith. However, Smith still finished with 16 points, going 5-for-6 from the field. If the Jays are to have any chance in this game, they need to limit Smith while also protecting the rim against slashers like freshmen L.J. Peak and Tre Campbell, who wreaked havoc on the Jays in D.C. Creighton will also need contributions from Will Artino, Zach Hanson and Geoffrey Groselle, who scored a combined 17 points against the Hoyas on Jan. 3, 11 of those points coming from sophomore Zach Hanson.