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The Georgetown Hoyas and Penn State Nittany Lions are set to do battle Thursday evening. The Hoyas and Nittany Lions’ clash is the penultimate matchup in the 2019 Gavitt Games, and one that could tip the scales towards either yet another tie or an advantage in one conference’s favor.
The Hoyas and Nittany Lions are each 2-0 as they go into Thursday’s matchup. Patrick Ewing’s squad comes in with wins over Mount St. Mary’s and Central Arkansas, while Pat Chambers’ team has defeated Maryland Eastern Shore and Wagner. Neither team has faced a particularly great one thus far, or even a particularly good one but this matchup should be fun. It features the 63rd ranked team on KenPom in Georgetown and the 43rd ranked squad in PSU.
Penn State’s lack of size could wind up hurting them in this one. They have no players listed above 6-foot-9, which could very well pose a problem against Hoyas big man Omer Yurtseven. Yurtseven has been off to a hot start, having made 73.7 percent of his 2-point tries so far. He’s been a shot-blocking and rebounding machine so far too, and will likely be a problem for the Nittany Lions inside the paint.
Meanwhile, on the flipside the Hoyas will have to watch out for PSU’s 3-point shooting. The Nittany Lions have made 37.7 percent of their 3-point tries, ranking 81st in the nation in 3PT FG%. Their best shooters so far have been Myles Dread, Curtis Jones and Myreon Jones. Each of them have shot at least 40 percent or better, in the case of Curtis, who’s made exactly 50 percent of his eight 3-point attempts this year. The Hoyas have been a little leaky on the perimeter this year, so we’ll see if that trend continues Thursday night.
HOW TO WATCH
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Watch Online: Fox Sports Go
ODDS
Spread: Georgetown -2.5
Total: 149.5
Moneyline: Georgetown -141 | PSU +121