Georgetown and Loyola Marymount will both be looking to bounce back from losses with they meet on Friday in the Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
After winning its first two games, Georgetown (2-1) dropped a 75-63 decision to visiting Northwestern on Tuesday. The Hoyas cut the deficit to five at 53-48 but failed to draw closer.
“We have to do a better job of defending. I think that it wasn’t just the fact that they hit 14 3s, it’s about effort,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said. “I didn’t think that we gave enough effort to win.”
For the third time in as many games, Primo Spears led the Hoyas in scoring. He recorded 22 points and had a game-high six assists against the Wildcats.
Jay Heath scored 13 points off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting in his first game of the season after being granted a waiver to compete by the NCAA.
Loyola (2-2) has split its first four games following a 79-64 loss at UC Irvine on Tuesday. The Lions trailed by 20 at intermission, and they failed to get closer than 10 in the second half.
Cam Shelton, who scored 18 points, is averaging a team-high 17.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game this season. He is in his second season at Loyola after transferring from Northern Arizona University.
“We all want guys to be great immediately, but with transfers it doesn’t happen right away,” head coach Stan Johnson said. “Sometimes it takes a semester, sometimes it takes the whole year. With Cam it took the whole year. But we’re seeing the fruits of some of the pain we went through last year and he’s turning into a terrific player.”
It will be just the second meeting between the teams. Visiting Loyola defeated Georgetown 65-52 on Nov. 16, 2018.
The winner of Friday’s game plays the victor of the La Salle-Wake Forest matchup, with the losers meeting in the consolation game.
–Field Level Media