The No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the Georgetown Hoyas on Monday night at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.
No. 20 Notre Dame vs. Georgetown: Cooley, Irish face shorthanded Hoyas
Without Greg Whitington, Georgetown may have a hard time stopping Notre Dame big man Jack Cooley on Monday.
Mike Lawrie
The Irish, who are one of the more efficient teams in college hoops, placing second in the country in assists and fifth in field goal percentage, will face a team that is extremely poor at scoring and rebounding. Georgetown ranks in the mid-200's in both categories and started off Big East play with a couple of sub-50-point showings. And, that was before the team lost Greg Whittington indefinitely.
Whittington, the Hoyas’ second-leading scorer and rebounder, was ruled academically ineligible on Wednesday and won’t play “until further notice,” according to a statement released by the school (via CBS Sports). Georgetown survived the absence of Whittington in wins over St. John’s and Providence, but the Hoyas’ struggles returned on Saturday in a loss to South Florida, who entered the game winless in conference play.
Notre Dame will still have to contend with Otto Porter, whose 14.3 points and 7.6 rebounds lead the team. However, Whittington's absence doesn't do Georgetown any favors in its quest to try to slow down Irish forward Jack Cooley, who is averaging 15.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game as one of the conference's best big men.
The Irish boast some firepower out of their backcourt as well, with guards Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins combining to score 24.7 points and dish out 12.1 assists per game.
Notre Dame and Georgetown will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN and WatchESPN.
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