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Malik Mack Was On Fire In Georgetown's 85-82 Win Over Washington State In The CBC

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Basketball

Malik Mack was on fire as his 37 points bolstered an 85-82 win over the Washington State Cougars in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown. With the win at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Monday night, the Georgetown men's basketball team improves to 18-15 overall and will face Nebraska on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals. The Cougars end the season with a 19-15 overall record.

ON THE RECORD
"It's been a long two weeks, a really long two weeks getting our men ready coming from our last BIG EAST game, having to wait almost two and a half weeks. I think our men did a great job in preparation. You don't know, with all these teams having transfers and you know, guys are injured guys that lead programs, so I'm really proud of our guys. Obviously we were really, really short handed. But at the same time, I thought we were resilient. When we got down like 10 or 11, Malik did really, really well, right? He was a one man wrecking crew out there. I thought a lot of people played off of his energy and his leadership. So I'm just really proud of the group and am looking forward to playing a very talented Nebraska team." - Head Coach Ed Cooley
 
"For me, it's just playing with the flow and not really trying to force things. I feel like that's when things go wrong. I? think just letting the game come to me was most important. Whenever I felt like it was a good shot, I? made sure I? was taking those shots, believing that I can make them, and knowing that I work on those shots. I was just playing with the flow of the game." - Malik Mack on his 37-point performance

HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

  • Malik Mack led a trio of Hoyas in double figures with a career-high 37 points on 13-for-24 shooting and an efficient 66.7% (8-12) from beyond the arc. The sophomore also chipped in five rebounds, four assists and two steals to his stat line in a full 40 minutes of playing time.
  • Jordan Burks followed with a career-high 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting and a career-best and game-best 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season while also recording one block.
  • Caleb Williams rounded out the Hoyas in double figures with a career-best 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting while also adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
  • Mack and Curtis Williams Jr. paced the offense with four assists apiece.
  • Georgetown shot 40.8% (31-76) from the field and 36.1% (13-36) from beyond the arc.
  • The Hoyas owned the boards outrebounding the Cougars 42-37.
  • GU forced 12 turnovers, scoring 16 points off of eight steals, while committing only ten of their own.

WASHINGTON STATE HIGHLIGHTS

  • LeJuan Watts led a quartet of Cougars in double figures with 22 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor. Ethan Price (16), Dane Erikstrup (15) and Tomas Thrastarson (12) rounded out the Cougars in double figures.
  • Watts led the squad on the glass with eight rebounds followed closely by Thrastarson with seven.
  • Watts paced the offense with five assists followed by Erikstrup with four.
  • Washington State shot 50.0% (29-58) from the floor while shooting 25.0% (5-20) from beyond the arc.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Despite Washington State getting on the board first, a Caleb Williams 3-pointer to put the Hoyas on the board first and take a quick 3-2 lead. The Cougars would push and lead by as many as eight early (16-8), but back-to-back buckets from Mack and Burks cut the deficit in half.
  • Foul trouble sent WSU to the line and the lead was building but a Burks layup followed by a Curtis Williams Jr. trey made it a one-possession game (28-25) with 6:14 to play.
  • The Cougars strung together seven straight to build their biggest lead of the frame (35-25), but Mack drained a trio of triples within 40 seconds to pull the Hoyas within one before a pair of Burks free throws pushed the Blue & Gray ahead 36-35.
  • Free throws pushed WSU ahead once again but Austin Montgomery's 3-pointer gave GU the lead again. Washington State knocked down a pair of buckets to take a 42-39 lead into the locker room.
  • A Burks bucket started the second frame and the squads traded triples, but it was an 8-0 run to put the Cougars up 53-44. A Caleb Williams trey ended the run and free throws from Caleb Williams and Burks pulled GU within four.
  • WSU had an answer for everything but the Hoyas would continue to chip away with contributions coming from all around including seven points from Drew McKenna to pull the Hoyas within two (60-58). The Cougars gave themselves some breathing room again until a Burks dunk followed by a Mack bucket evened the score at 72. A pair of free throws from Caleb Williams gave the Blue & Gray its first lead of the frame, 74-72 and another Mack triple extended the lead to 77-72.
  • More trips to the charity stripe put the lead back in WSU's hands but it was short lived as a McKenna jumper swung the momentum back to the Hoyas. Another lead change set up back-to-back buckets from Burks and Curtis Williams Jr. for the 83-80 advantage with less than a minute remaining. WSU knocked down a bucket to make it a one-point game but a pair of Mack free throws with 6.8 remaining iced the game for the Blue & Gray as the Hoyas held on for the 85-82 win.

OF NOTE

  • Mack's 20 points in the first half is a season high for the Hoyas in the first half, besting Micah Peavy's 19 in a 93-72 win against Providence on February 19. Mack scored 20 points in the second half earlier this season in a 69-63 win over Xavier on January 3.
  • Mack's five 3-pointers in the first half is also a season high for a Hoya in a half, first or second, with four being the previous best.
  • Mack's eight 3-pointers in the game is a new career best for the sophomore, eclipsing his previous best of five at UMass on November 17, 2023.

UP NEXT
Georgetown returns to action on Wednesday, April 2 as the Hoyas take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown. Tipoff is slated for 9:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on FS1 with Gus Johnson calling the play-by-play, Jim Jackson providing analysis and Allison Williams reporting from the sidelines. The game can be heard locally on 99.1 Bloomberg with Rich Chvotkin, in his 51st season as the Voice of the Hoyas, calling the action.