Hoyas Survive Opening Night Scare vs. Coppin State

For the first time since December 15, 2021, the Georgetown Hoyas won a basketball game.

In a 99-89 overtime victory, Georgetown defeated MEAC opponent, Coppin State, who lost 82-59 on Monday night to Charlotte.

Georgetown's starting lineup Tuesday was made up of five transfers / Photo: Georgetown Athletics

“It wasn’t the way we wanted to win, but we got the win,” Hoya head coach Patrick Ewing said. “There are a lot of teaching moments that we need to learn from.”

Georgetown jumped on the Eagles early, opening up a 10-4 lead in the opening minutes. From there, the game tightened up and Coppin State only trailed by two at the half, 36-34.

CSU dominated the first ten minutes of the second half and led 61-54 with just under 9:30 to play.

In the final 10 minutes, Georgetown guard, Primo Spears, took over the game. In Spears' first game as a Hoya after transferring from Duquesne, the sophomore scored a game-high 28 points, adding 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Of his 28 points, 22 came in the second half/overtime.

Spears scored 15 of Georgetown’s final 17 points over a 5:28 minute span.

With ten seconds to play, the Hoyas had Brandon Murray at the free throw line and a

83-80 lead. One free throw would have likely iced the game, but Murray missed

both shots, leading to a Coppin State game-tying three pointer at the buzzer by Mike Hood.

It was Hood’s first three point make of the season (previously 0-8 from beyond the arc). The question quickly became ‘why didn’t the Hoyas intentionally foul with a three point lead?’

“We were supposed to foul at the end. We didn’t,” Ewing said. “Up 3 with 10 seconds on the clock, we told them we wanted to foul, but it didn't happen. They made us pay for it.”

Georgetown outscored CSU 16-6 in overtime to win it 99-89. Bryson Mozone led the Hoyas in OT, scoring 7 of Georgetown’s 16 points, including a game-sealing three with just over a minute to go to put the Hoyas up by ten.

As Spears led the Hoyas in scoring and dominated down the stretch, the most impressive performance of the night came from UConn transfer Akok Akok. The junior forward stuffed the stat sheet, scoring 18 points (7-9 FG) with 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Junior Akok Akok dominated in his first game as a Hoya / Photo: Georgetown Athletics

“That’s a hell of a stat line,” Ewing said of Akok following the overtime victory. “He did a lot of great things for us to get this win tonight.”

The performance from Georgetown was less than convincing, but they still ended up in the win column on opening night, which is more than last year’s team can say.

The Hoyas looked like a team with five new starters who had never played together before. I thought they adjusted well down the stretch and started making big plays, while Coppin State grew fatigued, having just played 40 minutes of basketball the night before.

It wasn’t pretty, but it’s just one game. There is plenty to fix for Georgetown and Patrick Ewing, but already questions are being asked if he should be the guy to do it.

Green Bay visits D.C. for a Saturday morning game on November 12. We don’t have to wait long to see what Georgetown has learned from the ultimate opening night scare.