In what is clearly the most important rivalry in all of sports, the No. 11 Hoyas (20-4, 10-3 Big East) travel to the Carrier Dome for the last time in Big East play to face the No. 8 Syracuse Orange (22-4, 10-3 Big East) today at 4 p.m. This matchup is not only for bragging rights, but will play a critical role in determining the winner of the Big East title. The Hoyas are tied with Syracuse and Marquette atop the conference standings and have a chance to cut the group to two with a win today.

While Syracuse is the only team that controls its own destiny in winning the conference outrightly, the Hoyas can tie for the top spot by winning out, assuming Marquette does the same. Both teams are going into the game with confidence. The Hoyas, as we know, are riding an 8-ame winning streak, while the Orange have not lost at home in 38 games. The game has sold out, anticipating a crowd of 35,012, the largest ever at any NCAA college basketball game.

The Hoyas are coming in hot, riding their longest winning streak of the season. This run has not been against pushover teams as the seven-game streak in non-conference play was. The Hoyas have beaten Notre Dame, Louisville, Marquette, and Cincinnati and have dismissed the lesser teams in the Big East without drama, something that the Blue and Gray often fail to do as expected. Sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. and junior guard Markel Starks have produced as expected over the streak, averaging 16.7 and 14.3 points per game, respectively. Porter did not play in much of Wednesday’s game against DePaul, but the offense was still able to move effectively, putting up a season-high 90 points. Most impressive was freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who scored 33 points, the highest scoring total for Hoya player since Chris Wright scored 34 against Harvard in 2009. Smith-Rivera’s prowess could be a jump start for the Hoya offense that often goes stagnant.

Notable factors for the Orange will be senior guard and leading scorer Brandon Triche, who has scored 14.9 points per game this season, and sophomore guard and bathrobe thief Michael Carter-Williams who has averaged 12.7 points per game and is the team’s leading assist man, averaging 8.2 per game.

With the rivalry coming to an end, the stakes will be even higher than usual. Said Porter Jr. of the game, “It means a lot… For us, with the last game in the Dome, its huge, we definitely want to come out and win. We’re going to be extra focused when we go up there.”

When asked if he would be sad to see the end of the Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry, Head Coach John Thompson III said, “Sad? No. It’s life. Everything is an evolutionary thing.” Sad or not, this game is sure to leave a historical mark in both program and conference history.

File Photo: Miles Gavin Meng/Georgetown Voice (Feb. 20, 2013, vs. DePaul)

After its most disappointing loss of the year, Georgetown (13-4, 3-3 Big East) may have picked up its most impressive win. The Hoyas pulled off a 63-47 upset of no. 24 Notre Dame (15-4, 3-3 Big East) in front a noisy crowd in South Bend. The Blue and Gray jumped out to 10-4 lead and never looked back.

A suffocating defensive effort by the Hoyas held the Fighting Irish to season lows in points, field goal percentage, and assists. Georgetown, on the other hand, shot 53 percent from the field, one of its best shooting nights in conference play. Midway through the second half the Blue and Gray registered 18 consecutive points.

Sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. had yet another strong offensive performance with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists. Freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera followed up a 16-point game against South Florida with a 14-point night against Notre Dame.

Junior forward Nate Lubick and sophomore forward Mikael Hopkins got into foul trouble in the second half. Hopkins would ultimately foul out with 10:21 remaining in the game. Junior center Moses Ayegba played a career-high 24 minutes and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.

After initially gaining a small advantage, Georgetown seized control of the game with a 9-0 run that began to make the score 21-8 with 10:21 remaining in the half. Notre Dame answered back to reduce the deficit to four with 5:24 left in the half. The Blue and Gray, though, would respond with another 9-0 streak capped off by Porter’s fall away runner with time expiring.

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The month of January has not been very good for Georgetown (12-4, 2-3 Big East) basketball. The same can be said for No. 24 Notre Dame (15-3, 3-2 Big East). Both teams will be looking to prove something as the teams match up in South Bend tonight. The Hoyas fell to South Florida in Tampa on Saturday night—Georgetown’s third loss in January. The Fighting Irish have lost two of their last three games and narrowly avoided a third straight loss.

The Blue and Gray appeared to be on an upward trend with two consecutive wins until Saturday’s disappointing 61-58 loss in Tampa. Georgetown appeared to be in the driver’s seat, ahead 31-23 at half. For the second straight game, though, the Hoyas were outplayed in the second half—this time with disastrous results. South Florida couldn’t miss in the second half as the Bulls went 7-of-10 from three-point range, including four straight. Sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr.’s turnover and desperation heave at the buzzer resulted in a 61-58 loss.

Porter finished with a solid 21 points but didn’t get much help from his teammates. Besides Porter, no starter scored in double figures. Georgetown’s other scoring threat was unexpectedly freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera who recorded 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Junior guard Markel Starks, who had been on fire recently, shot just 1-of-8 in the game.

Georgetown particularly struggled to contain the passing of South Florida guard Anthony Collins in the second half. Things won’t get any easier for the Hoyas tonight against Notre Dame—a squad ranked second in the nation in assists per game. Additionally, the Fighting Irish are fifth in college basketball in field goal percentage, shooting 50.6 percent.

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The Georgetown men’s basketball team (12-4, 2-3) traveled to Tampa, Florida on Saturday to face the Bulls of the University of South Florida (10-7, 1-4). The Hoyas went into the game riding two Big East wins over Providence and St. Johns. However, this game seemed to be a return to the rough start of conference play.

After a slow start, the Hoyas pulled ahead, leading by 8 at the half. However, a flurry of three pointers from the Bulls changed the game. After missing most of their attempts in the first half, USF made 7 of their first 9 three point shots in the second half. This caused the Hoyas to have to play the catch-up game for the second half, eventually falling 58-61.

South Florida thrived behind the strong play of sophomore guard Anthony Collins, who scored all of his 14 points in the second half. With a 58-59 deficit in the last 30 seconds, Head Coach John Thompson III called two timeouts to set up a play for the game-winning shot. This shot never came as sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. lost his dribble with 3 seconds to go. South Florida then hit two free throws to extend their lead. Porter’s half court shot at the buzzer rattled off the rim.

The Hoyas clearly missed the play of sophomore forward Greg Whittington who was the squad’s second leading scorer before he was declared academically ineligible. Porter Jr. has stepped up his play recently, scoring 60 points in the last three games, including 21 last night. Freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera has stepped up with Georgetown’s lineup being cut down in Whittington’s absence, scoring 16 points, his first double-digit performance since the second game of the season. Unfortunately, the play of Porter Jr. and Smith-Rivera was not able to bring the Hoyas past their overall sloppy play, which led to an -11 turnover deficit in the game.

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Finally, some good news for Georgetown on the basketball front. Amid the mess that is the Big East conference, the departure of most of the Hoyas’s best players, and the attitudes of certain people who think our program is doomed, top basketball recruit D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera committed to play for Georgetown next year, picking us over such programs as Louisville and UCLA.

According to Casual Hoya, Smith-Rivera, also known as DSR, a senior combo guard at Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy, attended Midnight Madness on Friday, and had cancelled visitation trips to Louisville and Memphis. DSR is expected to be a lucrative recruit, since Georgetown will lose guard Jason Clark at the end of this season, and likely forward Hollis Thompson as well.

Photo from Coast 2 Coast Recruiting.