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Nothing says Big East more than Georgetown versus St. John’s, now meeting for the 100th time in the series on Saturday afternoon in the Verizon Center in the nation's capital. The old conference built its national reputation on the back of this rivalry as Lou Carnesecca and John Thompson clashed throughout the 80’s for East Coast supremacy.
Now both schools hope to return to that level of excitement and play in the new Big East.
The schools are actually evenly matched since 1981; Georgetown holds a 34-29 advantage over that time. But the Hoyas have won five straights contests with St. John’s last winning in 2011, a 61-58 decision that saw Justin Brownlee tip in a basket with 10 seconds left in the game. That win ended a 14-game losing streak to ranked teams. Georgetown was ranked No. 13 at the time.
Now, the long Hoyas have been D`Angelo Harrison's kryptonite. The prolific scorer and the Johnnies hope to take the lessons from the loss at Xavier and turn recent history around.
February 2, 2013: Georgetown 68, St. John’s 56
Georgetown ended the Johnnies’ five-game winning streak in this game as Nate Lubick led the Hoyas with 16 points and 10 rebounds. JaKarr Sampson led St. John’s with 18 points.
D’Angelo Harrison had one of the worst games in his career. He finished with a career-low two points and was 0-for-9 from the field, including 0-for-6 on 3-pointers. Harrison struggled in his second straight game against the Hoyas as he scored only seven points in a meeting just four weeks earlier.
Jamal Branch left the game with an injury in the second half when he suffered a sprained knee after Lubick fell on him. Branch was part of a three-guard lineup along with Harrison and Phil Greene that head coach Steve Lavin deployed during the five-game winning streak.
January 12, 2013: Georgetown 67, St. John’s 51
This one was really bad. The final score doesn’t do this one justice as Georgetown controlled from the opening tip at Madison Square Garden.
"It was a dominating performance by Georgetown from start to finish and we were taken to the woodshed," Steve Lavin said after the game.
Georgetown led by as many as 26 points at one point. The Hoyas used a 20-2 run in the first half to take a 33-10 lead at one point.
This was the first of two games where Georgetown shut down Harrison, who finished with seven points. He was averaging 21.5 points per game coming into the contest. Harrison had scored in double figures in his previous 29 games.
Future NBA lottery pick Otto Porter scored 19 points with 14 rebounds, and Markel Starks added 17 points.
Chris Obekpa did reach a significant milestone in this game as his six blocks set the record for blocks in a season. He broke a record the late Walter Berry set during the 1985-1986 season. Berry had 76.
February 12, 2012: Georgetown 71, St. John’s 61
The Johnnies never led in this game, but kept it close to the very end in what was their 10th loss to a ranked opponent that season.
Hoyas freshman Greg Whittington led the Hoyas with 12 points. D`Angelo Harrison scored a game-high 24 points. Moe Harkless added 20 points in the loss.
January 15, 2012: Georgetown 69, St. John’s 49
Harkless recorded his sixth double-double in 10 games and finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Unfortunately, he fouled out with 5:15 left in the game.
Harrison, in what was a sign of things to come against the Hoyas, scored only five points on 1-for-12 shooting from the field.
Hollis Thompson scored 20 points, all in the second half, to lead the Hoyas. Jason Clark added 15 points with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Porter had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
February 21, 2001: St. John’s 73, Georgetown 70
The Johnnies received a huge contribution off the bench from Sharif Fordham in the upset win over No. 21 Georgetown at the Garden. The win came almost a week after St. John’s suffered a 91-59 loss to Duke, their worst defeat in 41 years playing in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Fordham had career high in points (15) and rebounds (16), and also had four steals. Willie Shaw scored a team-high 16 points, including four 3-pointers.
Kyle Cuffe also was big off the bench and finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
January 11, 1999: St. John’s 71, Georgetown 69
This was the first game St. John’s played Georgetown in Big East play without Thompson on the sideline. The ole’ coach had retired suddenly early just a week earlier due to personal reasons.
St. John’s, ranked No. 11 at the time, won for the 11th time in their past 12 games as freshman Erick Barkley paced his team with a team-high 20 points. Barkely’s 3-pointer with 2:15 left in the game gave the Red Storm the lead for good.
Bootsy Thornton came off the bench and scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.
Rueben Boumtje-Boumtje had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Hoyas
January 11, 1986: St. John’s 79, Georgetown 74
St. John’s and Georgetown were without Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing, respectively, for the first time in four seasons. But the Redmen still had Walter Berry, who scored a game-high 26 points with four blocks. Berry eclipsed 1,000 points in his career, becoming just the fourth players to do so at the time.
Shelton Jones was just as important in this game as Berry as the sophomore scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half.
