In a Big East Conference matchup of embattled third-year coaches, Providence and Kim English will take on Georgetown and Ed Cooley on Saturday in Washington.
With the Friars (14-16, 7-12 Big East) struggling for the second straight year, Providence plans to dismiss English at the conclusion of the season, according to reports this week, which the school has yet to confirm or deny.
Meanwhile, discontent is swirling around Cooley and the Hoyas (13-17, 5-14), who have shown little progress since he arrived after a successful 12-year stint at Providence.
Georgetown has lost seven straight games to tumble into last place in the Big East. The skid has been the Hoyas’ frustrating season in microcosm, as six of the seven losses have come by seven points or fewer.
“To say this has been a disappointing season is an understatement,” Cooley said.
Georgetown has lost twice this season by a combined six points to powerhouse UConn. On Tuesday, the Hoyas took No. 18 St. John’s to the wire before falling 72-69.
Kayvaun Mulready (20 points) and Jeremiah Williams (17 points) nearly led an upset of the Red Storm.
“I think we can go to the Big East tournament and win the tournament,” Cooley said. “There’s not a team we can’t beat and there’s not a team that can’t beat us, depending on which Georgetown team shows up.”
Providence has won three of its last four, but a 78-56 loss Wednesday at home to lowly Marquette was the Friars’ most decisive defeat this year as they scored their season low.
Providence paces the conference in scoring (85.8 ppg) and boasts Jaylin Sellers, who’s tied for the Big East lead at 18.0 points per game. But against the Golden Eagles, the Friars committed 19 turnovers and shot just 30.9% from the field.
“We were selfish, took bad shots, bad drives, just some nasty plays,” English said. “Second half especially, nasty, selfish basketball plays.”
Providence’s most galling defeat came on Jan. 24 at home against Georgetown as it surrendered a 20-point lead in the final 13 minutes, falling 81-78.
KJ Lewis led the comeback with 21 of his 26 points coming in the second half. Lewis has missed the last two Georgetown games with an ankle injury and has been declared out for the season.
