Rivals have a combined 34-4 record this season
The intensity of the Georgetown/Syracuse rivalry is easily inherited. But the venom doesn’t always come with it.
“Our team definitely doesn’t talk,” said Hoyas center Greg Monroe. “Their team doesn’t talk. It’s not about that at all. Everybody’s competing, everybody’s giving their all, but it’s nothing where people are talking trash.”
Either way, significant bragging rights will be at stake Monday night. By the time the Hoyas (15-3, 6-2 Big East) take the court against the host Orange (19-1, 6-1), it likely will be the first time they meet with both teams ranked in the national top 10 since March 4, 1990 — when John Thompson III’s father was still in charge on the Hilltop.
The current Thompson says the family legacy doesn’t mean there’s specific motivation for him against longtime Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, whose 818 career victories are more than 600 better than his total of 184.
“I have 15 rivals,” said Thompson last week. But the one that tops his list is one of the best in college basketball.
“Both institutions, from the time Pop was here and clearly, Jim up there at Syracuse, have understood what this job is about, have understood what both men are about, and through good, bad, highs, lows, have stuck with them,” said Thompson.
The latest chapter in the storied matchup will involve Monroe (15.2 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game), a sophomore who will face Syracuse for the third time, and Orange junior forward Wesley Johnson (17.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg), who will make his rivalry debut. The transfer from Iowa State is the primary reason that Syracuse went from unranked at the beginning of the year to once again a contender in the Big East, where the Hoyas also are staking a claim.
The Orange have won six in a row while Georgetown has won four of its last five.
“We still have to string some more wins together and try to establish ourselves on the defensive end for a longer period of time,” said Hoyas junior guard Chris Wright (15.1 ppg, 4.0 apg). “But we’re getting better, man. I think this team is really starting to understand that if we get stops, we can score on offense and score in many ways, so that’s important for us.”
