Your Georgetown Hoyas have given the fanbase a healthy helping to be thankful for so far this season, carrying an undefeated 5-0 record into the Thanksgiving holiday. Tonight, the festivities move to Orlando, where Georgetown faces a stiff test against the Dayton Flyers in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational at Walt Disney World Resort.
The stakes are high for a program building momentum. The winner of tonight’s contest advances to play on Friday against the winner of the 5:00 p.m. matchup between BYU and Miami. For a team looking to reestablish itself on the national stage in Head Coach Ed Cooley’s third season, a tournament championship would be a significant statement.
Cooley, speaking recently with John Fanta, highlighted the caliber of competition in Florida. ”I’m grateful for the opportunity to play against all those teams that are off to an incredible start… it is our goal to try to play Friday night.”
Dayton enters the game with a 5-1 record and momentum following a gritty overtime win against Marquette. The Flyers are known for a disciplined defensive identity, holding opponents to just 66.8 points per game (Fox Sports).
The Georgetown backcourt, led by Malik Mack and Jeremiah Williams, must be wary of Dayton guard Javon Bennett, who leads the Flyers with 16.7 points per game. Additionally, De’Shayne Montgomery is a versatile threat, recently earning Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week honors after averaging 17.5 points in his last two outings.
While Dayton has struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 29.9% as a team, their ability to force turnovers makes them dangerous in transition.
While the 5-0 start has energized the program, the team faces a new hurdle in the frontcourt. Senior center and transfer Vince Iwuchukwu (7-1, 257) has been sidelined by a medical procedure and will miss six to eight weeks.
Iwuchukwu was providing significant production in the middle, averaging 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks through the first four games. His absence leaves a void in seasoned rim protection and interior scoring for 20+ minutes. With Iwuchukwu out, the post responsibilities will fall heavily on sophomore center Julius Halaifonua, along with sophomore forward Jayden Fort and sophomore center Seal Diouf.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Fans can also listen locally to Rich Chvotkin on Team 980 (or Sirius XM 384).
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Georgetown faithful. A win tonight would certainly make the holiday leftovers taste a little better tomorrow.
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The Georgetown University men’s basketball team is set to compete in the 2025 Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, a 16-team, three-bracket event set for Thanksgiving week at Walt Disney World Resort’s State Farm Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida. The Hoyas will compete in the MAGIC BRACKET that also includes BYU, Dayton and Miami.
The first game will be on Thursday, November 27 when the Hoyas face Dayton in the semifinal game. Tipoff in the Sunshine State is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The second matchup will be on Friday, November 28 with the time and opponent to be determined by the semifinals. FOLLOW THE HOYAS Thursday’s game can be seen live on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg calling the play-by-play and Fran Fraschilla providing analysis. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 and on the SiriusXM app with Rich Chvotkin on the call in his 52nd season.
Dayton vs. Georgetown: What to know about Thursday’s game | DAYTONDAILYNEWS
Dayton guard De’Shayne Montgomery was named Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday. He averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game in victories against Marquette and North Carolina Central. Montgomery ranks second on the team in scoring (15.2) behind Javon Bennett (16.7) and leads the team in field-goal percentage (60.7) and 3-point shooting percentage (43.5) for players who have attempted at least 10 3s.
The University of Dayton men’s basketball team heads to Orlando to take part in the 2025 ESPN Events Invitational, squaring off with RV Georgetown as part of the “Magic Bracket” on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at HP Field House. No. 9 BYU and Miami (Fla.) make up the rest of the Magic Bracket and will play following the Flyers and Hoyas on Thursday night. UD (5-1) has won three straight games after cruising past NC Central on Saturday afternoon, 74-55. Georgetown (5-0) is coming off a 92-75 win over Wagner on Saturday and already boasts wins over Kentucky, Clemson and Maryland this season.
Dayton Flyers play the Georgetown Hoyas | FOXSPORTS
The Flyers have a 5-1 record in non-conference play. Dayton is fourth in the A-10 in team defense, giving up 66.8 points while holding opponents to 42.1% shooting. The Hoyas are 5-0 in non-conference play. Georgetown ranks seventh in the Big East with 34.4 rebounds per game led by KJ Lewis averaging 6.4. Dayton makes 46.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 8.8 percentage points higher than Georgetown has allowed to its opponents (38.1%). Georgetown has shot at a 44.3% rate from the field this season, 2.2 percentage points above the 42.1% shooting opponents of Dayton have averaged. TOP PERFORMERS: Javon Bennett is shooting 45.1% and averaging 16.7 points for the Flyers. Deshayne Montgomery is averaging 1.7 made 3-pointers.
Georgetown vs. Dayton Dunkel Predictions & Vegas Odds – Nov. 27 | DUNKELINDEX
BETTING THE SPREAD: GEORGETOWN VS. DAYTON Georgetown has two wins against the spread in five games this season. The Hoyas have yet to cover the spread this season when favored by 1.5 points or more in three chances. Dayton has covered the spread two times this year. The Flyers have covered the spread once this season when underdogs by 1.5 points or more (in two chances). At home this season, Dayton has one win against the spread and is 4-0 overall. Dayton has one win ATS (1-3) as a 1.5-point underdog or more at home.
Get To Know A Marquette Basketball Opponent: Dayton | ANONYMOUSEAGLE
Shooters? As a team, no. To this point of the year, Dayton is connecting on just 28% of their three- point attempts. That’s bad at face value, and it ranks #284 in the country, which is also bad. They also get over 41% of their shots from behind the arc, which is probably bad given their success rate. It’s not unreasonable to think that they lost to Cincinnati because of threes, as they went 2-for-26 in that game with identical 1-for-13’s in each half and they ended the game with 10 straight misses. Also? They’re shooting 28% as a team after going 11-for-19 (58%) against Bethune Cookman back on Saturday. Javon Bennett went 4-for-7 in that one, and De’Shayne Montgomery went 4-for-5. That bumped Montgomery up to 37.5% on the year, making him Dayton’s most dangerous regular shooter, while Bennett is now at [adjusts abacus] 30.4% on a team high 5.8 attempts per game. Montgomery’s history as a shooter is sketchy, going for 41% as a freshman at Oregon on 2.1 attempts per game, but just 25% last year with Georgia on 1.6 tries per night.
Dayton Flyers beat Marquette, NC Central; travel to Orlando for 2 games Thanksgiving week | WHIO
The Flyers built double-digit leads in both the first and second halves. But Marquette stormed back to force overtime. In the extra period, Keonte Jones and Jacob Conner each buried big three-pointers. Senior guard Javon Bennett iced things from the foul line for a 77-71 Dayton win. Back at the UD Arena on Saturday, De’Shayne Montgomery scored 17 points while Malcolm Thomas added a career-high 12 in a 74-55 win. UD enters this week with a 5-1 record. The Flyers travel to Orlando for a Thanksgiving game against Georgetown in the ESPN Events Invitational at 7:30 p.m. Dayton will face either BYU or Miami on Friday.
Loss to Dayton leaves Marquette with worst start in 11 years | DAYTONDAILYNEWS
Dayton beat Marquette despite committing 25 turnovers. According to StatHead.com, Marquette had not lost a game while forcing that many turnovers since Dec. 2, 2006, when North Dakota State turned the ball over 25 times in a 64-60 victory against Marquette. After the game, fifth-year Marquette coach Shaka Smart said his team was at its best when it was getting its hands on the ball. “This was one of the higher deflection games that we’ve had that we did not win,” Smart said. “I think we had like 46 or 47 deflections. Usually when you have that many, it shows you’ve got great activity. I would say overall, defensively, there were a lot of mistakes, but we stopped them enough to win the game.” Marquette committed 20 turnovers of its own. It also shot under 30% from 3-point range (9 of 31, 29.0) for the fourth time in six games. Dayton shot 41.2% (7 of 17) from 3-point range, while outscoring Marquette 18-12 at the free-throw line.
University of Dayton men’s basketball junior De’Shayne Montgomery was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week by the league’s office on Monday afternoon. Montgomery continued his strong start to the season by helping Dayton go 2-0 on the week, averaging 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. The Broward County, Fla. native shot .714 from the floor, including .571 from beyond the arc. Montgomery played 42 minutes and scored 18 points in UD’s road win over Marquette, then returned home to lead all scorers with 17 in a win over NC Central. The junior has scored in double figures in every game this season and has scored 15.2 points per game. His .607 shooting percentage from the floor and .435 percentage from downtown both lead the Flyers.
