Your Georgetown Hoyas have given the fan base a healthy dose to be thankful for this season, with an undefeated 5-0 record over the Thanksgiving holiday. Tonight, the festivities move to Orlando, where Georgetown faces a tough test against the Dayton Flyers in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational at the Walt Disney World Resort.
The stakes are high for program building momentum. The winner of tonight’s game will play the winner of the 5:00 PM game between BYU and Miami on Friday. For a team looking to re-establish itself on the national stage in Head Coach Ed Cooley’s third season, a tournament championship would be a major statement.
Cooley recently highlighted the level of competition in Florida in a conversation with John Fanta. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to play against all these teams that have gotten off to an incredible start… our goal is to try to play on Friday night.”
Dayton enters the game with a 5-1 record and momentum after a gritty overtime win against Marquette. The Flyers are known for their disciplined defensive identity, holding opponents to just 66.8 points per game (Fox Sports).
Georgetown’s backcourt, led by Malik Mack and Jeremiah Williams, will have to 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 after averaging 17.5 points in his last two outings.
While Dayton struggled from beyond the arc and just shot 29.9% As a team, their ability to force turnovers makes them dangerous in transition.
Although the 5-0 start has given the program new energy, 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 provided significant production at center, averaging 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks through the first four games. His absence leaves a void in the veteran rim protection and interior scoring for 20-plus minutes. With Iwuchukwu out, post responsibilities will fall heavily on sophomore Julius Halaifonua, along with sophomore forward Jayden Fort and sophomore Seal Diouf.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET on ESPN2. Fans can also listen to Rich Chvotkin locally on Team 980 (or Sirius XM 384).
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Georgetown believers. A win tonight would certainly make tomorrow’s holiday leftovers taste a little better.
Here are the links (make sure you visit and follow them):
Georgetown Men’s Basketball Travels to 2025 Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational – Georgetown University Athletics | GUHOYA’S
The Georgetown University men’s basketball team will participate in the 2025 Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, a 16-team, three-bracket event taking place before Thanksgiving week at the Walt Disney World Resort’s State Farm Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida. The Hoyas will compete in the MAGIC BRACKET, which also includes BYU, Dayton and Miami.
The first game is on Thursday, November 27, when the Hoyas will face Dayton in the semifinals. Tipoff in the Sunshine State is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The second match is on Friday, November 28, with the time and opponent determined by the semi-finals. FOLLOW THE HOYAS Thursday’s game will be live on ESPN2, with Rich Hollenberg calling the play-by-play and Fran Fraschilla providing the analysis. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 and on the SiriusXM app as Rich Chvotkin is on the phone in his 52nd season.
Dayton vs. Georgetown: What you need to know about Thursday’s game | DAILY NEWS
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 wins 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.
Men’s basketball faces Georgetown to kick off ESPN events Invitational – University of Dayton Athletics | DAYTON FLYERS
The University of Dayton men’s basketball team heads to Orlando to participate in the 2025 ESPN Events Invitational, taking on RV Georgetown as part of the “Magic Bracket” Thursday night at 7:30 PM at HP Field House. No. 9 BYU and Miami (Fla.) make up the rest of the Magic Bracket and will play Thursday night after the Flyers and Hoyas. UD (5-1) has won three straight games after rolling past NC Central, 74-55, on Saturday afternoon. Georgetown (5-0) posted a 92-75 win over Wagner on Saturday and already has wins over Kentucky, Clemson and Maryland this season.
Dayton Flyers play against the Georgetown Hoyas | FOXSPORTS
The Flyers have a 5-1 record in non-conference play. Dayton ranks fourth in the A-10 in team defense, giving up 66.8 points while allowing opponents to shoot 42.1%. 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 with an average of 6.4. Dayton is making 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 44.3% from the field this season, 2.2 percentage points above the 42.1% average posted by Dayton’s opponents. TOP PERFORMERS: Javon Bennett is shooting 45.1% and averaging 16.7 points for the Flyers. Deshayne Montgomery averages 1.7 three-pointers.
Georgetown vs. Dayton Dunkel Predictions and Vegas Odds – November 27 | DUNKEL INDEX
BETTING ON THE SPREAD: GEORGETOWN VS. DAYTON Georgetown has two wins against the spread in five games this season. The Hoyas have not yet been able to cover the spread this season when they were favored by 1.5 points or more in three opportunities. Dayton has discussed the spread twice this year. The Flyers have covered the spread as underdogs once this season by 1.5 points or more (in two opportunities). At home, Dayton has one win against the spread this season and is 4-0 overall. Dayton has won one ATS (1-3) at home as underdogs of 1.5 points or more.
Meet a Marquette basketball opponent: Dayton | ANONYMOUS MOUSEAGLE
Shooters? As a team, no. So far on the year, Dayton is only making 28% of their three-point attempts. That’s bad on its face, and it’s ranked #284 in the country, which is also bad. They also get more than 41% of their shots from behind the arc, which is probably bad considering their success rate. It’s not unreasonable to think they lost to Cincinnati because of threes, as they went 2-for-26 in that game with identical 1-for-13s in each half and they finished the game with 10 straight misses. Also? They are shooting 28% as a team after going 11-for-19 (58%) against Bethune Cookman on Saturday. Javon Bennett went 4-for-7, 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 on the list. [adjusts abacus] 30.4% on a team-high 5.8 attempts per game. Montgomery’s history as a shooter is sketchy: 41% as a freshman at Oregon on 2.1 attempts per game, but just 25% last year with Georgia on 1.6 attempts per night.
Dayton Flyers defeated Marquette, NC Central; trip to Orlando for 2 games Thanksgiving week | WIO
The Flyers built double-digit leads in both the first and second half. But Marquette stormed back to force overtime. In overtime, 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 victory. Back at 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 faces BYU or Miami on Friday.
The loss to Dayton gives Marquette its worst start in eleven years | DAILY NEWS
Dayton beat Marquette despite 25 turnovers. According to StatHead.com, Marquette had not lost a game and forced that many turnovers since Dec. 2, 2006, when North Dakota State turned the ball over 25 times in a 64-60 win against Marquette. After the game, fifth-year Marquette coach Shaka Smart said his team was at its best when it got its hands on the ball. “This was one of the more deflection games we’ve had that we didn’t win,” Smart said. “I think we had about 46 or 47 deflections. When you have that many it usually shows you have great activity. I would say defensively there were a lot of mistakes, but we stopped them enough to win the game.” Marquette itself has achieved twenty turnovers. It also shot under 30% from 3-point range for the fourth time in six games (9 of 31, 29.0). Dayton shot 41.2% (7 of 17) from three-point range while outscoring Marquette 18-12 at the free throw line.
De’Shayne Montgomery named A-10 Co-Player of the Week – University of Dayton Athletics | DAYTON FLYERS
University of Dayton men’s basketball junior De’Shayne Montgomery was named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week by the league 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, Florida native shot .714 from the floor, including .571 from beyond the arc. Montgomery played 42 minutes and scored 18 points in UD’s 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, scoring 15.2 points per game. His .607 shooting percentage from the floor and .435 percentage from center both led the Flyers.
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