Jan. 8, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University men's basketball returns home on Saturday, Jan. 9, hosting BIG EAST Conference rival Connecticut at Verizon Center. Tipoff at The Phonebooth is slated for noon (ET) and the game will be shown live on ESPN, with Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale calling all of the action. Rich Chvotkin's radio play-by-play can be heard locally on ESPN 980 AM.

The Hoyas enter the game on Saturday with an 11-2 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the BIG EAST Conference. GU is ranked No. 12 in the country in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll.

Connecticut enters the game with an 11-3 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the league. They are ranked No. 13 in both national polls. After dropping their BIG EAST opener at Cincinnati, the Huskies bounced back with wins over Notre Dame and Seton Hall.

This will be the 60th all-time meeting between Georgetown and Connecticut, with the Hoyas holding a 32-27 advantage in the series. Georgetown, 19-8 all-time at home against UConn, has won the last three games in the series, including a 74-63 decision last season.

Sixth-year Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III will be on the sidelines for his 100th game against a BIG EAST Conference opponent, including regular season and post-season tournament games, on Saturday when the Hoyas face the Huskies. Since coming to the Hilltop, JTIII has an all-time record of 63-36 against league opponents.

Junior guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College HS) is tied for the team lead in scoring (14.4 ppg), leads the team in assists (3.8 apg) and ranks fifth in the BIG EAST, connecting on 85.1 percent of his free throws (40-of-47). In the last four games, Wright is averaging 20.5 points per game, while shooting 60.0 percent from the floor (30-of-50) from the floor.

Wright was selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after leading the team to wins over St. John's and DePaul, respectively, during the opening games of conference play. He scored a game-high 21 points against St. John's and then added a game-high 18 points against DePaul, averaging 19.5 points and shooting 66.7 (14-of-21) percent from the floor in the wins.

Sophomore center Greg Monroe (New Orleans, La./Helen Cox), who was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 Award List, is tied for the team lead in scoring (14.4 ppg) and leads the team with 9.8 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the BIG EAST.

Junior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha) is third on the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game. He has scored in double figures 11 times this season and has scored at least 15 points six times. Freeman leads the BIG EAST in free throw percentage, connecting on 94.1 percent of his shots from the charity stripe (32-of-34).

Sophomore guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) is fourth on the team in scoring with 10.6 points per game, while junior forward Julian Vaughn (Vienna, Va./Oak Hill Academy) is fifth on the team with 8.5 points per game and second on the squad with 5.8 rebounds.