Georgetown narrowly fell to visiting and third slotted BIG EAST team Seton Hall this week, 74-70. Aspects of the game are touched upon, below.

Cooley, Massoud and Brumbaugh's presser, initially available on Premium Court, is now accessible, below.

HC Saheen Holloway of Seton Hall's session is linked here.

The contest's top three scorers were all guards, with Georgetown sophomore Jayden Epps pacing all with 30 points, followed by the Pirates' dynamic duo of seniors Kadary Richmond and Al-Amir Dawes who dropped 20 and 25 points, respectively. A look at their other stat work reinforces impact: Epps added three rebounds, five assists and a steal, while Richmond flirted with a triple double via eight rebounds, eight game best assists. Dawes also chipped in five bounds, two assists.

Cooley gave flowers where due.

"I thought their backcourt controlled the whole game" revealed Cooley, of The Hall's perimeter ballers. "I don't know what their final stats were, but I think their backcourt basically won the game for them. They had some spot players star in their role and do a good job. But at the end of the day, Kadary and Dawes, that one-to combination was tough".

He admitted "We prepared for it, give them credit" before issuing The Hall a high compliment, opining "I think anytime you play above your scouting report, those guys are called all league players".

What about his guy?

Cooley thought Epps improved vs. SH, including being "a little bit more demanding". He also shared his primary ball handlers are saddled with great expectations, since "I tell the point guards all the time, there are three people in the building that can't have a bad day, ever; the head coach, your best player, and the point guard. When those three are not aligned, you're in trouble.

"In practice. The way we walk, the way we talk, communicate, the coach, best player and point guard. Those three players are not aligned and you have no shot".

Down 16 first half points, Georgetown closed the deficit to two, before entering intermission down eight. The Hoyas eventually earned a three point advantage with 3:15 to go. "

How did they fall behind so much?

Cooley responded "Good question. i wish i could answer that. i do. I don't know if it was their energy, our lack of energy, the ball was going in the basket. I think they scored nine out ten straight baskets, eight out of nine straight baskets. We used two time outs to try and curb it".

What was key in the comeback?

"We played desperate today", cited the coach. "That's the way we have to play to be competitive" and "Our physicality at the rim i thought was pretty impressive today". Of course a prime protagonist was Epps, he of 30 big points.

Rowan Brumbaugh, G'town's sophomore guard, shared of storming back into contention and eventually leading "It was awesome to see, and I think it started with our preparation this week and just our belief in our guys and stuff..just our commitment to each other".

Coach and player did seem to diverge somewhat on one reason; a technical foul issued to Hoya senior wing Wayne Bristol (4p, 2b); down 12, slightly over 10 minutes before halftime, attempting to protect a fallen teammate, he pushed a Pirate. The Hoyas subsequently went on a 15-5 run over around three and a half minutes, closing to within two.

"Wayne gave us a bunch of energy" is how Brumbaugh characterized his teammate's contribution. The gym became animated after Bristol's foul, so connecting that assessment to reducing their deficit makes sense.

Maybe, but Cooley wasn't buying it, indicating "First of all, i don't like the technical. i think we need to be more understanding of time and score", though he followed that with "I love his physicality, love his energy".

"But I don't think the game changed there" he summed. "i think our players (said) 'We're getting our butts kicked, we have to show a little bit more pride'. I thought out pride kicked inn. i don't think a not so bright, flagrant foul turned the corner for us".

So how did they eventually lose?

In short, three consecutive turnovers - senior guard Jay Heath (10p, 3r, 3a) was credited with the first two, Massoud the third. Cooley was clear on these cough ups' impact, saying "We need our leadership to grow and develop. We need our players to make plays at the right time. We have to value the basketball. Three straight turnovers you can't expect to win, against a high quality opponent like that".

Massoud agreed and clearly has accepted his coach's determination, as "Like Coach said, it's unacceptable when we have the ball, up three at the end of the game like that...There's nothing a coach can do to deviate from that. It's really on the players. It's hard to win a game when you turn the ball over three times in a row".

Cooley put the setback on himself, saying "Disappointed in our execution under four minutes. That's what we coaches are paid for...So this loss is 100% on me. One thousand percent on me. Three point lead, with the ball, three straight turnovers". He feels "I have to do a much better job of instilling a lot more confidence in our guys and work on our end game execution. That's something that we've always prided ourselves on".

Cooley, in his first year at G'Town looked at the game as both a positive and negative, noting of the first "I think we have come a long way" during the season, despite "The results on the scoreboard don't show that we won, but I thought that we won with our confidence. I thought we won a lot with our identity".

He then took the team to task, stating with emotion "But again, you have to finish the game...There is no moral victory in sport. Teams that are connected. Teams that are tough. Teams that are resilient. Teams that are unselfish. Teams that have a relentless approach to preparation and understanding, those are the teams that are called champions. Those are the teams that you call NCAA teams.

"The rest of us, we have to pick our game up. The coaches, the trainers, the writers. Everybody has to pick their game up"!

G'Town, now 8-8 overall, 1-4 in the BIG EAST shot 41.8% overall, 21.6% on three balls, though exceeded that in second half action (48.15%/43.75%). Cooley's guys next play at nationally ranked and returning national champion this Sunday, Noon EST.

Junior forward/center Supreme Cook led the Hoyas with five boards, also adding 13 points. SH's Richmond was the game's top rebounder (eight), while both team's pulled down 26 for the contest.

As a unit, the Pirates managed 60% shooting overall, 46.7% on long balls. Holloway's guys, also in his first year posted at Seton Hall, committed 5 more turnovers than Cooley's (17-12)

The Pirates stand 11-5/4-1 and third in the BIG EAST. Next up for Holloway's crew is Butler, a Saturday, 1.13.24, Noon EST, Indianapolis, IN, tip off.

More Cooley on coming back and falling short

I told them 'We're going to be ok in this game...You know what we did? We got back into the game. It's not how you start, it's how you finish, but we didn't finish the right way. Know what I'm saying?

Needed lessons?

Per Cooley "I think our players have to understand..how hard you have to play for a period of time. You can't take possessions if you're limited with some things we have".

Cooley on improvement witnessed

We're going to get better evry time we step on the floor. And I think we've shown that.

This is the time, i thought we made a big jump with respect to our players not in class, had a lot of team time. So i think our chemistry is coming along.

Cooley's reaction to losing

It sucks when you lose. SUCKS. AND WE LOST AT HOME...Should never lose at home...Somebody broke into our house, and stole all our food and all of our Christmas gifts. That's how I feel...'