WASHINGTON (AP) — Jared Bynum scored a career-high 32 points and No. 15 Providence won its seventh in a row, beating Georgetown 71-52 Sunday and sending the Hoyas to their school-record 11th straight loss.
The Friars (20-2, 10-1 Big East) completed a season sweep of the sputtering Hoyas and have won 12 of 15 against their longtime conference rival since 2015.
Aminu Mohammed had 18 points for the Hoyas (6-15, 0-10). Georgetown is nine games under .500 for the first time since going 3-23 in 1971-72, the season before Hall of Fame coach John Thompson Jr. began his Hoyas career.
It seemed coach Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas might end their slide against an unlikely opponent when they held a lead early in the second half. But Georgetown's sloppiness and Bynum’s slick shooting ended any chance of that.
Providence already led by five when Bynum made a pair of free throws. It proved to be the start of a 13-0 personal run for Bynum, who hit three consecutive 3s to make it 59-41, then added another 3 after a basket by Mohammed to become responsible for 16 consecutive points by the Friars.
Bynum, whose previous career high was 23 against Temple in 2018 when he played for Saint Joseph’s, shot 11 of 15 from the field and 7 of 8 from 3-point range.
Georgetown committed 19 turnovers, leading to 18 Providence points. The Hoyas were just 5 of 25 from the floor in the second half and made just two field goals in the first 12:26 of the half as Providence pulled away.
The Friars entered the day averaging 11.8 turnovers, but had 10 giveaways in the first half alone. Georgetown had nine of its own, but still took a 30-27 advantage into the break. It was only the second time this season the Hoyas have led a Big East opponent at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
Providence: The Friars had won their last five games by single-digit margins, but they didn’t require another nerve-wracking finish to complete their sixth regular-season sweep of Georgetown in the last eight seasons.
Georgetown: The Hoyas haven’t won a game since Dec. 15, and just lost three home games in the span of six days. The question facing Georgetown isn’t if it can turn things around this season, but rather whether it can win a Big East game.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
With No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Villanova and No. 13 Michigan State each losing in the last week, Providence is well-positioned to move up at least a couple spots when Monday’s poll is released.
UP NEXT
Providence begins a stretch of four of five at home Saturday against DePaul.
Georgetown travels Wednesday to DePaul for the teams’ first meeting of the season.
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