The Seton Hall men's basket- ball team will travel to Washington D.C. on Saturday to take on Big East rival Georgetown in their second of three straight road games.
The Pirates are currently 1-3 in the conference with their one win coming against Providence, which was followed by three consecutive losses to Big East foes Creighton, Villanova and Marquette.
Seton Hall is coming off of a hard-fought loss at Marquette.
The Pirates came within one point after fighting back from a 16-point deficit in a 67-66 loss to the Golden Eagles.
Swingman Brian Oliver scored 15 points for the Pirates and point guard Sterling Gibbs added 13 more.
Oliver's 52 3-pointers is second in the conference.
Seniors Fuquan Edwin and Aaron Geramipoor also made their return against Marquette after missing four games this season with injuries and will be ready this Saturday at Georgetown as well.
Edwin had seven points, five rebounds, and two steals in the game against Marquette. The Pirates expect to have center Eugene Teague back in action down low.
Teague has missed all four Big East matchups after suffering a concussion in the Walsh Gymnasium game against Lafayette.
Teague is second in the conference with an average of 9.4 rebounds per game.
Teague should provide some help down low against 6-foot 10- inch, 350-pound center Joshua Smith
Junior Patrik Auda will head into the Georgetown match coming off a 10-point and a team-high eight rebounds in Milwaukee.
Georgetown is returning home on Saturday after playing three road games of their own.
The Hoyas are currently 3-1 in the Big East with wins over Butler, St. John's and DePaul.
Georgetown will enter the game with considerably less rest time than the Pirates after an 80-67 loss at Xavier on Wednesday night while Seton Hall had a week of rest.
Despite less resting time, Georgetown is currently undefeated at home with an 8-0 record.
Sophomore guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera has been coming up big for the Hoyas as of late, averaging 18.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 50 percent from the floor in his last two games.
Smith-Rivera also leads the team in scoring and ranks fifth overall in the Big East.
Senior guard Markel Starks has also been performing well for the Hoyas, scoring in double figures 12 times this season and is second on the team with 15.4 points and 3.9 assists per game.
Overall, the Hoyas rank sixth in the Big East in scoring offense and are second in the league in field goal percentage and scoring defense.
The Hoyas have only been al- lowing 62.8 points to opponents in Big East games.
On Saturday, Seton Hall will look to break their three-game losing streak and improve their Big East record on the road against Georgetown. The game is set to begin noon.
Courtney Hnasko can be reached at courtney.hnasko@student.shu. edu.
