Samford @ Georgetown preview

Jagan Mosely doesn't stand out as a player who is important to the success of Georgetown, which faces visiting Samford on Saturday, but he has been just that. The senior is filling many roles - distributor, rebounder, occasional scorer and defensive wizard - for the Hoyas, who will be in search of their fifth straight victory when facing the Bulldogs.

"Jagan has been great for us all year," coach Patrick Ewing told the media after the Hoyas blitzed Maryland-Baltimore County 81-55 on Tuesday. "I think he has had only one poor game. To me, he's an unsung hero. He's a glue guy, he's doing everything." Mosely, a 6-3 guard from Marlboro, N.J., labored through a difficult junior season with limited playing time, but now he leads the team in minutes, including 38 against UMBC, thanks in part to the departure of a starting guard. He has scored in double figures only twice, but averages 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 3-point territory. The Bulldogs from the Southern Conference, who have dropped their last two games while allowing 199 total points, have four players putting up 13.2 points per game or better led by Josh Sharkey and Brandon Austin and average close to 80 points for fifth-year coach Scott Padgett.

TV: Noon ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT SAMFORD (6-7): Sharkey, a senior guard who has 1,221 points and 638 assists in his career, produces some gaudy assist numbers but the same can be said of turnovers. The native of Philadelphia has a pair of school-record 15-assist games this season to go along with four or more turnovers in all but one game, including seven in a recent loss to Alabama - one off his season high. Sharkey is first in the country at 9.7 assists per game but is nowhere to be found among the leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.74.

ABOUT GEORGETOWN (8-3): Omer Yurtseven had gone six straight games without a double-double, but wasted no time in getting one against UMBC, doing so before halftime and could be in line for another against the Bulldogs, who have given up four double-doubles and several other double-digit rebound games. The senior, who had a season-high 22 points to go along with 13 rebounds, giving him 17.1 and 9.7 per game, respectively, opens up the floor for the rest of the Hoyas. "We got Omer inside. He draws so much attention, so the shooters on the other side are most of the time open," junior Jamorko Pickett, who had an efficient 12 points against UMBC, told the media. "So we just get it to them and knock it down."

TIP-INS

1. Qudus Wahab, a 6-11 freshman center from Nigeria, notched career highs of 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Hoyas against UMBC.

2. After producing 78 points in the prior three games, Mac McClung had eight points and failed to hit a 3-pointer for the first time in seven games for the Hoyas.

3. Yurtseven is tied with Providence's Alpha Diallo for third in the Big East with five double-doubles, behind DePaul's Paul Reed (eight) and Xavier's Tyrique Jones (six).

PREDICTION: Georgetown 105, Samford 75