Fairfield @ Georgetown preview

Fairfield at Georgetown

Last Meeting ( Dec 1, 2007 ) Fairfield 49, Georgetown 61

With 14 newcomers on this year's roster, Georgetown coach Ed Cooley has plenty to learn about his revamped team during the season's early stages.

The Hoyas' second-year coach will get another glimpse at his new-look squad on Saturday when Georgetown hosts Fairfield in Washington, D.C.

Junior guard Jayden Epps is the only returning upperclassman for a Hoyas team that welcomed nine freshmen and added five transfers after finishing 9-23 (2-18 in the Big East) last year in Cooley's debut season.

Epps had 17 points in Georgetown's 85-77 win over Lehigh on Wednesday, while a pair of new additions made a solid first impression.

Freshman Thomas Sorber and TCU transfer Micah Peavy led the Hoyas (1-0) with 20 points apiece, and Sorber also collected 13 rebounds in his first collegiate game.

Sorber scored 14 points after halftime, but Cooley said the 6-foot-10 forward grew fatigued as the contest wore on.

"He has a chance to be one of the special young players in the country, but I'm going to challenge him to get in tip-top shape," Cooley said.

"If he does that, and I've told everybody from day one, this kid is definitely going to be somebody to reckon with."

Georgetown welcomes a Stags team that was routed 96-58 at Rhode Island on Monday.

Louis Bleechmore scored 13 points to lead Fairfield (0-1), which was picked to finish fourth out of 13 teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's preseason coaches poll.

Preseason All-MAAC second-team selection Deon Perry missed all six of his field-goal attempts and finished with two points on Monday. Prophet Johnson paired nine points with 11 boards.

Like Cooley, Stags coach Chris Casey is working with an overhauled roster in his second season at the helm.

Fairfield lost over 2,000 points, more than 400 assists and nearly 800 rebounds from last year's squad that reached the MAAC tournament championship game.

With so many new players, Casey knows patience is paramount as the team tries to jell.

"There's going to be a period of time here where they're trying to figure out what we're doing," Casey said last Sunday on the team's Open Court Podcast.

"They're trying to figure me out. They're trying to figure each other out. They're trying to figure out where they fit."

--Field Level Media