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It's not easy to steal a win at Pitt, but the Hoyas were able to do it. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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Rutgers travels to the nation's capital for a noon tip-off against #14 Georgetown (14-3, 5-2) at the Verizon Center.  Rutgers is looking to break a 7 game losing streak and grab their first conference victory of the season (not likely). 

Georgetown, currently ranked at #14 in the nation is coming off a tremendous victory over #11 Pittsburgh on the road.  Not many people can go into Pittsburgh and come out with a win, but the Hoyas behind a monster effort from guard Chris Wright held on for a great Big East victory that could pay dividends down the road come conference tournament time.

The Rutgers game comes in the middle of a brutal stretch for Georgetown who will travel to Syracuse following Saturday's game and then face Duke. 

Our friends over at Casual Hoya had some burning questions about this edition of the Rutgers team, and in return
they were kind enough (or possibly drunk enough) to answer some questions for us:

PRT:  Georgetown is currently ranked #14 in the nation.  How good is this team?  Are they over-rated or under-rated in your eyes?

CH:  14 is probably about right. Gtown had some strong early season wins (e.g., Butler and Washington) that don’t look quite as great anymore and some disappointing losses (as, unsurprisingly, you brought up below). There’s little question of Gtown’s problem – depth. Truly, their version of the Three Amigos: Greg Monroe, Austin Freeman, and Chris Wright are capable of singlehandedly carrying the team at times though there are concerns with Monroe being too passive and Wright too assertive while Freeman has been incredibly steady. To the extent that they avoid foul trouble and having to run too much, 14 is pretty good right now. Things are different in the Big East because the teams are all so familiar with one another but come Tournament time, this team could certainly string together at least 2 wins in a row to land in the Sweet 16. And that would be quite a feat after last year’s stinkbomb.

PRT:  You guys have beat teams ranked at some point in the season like UConn, Temple, and Washington.  So what the hell happened against Old Dominion?

CH:  Please see the following link.   It was one loss, albeit to a lesser opponent on our seldom used on-campus arena.  But I think it was a good loss because Georgetown was coming off of back-to-back wins against ranked Butler and Washington, on neutral courts, and feeling over confident.  Sometimes it is losses like the Old Dominion one that remind players that they still have a long way to go.  We played like garbage and ODU played well.  I'm over it.  Last time we lost to Old Dominion at McDonough Gym we went to the Final Four.... Not speculating, just throwing it out there.

PRT:  Any casual college basketball fan knows how dominant Greg Monroe can be.  But a team ranked near the top 10 needs to have more than one star player.  Tell me about some of the under-the-radar guys that have led the Hoyas to their great start.

CH:  The guy that is most under the radar on a national level is Austin Freeman.  He is leading the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game and is averaging 20.5 points per game in Big East play.  He has been our most consistent performer all year, and seems to be the calming force when the rest of the team gets out of control.  That said, I think most Big East fans know who he is, so the two guys who are truly under the radar are Jason Clark and Julian Vaughn.  Both guys have improved tremendously from last year.  Clark has been our second best three point shooter and a lockdown defender.  Vaughn has been our do-it-all forward and has allowed Monroe to facilitate the offense and not have to worry about defending the opposing team's center.  Monroe was plagued by foul trouble throughout last year, but has only been in foul trouble once this year, largely due to Vaughn's emergence and DaJuan Summers' early entry to the NBA.

PRT:  Are you worried that the Hoyas might look ahead to their upcoming game against Syracuse, and look past the Scarlet Knights, opening the door for an upset?

CH:  Who are the Scarlet Knights?  Are we playing them?  Sounds like a Lehigh Valley Conference school.  I think the girls team might be playing next week or something.  Whatever.  Dude, Wes Johnson is A BEAST.  And have you seen Boeheim's wife?  SCHWING!

PRT:  How do you see this game playing out?  Final score prediction?

CH:  No offense, but as a Hoyas fan I’m always a bit leery of the team playing down to the level of the competition in games which they should post a 20 point win.  This game comes in the middle of a brutal stretch for Georgetown (at Nova, at Pitt, Rutgers, at Cuse, Duke), and even though Rutgers is by far the worst of those teams, this game is no less important.  Everyone knows Georgetown’s bench is one of the worst in the nation (that’s not hyperbole—I think it’s like 344th out of 347th), so this game will be key in getting the bench some much-needed confidence.  My hope is that the starters can put it out of reach early, and then the bench can come in, play a lot of minutes, and most importantly, make some shots.  I expect guys like Hollis Thompson, Jerrelle Benimon, Henry Sims, and Vee Sanford to each play 8-10 minutes.  Final score: Hoyas 78, Rutgers 62.

Thanks to Casual Hoya for their help in getting some inside info on the Hoyas.  The only way I see Rutgers winning this game is by physically coming out and intentionally trying to injure some of the Georgetown players.  With such terrible bench play on that team, it's a can't miss strategy!

Rutgers stands no chance in this game, and I think this will be one of the uglier games the Scarlet Knights will play this year.  But hey, at least Rutgers has as many conference victories asGU's football team had.

Georgetown 84 Rutgers 55