With Ed Cooley and the Hoyas in town, which Friars can meet the moment?

"I think making it about a coach that was there, and all the negative things that comes along with that, takes away from the love of the game and the love of these young men. Make it about the game."

Ed Cooley will return to Providence on Saturday under quite different circumstances than a year ago.

Now in his second season at Georgetown, Cooley and his Hoyas have taken a step forward following a year in which they finished 9-23 overall, 2-18 in the Big East, and were swept in three matchups with the Friars.

Just how good Georgetown is in Year Two under Cooley is a matter of perspective.

They are 13-6 overall (4-4 in the Big East) thanks to a dramatic turnaround on the defensive end of the floor. They rank 23rd in the country in Defensive Efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy — a season after coming in an unimaginable 321st last year.

To put that in perspective, Cooley had just one team ranked outside of the top 100 defensively during his time at Providence, and that came in his first year after inheriting a group that gave little consideration to that end of the floor under Keno Davis.

Their four conference wins include an 81-57 drubbing of Creighton, a 69-63 victory over Xavier, and Monday’s 64-63 win at Villanova in which they closed the game on a 9-0 run. The Hoyas biggest lead against Nova came when they were up 5-3 early, but they took advantage of every Wildcat mistake over the final two minutes — of which there were plenty.

If the Hoyas stole one at Villanova, they probably feel like they were due after losing leads of 15 points at St. John’s and 14 at Marquette. Outside of when they played UConn, there hasn’t been a Big East game the Hoyas haven’t been in.

Conversely, eight of Georgetown’s 14 wins have come against Quad 4 opponents this season, and as much as Cooley has pointed to them being without their full complement of players the past month, they beat Syracuse without 19 point per game scorer JJ Starling, played St. John’s without point guard Deivon Smith, saw Wooga Poplar ejected for throwing a punch in the first half of the Nova game, and caught Creighton soon after they lost a terrific scorer in Pop Isaacs.

In conference play, Georgetown has the second worst Offensive Rating in the Big East as well as the worst Turnover Percentage.

It’s a formula familiar to Friar fans: Cooley’s team is defending hard, grinding games out, and hoping to out-execute opponents in the late going.

The emotions might not be quite as high now that the shock of seeing Cooley in a Georgetown quarter zip has faded, and the national media presence won’t be nearly as strong, but it should be intense enough that the metrics can be tossed aside when the ball tips at 12:30 on Saturday.

“It’s always an emotional game, but I’m not emotional,” Cooley said to local D.C. reporters earlier this week. “I think the more that we can make it about the players, the more we can make it about the game — I think making it about a coach that was there, and all the negative things that comes along with that, takes away from the love of the game and the love of these young men. Make it about the game. Everything else will play itself out.”

Still, Cooley knows he’s walking into a hostile environment once again.

“They’ll be in for a surprise,” he quipped when asked what his players who didn’t take part in this game a year ago are in for.

Cooley has been beating the health drum hard over the past few weeks. The Hoyas returned scoring guard Jayden Epps and star freshman center Thomas Sorber to the lineup against Villanova. Epps has been in and out of the lineup with a sore ankle over the past month, while Sorber missed the DePaul game with an elbow injury.

“When we’re healthy and at full strength, we’re as good as anybody in the Big East,” Cooley said.

“We weren’t healthy for five or six weeks. If we stay healthy, we think we’re one of the more competitive teams in the Big East.”

Georgetown sophomore Drew Fielder, a one-time Providence signee who left for D.C. shortly after Cooley departed, seemed to almost appreciate the environment in Friartown.

“We’ve had that one circled, for sure,” he said visiting of Providence.

“It’s pretty cool. Removing myself from it and my relationship with Coach, it’s pretty legendary,” Fielder said of playing in the rivalry game in the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

“I remember last year getting chirped in the earliest part of our warmups. There were some guys already at court side and I was like ‘Y’all start early.’”

Fielder and Epps are the only Georgetown returnees to have played at Providence last season. It will be a new experience for Sorber and Micah Peavy, the TCU transfer who has emerged into one of the best two-way players in the league.

Peavy is fresh off a 24-point performance at Villanova in which he made six 3-pointers. “The guys talk about how crazy it is in Providence, and I see on Twitter how crazy the Providence fans are, so I’m just ready to play in that environment,” he said.

From a Providence perspective, the biggest question surrounds who can emerge and lead this group in such an emotional environment. Last season the answer to that question was clear. Devin Carter scored 29 points on 10-14 shooting in the PC/Georgetown matchup at the AMP, while Josh Oduro made 8-10 from the field, and Ticket Gaines added 14 points.

Those were veterans who not only met the moment, they embraced it.

This year’s Friars (9-10 overall, 3-5 in Big East games) lack an alpha after losing Bryce Hopkins earlier in the year. We’ll see if anyone on the current roster is ready to meet the moment.

Providence has three wings in Corey Floyd Jr., Wesley Cardet, and two-time Big East Freshman of the Week Ryan Mela playing their best basketball of the season, and a pair of point guards who have played on enough big stages to not be overwhelmed by the environment and hoopla that comes with an appearance from Cooley.

Floyd has been particularly good of late, scoring 14 points per game in Providence’s last three contests. He’s shooting 14-27 from the field and 6-6 at the free throw line during this stretch.

The biggest key could come on the interior, where Oswin Erhunwunse has a chance to make a statement against a potential first round pick in Sorber.

“He’s got a lot of Sean Williams in him,” Cooley said of the Friar freshman. Williams was a shot blocking center at Boston College who Cooley recruited to the Heights. “(He has) natural shot blocking ability, he runs the floor well, he’s a game-changer defensively, so you’ve got to kind of game plan around that.

Keeping Erhunmwunse on the floor will be key on Saturday, as limiting Sorber will be critical.

Kim English said on his Coach’s Show on Thursday night that the Friar defense has been “very disappointing” of late — noting his group is fouling too much and struggling to keep opponents from the offensive glass. The disparity in possessions has really hurt Providence in league play and they will need to keep Sorber (who had five offensive rebounds at Villanova and against UConn) off the offensive glass.

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Here are some key Hoyas to watch on Saturday:

Thomas Sorber: The 6’11 freshman was a top 50 player in the class of 2025, but few saw the type of impact he’d have on both ends of the floor so quickly. He leads Georgetown with 14.2 points per game, is first in the league in rebounding (8.7), seventh in field goal percentage, and his 2.3 blocks are good for second best in the Big East. Sorber gets to the free throw line a ton, drawing 4.3 fouls per game and converts at 75% while he’s there. The Hoyas are a +223 with him on the floor — that ranks in the 98th percentile nationally and is well ahead of Peavy, who is second on the team at +157. Providence would be wise to try to get him into foul trouble and make him face up, as Sorber is a much more effective scorer in the post than when taking jumpers.

Micah Peavy: Opponents are shooting just 30% when being guarded by Peavy, and he’s become a far better scorer than anyone predicted heading into this season. He’s a 35% shooter from three who fills a number of categories — 13.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.3 steals per game. Peavy and Sorber are the biggest reasons why the Hoyas have made such a dramatic improvement on the defensive end. Peavy has great size at 6’8, 220 and has a solid mid-range game.

Jayden Epps: Last season at Providence brought the full Jayden Epps Experience. He shot just 9-27 from the field, but started canning threes late to put Georgetown in a position to pull the upset, before Devin Carter took over in the final two minutes. Epps has the kind of scoring ability that can flip games, or keep Georgetown in them. His three 3-pointers against Villanova on Monday were essential in keeping them afloat when the lead hovered around double digits in the final ten minutes. Epps is undersized as a scoring guard, and the Hoyas go from having great length in the 2-5 spots to undersized in the backcourt when they play Epps and sophomore Malik Mack together.

Malik Mack: A smallish point guard who was ranked by most services as a top ten transfer in the portal after he left Harvard last year, Mack has been hit or miss as a sophomore. He is good enough to go off for 20 points in the second half of a win versus Xavier, but is shooting below 40% on the season and can be a matchup opponents look to take advantage of on the defensive end. He was great in back-to-back games against Xavier (26 points) and at Marquette (18), but hasn’t shot the ball well of late.

The Role Players: Georgetown has a lot of big wings to lean on. Freshman Caleb Williams is 6’7, 230 pounds and is a traditional low maintenance Cooley-type player who defends, makes right reads, and isn’t afraid to take shots in big moments. 6’6 Louisville transfer Curtis Williams has had some big moments over the past month scoring the ball off the bench, while Fielder is a 6’10 sophomore who is struggling to find the jumper that figured to make him a tough inside/out cover. Fielder had 19 points and eight rebounds in their loss to DePaul with Sorber and Epps sidelined. Kentucky transfer Jordan Burks brings good size (6’9) and athleticism off the bench. Former PC commit Kayvaun Mulready has played in just two conference games in his freshman year and hasn’t scored a point since a Nov. 30 meeting with Albany.