Surging Georgetown hosts Creighton on Wednesday night in Washington, looking to match its longest Big East regular-season winning streak in over a decade.

As recently as two weeks ago, the Hoyas (12-10, 4-7 Big East) were looking up at everyone else in the league standings after a seventh consecutive conference loss in what was beginning to look like a lost campaign in Year 3 under coach Ed Cooley.

Since then, Georgetown has flipped the script and rattled off three straight wins — at Providence, vs. DePaul and most recently at Butler — to join a crowded group of four schools tied for sixth place heading into this week’s Big East games.

Georgetown last won four straight Big East regular-season games in 2015. That was also the last time the Hoyas earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament under John Thompson III.

So what’s been the difference in the Hoyas’ midseason turnaround?

Cooley thinks the return of big man Vince Iwuchukwu, who missed 10 games due to a medical procedure, has changed his team for the good.

“Having Vince (Iwuchukwu) back in the lineup for a period of time has really helped us,” Cooley said.

The 7-foot-1 senior transfer from St. John’s is third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game behind guards KJ Lewis (14.9) and Malik Mack (13.9).

“I wasn’t coming here to score,” Iwuchukwu explained.

“I came here to play defense, protect the rim make sure that guys can play defense to the best of their abilities.”

Despite his intentions, Iwuchukwu has come on during this three-game run by averaging 14.7 points and has expanded his game by making 3 of 3 3-pointers. Iwuchukwu had missed his previous eight attempts in his collegiate career, including four this season.

In the first meeting on Jan. 13, Creighton (12-10, 6-5) outlasted Georgetown 86-83 in overtime behind Austin Swartz’s career-high 33 points.

Since then, the Bluejays have struggled by losing three of four while Swartz has scored a combined 44 points in that stretch after his outburst against the Hoyas that included eight 3-pointers.

With a NET ranking of 76 on Feb. 2, Creighton is in jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament after five straight bids that includes three trips into the second weekend.

“You just keep working. That’s all you can do,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said after then-No. 2 UConn trounced the Bluejays 85-58. “As I told them, you want the goal to be as a teammate, what can I do to make my teammates’ job easier? … We just need to take another step with that.”

–Field Level Media

NBA commissioner Adam Silver added Los Angeles Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard to the player pool for the All-Star Game on Tuesday..

It marks Leonard’s seventh career All-Star selection, and it will come at his team’s home arena on Feb. 15 in Inglewood, Calif.

Silver needed to add one more U.S.-born All-Star to get the 16 needed to field two teams of eight. There will also be one World team made up of international players in the new U.S. versus World format.

Rosters will be revealed later Tuesday.

Leonard, 34, was initially snubbed from the All-Star Game despite averaging a career-high 27.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a league-high 2.1 steals per game in 36 games (all starts) for the Clippers.

–Field Level Media

If Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was looking for a vote of confidence from the revamped Atlanta front office, he didn’t get it during new GM Ian Cunningham’s introductory press conference on Tuesday.

When asked if Penix, who is recovering from a torn ACL that prematurely ended his second NFL season in November, will be the team’s starter in 2026, new Falcons president of football operations Matt Ryan — also a former Atlanta quarterback from 2008-2021 — did not give a definitive answer.

“Neither of us are the head coach of the football team, so we can’t answer your question on that,” Ryan said. ” … I think as we start to get into this process and dive deeper into the roster — how it currently stands, where it’s going in the future — I think those are conversations that’ll be a part of it.

“Quarterback’s obviously very important, and we’re excited about Mike and what he’s doing with his rehab. I’ve been up at the facility the last three weeks, and Michael’s been in there attacking that and he’s in a good space right now, so we’re excited about where he is at. But certainly, a lot of discussions for us about the entire roster.”

Penix, who Atlanta selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft months after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal in free agency, took over the starting job late in his rookie season and entered 2025 as the starter.

This past season, he completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,982 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions in nine starts. The Falcons went 3-6 in games he started compared to a 5-3 record in Cousins’ starts after he replaced Penix following his injury.

Cousins is likely to be released this offseason due to his significant salary, especially after the team restructured his contract in January.

With Penix’s return timeline for the start of the 2026 season uncertain, that could force Atlanta to look for a quarterback either in free agency or April’s draft if it elects to move on from Cousins after two seasons.

–Field Level Media