Julian Vaughn scored a career-high 18 points to lead five Hoyas in double digits as Georgetown beat Washington 74-66 Saturday, in a game that was at first closer, then not as close as the final score suggests. Both teams struggled with ball control and accuracy in the first half, with the Hoyas maintaining an early lead throughout. The Hoyas opened up a 28-22 lead, only to have Washington rattle off seven straight before Georgetown entered the break up one, 30-29.
The Hoyas downed a can of spinach at halftime, though, and came out of the break on a 21-2 run, putting them up 20 with 14 minutes remaining. Washington made a dent, but then Georgetown pushed the lead back to 20, 60-40, with just over six minutes remaining. At that point, Georgetown appeared to relax a bit. The Huskies, to their credit, did not, cutting the lead to six points with thirty seconds remaining, before Georgetown closed the game out on free throws.
Greg Monroe had 15 points and 7 rebounds, Chris Wright and Jason Clark tallied 13 points apiece, and Austin Freeman chipped in 11 for the Hoyas. Georgetown’s defense was stellar, as always, holding the Huskies 20 points below their season average. In a twist, Georgetown won the game not by out-shooting Washington–both teams shot about 45% from the field, which is rather high for a Georgetown opponent–but by ball control (15 turnovers to Washington’s 25) and from the charity stripe (20-28 from the line, compared to just 6-9 for Washington).
The win puts the Hoyas at 8-0, caps an impressive week featuring consecutive wins over ranked opponents, and provides a good moment to look back on the quarter-season that was. Vaughn has stepped up, averaging 8.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists and forming a formidable front line with Monroe. Clark has provided steady excellence on both sides of the ball, bringing much-needed pressure to the Georgetown defense and stability Wright sometimes lacks on offense. The Hoyas are visibly more fluid on offense, more motivated on defense, more physical on the boards, and more together as a team than they were during last season’s collapse. The one question mark on the season–an ugly sone-point victory over Temple–has been answered in part by Temple’s upset of Villanova.
Georgetown’s schedule takes a dip in frequency (two games in two weeks) and profile (Old Dominion and Harvard) before the Hoyas begin Big East play on New Year’s Eve.
