Dominant: Georgetown 89, Duke 77

Georgetown thoroughly dominated Duke Saturday 89-77, impressing President Obama and his VP thanks to red-hot shooting and 20+ points from Greg Monroe, Chris Wright, and Austin Freeman.  A few quick observations:

• Stars–the big three, in no particular order.  Monroe was great getting to the rack, Wright was impressive on defense (3 steals, and 2 blocks from a 6 footer!), and Freeman was his usual stealth self, cracking 20 points just by taking the shots available to him.
• Key Stat–field goal percentage.  The Hoyas shot 71.2%, the Devils 37.1%.  Duke took 16 more shots than Georgetown, made more free throws and three-pointers, rebounded the ball much better, and turned the ball over at roughly the same rate.  So the fact that the Hoyas got a bunch of wide-open lay-ups while Duke struggled to get anything open was the difference.
  
• Key Sequence–while most recaps pointed to the 18-3 run that put Georgetown ahead late in the first half, the key sequence for Hoyas fans used to one good half, one not-so-good, was early in the second half, when Duke cut the lead to seven points, then again to eight, before increased defensive pressure and some easy fast-break hoops put the game out of reach.
• Key match-up–Duke’s guards v. Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Jason Clark.  The Hoya guards held their Duke counterparts to awful shooting, forced a bunch of turnovers, and kept the Devils from setting up their offensive sets.
• Pleasant surprise–the bench.  It wasn’t much, but Jerrelle Benimon (4 pts, 2 rebs, 3 assts, 1 blk, 1 stl) and Hollis Thompson (6 points, including a big 3 to put the lead back to 11) both showed signs of life.
  

Overall, a great performance.  The Hoyas aren’t as good as they showed yesterday, nor as bad as they showed at Syracuse, but glad to know that the truth lies somewhere in between.  Georgetown returns to action Wednesday against South Florida.