Greg Monroe channeled his inner Bill Walton, dishing out 12 assists to go with 12 points and 7 rebounds to lead Georgetown to a 79-70 comeback victory in Providence against the Friars Tuesday night. The win puts the Hoyas at 8-4 in conference and clears a dangerous road hurdle against a feisty team. Some thoughts:
- Star–Monroe. No disrespect to the supporting cast below, but 12 assists for anyone on the Hoyas is amazing, all the more so from a 6′11″ guy. The Friar defenders were helping toward Monroe throughout the night, leaving Chris Wright, Julian Vaughn, and others open for Monroe’s sweet dishes.
- Star (Friar edition)–Jamine Peterson finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks, and proved that Georgetown has a hard time guarding ath-a-letic small forwards.
- Supporting cast–take your pick. Wright (21 points), Vaughn (19), and Austin Freeman (17 points) all chipped in high-efficiency production. Wright and Vaughn in particular were terrific during the Hoya comeback. Speaking of which…
- Key sequence–Providence held a lead for the last few minutes of the first half into the second half, extending their advantage to 9 points on a Sharaud Curry deep 3. Just when things looked perilous, the Hoyas clamped down, allowing just one Friar point in the next 5:20, while pouring in 14 of their own, culminating with a Chris Wright and-one that gave the Hoyas the lead.
- Telling stat–not exactly Hollinger here, but the Friars shot 34.4% from the floor, and just 63% from the line; the Hoyas 51.7% and 76.2%, respectively.
- Telling stat (meta edition)–The RPI says the Hoyas have played the toughest schedule in the country. South Florida and Providence aren’t freebies, they just look that way from the peaks of ‘Nova, Duke, ‘Cuse, et al.
- Disturbing stat–those who read the preview were ready for this, but the Friars assaulted the offensive boards. For much of the game, in fact, the Friars grabbed more of their misses than the Hoyas did, eventually grabbing 18 offensive rebounds to the Hoyas’ 19 defensive boards. Friar big man Bilal Dixon was the chief culprit, grabbing an absurd 16 rebounds, 8 offensive.
- Pleasant surprise–Hollis Thompson. Nothing shocking–4 points, 4 rebounds–but solid defensive contributions and energy plays in 22 minutes. Honorable mention–Wright, who had just 5 points at halftime but poured it on when the Hoyas needed it.
The Hoyas have a few days off (who knows if they’ll even get back to D.C. with a storm rolling in) before traveling to Jersey for Saturday’s re-match against Rutgers.
