A season of ups and downs hit another low point Saturday as Notre Dame came into the Phone Booth and dominated a short-handed Hoya squad, 78-64. Austin Freeman, the Hoyas’ leading scorer, played sparingly and ineffectively because of what appeared to be the flu, and the rest of the Georgetown squad not only failed to pick up in his absence, but failed to match the Irish’s energy on the offensive glass.
A little bit late to the party on the re-cap front, so just a few observations and links:
- While Freeman’s effective absence (5 points, sleep-walking around the floor) certainly hurt the Hoyas’ offensive production, the real hole was on defense. The Irish, admittedly a good-shooting team, shot a lights-out 57.1% from the field. They also pounded the boards, grabbing 10 offensive rebounds and 26 overall (to Georgetown’s 15).
- Neither Chris Wright (4-12 FG) nor Greg Monroe (only 7 shots) was particularly effective, and neither stepped up to take charge of the offense, although Wright took a few ill-advised shots and threw some lousy passes.
- Hollis Thompson had a nice game, starting in place of Freeman, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and showing a lot more offensive initiative than he has playing with the second squad.
The ends any dreams the Hoyas had of a 4 seed in the Big East tournament; now they’ll be clawing not to fall out of the top 7. No rest for the weary, or the sick, though, as the Hoyas return to action Monday night at West Virginia.
