Georgetown played its first truly flat game of the season Wednesday night, losing to #15 Notre Dame 69-55 in the Joyce Center. Facing a well-prepared opponent in a tough environment, the Hoyas seemed out of joint the entire game, getting in early foul trouble, rushing offensive sets, and missing defensive assignments. An experienced Irish squad capitalized on nearly every Georgetown mistake, hitting free throws, gathering Hoya misses, and converting open looks.
Often, you’ll hear a pundit opine that the winning team simply wanted it more, reducing a complex game of strategy and execution to a matter of will. At the risk of committing the same error, much of Wednesday’s game seemed attributable to Notre Dame wanting it more. As has been documented elsewhere, the Irish face Syracuse and Connecticut in their next two games, and could ill afford an 0-3 mark to start the season. They played a focused, determined game in which they pushed the ball inside offensively, drawing foul after foul (the Irish shot 27 free throws, converting 22), and, on the other end of the floor, kept the Hoyas on the perimeter, denying back-door cuts and collapsing on driving ball-handlers.
The Hoyas, by contrast, looked listless, saved for the somewhat ornery Austin Freeman, who had a solid 21 points. They turned the ball over 14 times against a defense not known for causing such errors, and tossed up the first open shot (4-22 from three for the game) rather than patiently seeking out a better one, shooting just 43 percent for the game. They seemed completely out of sync on defense, practically silent in pick-and-roll situations, and often flubbing defensive rebounds because of a lack of communication.
Georgetown led once, at 5-4, and last tied the game at 13 all on a jumper by Nate Lubick. Then, the Irish rattled off eight straight, and the Hoyas never got closer than four. Tim Abromitis (20 pts) led four Notre Dame players in double figures, and always seemed to convert, often when left wide open, when the Hoyas seemed on the brink of making a game of it. Part of the problem for the Hoyas was finding lineups that worked against the Irish, who routinely ran four players 6’8″ or taller on the court. JTIII’s small, four-guard line-up, which he used in both halves, seemed to work passably well, even though Chris Wright (1-9 FG, 3 TO, but 6 ast) had a particularly ineffective game. By contrast, his big line-up of Wright, Freeman, Jerrelle Benimon (10 min., 0 pt, 2 reb, 1 blk), Nate Lubick (13 min., 5 pt., 0 reb, 1 ast), and Julian Vaughn (4 pt, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk in a foul-plagued 17 min.), which was on the floor during Notre Dame’s decisive second-half run, was inept on both ends of the floor, unable to contain the Irish attack and unable to generate any offense.
There may be several explanations for Wednesday’s disappointing results. The Hoyas played two tough road games in six days, with Christmas in between making for a lot of travel. As mentioned above, the Irish had a much stronger incentive to turn in a top-notch effort, particularly given that the Hoyas have no ranked opponents in their next two games. It could be that Georgetown struggles against teams that play a similarly structured game to their own; they blew the doors off of a talented but undisciplined Memphis team, but Old Dominion, Temple, and now Notre Dame all play more controlled games and gave the Hoyas fits. Whatever the reason for the disappointment, Georgetown will have little time to dwell on it: they return to action Saturday against DePaul in the Verizon Center.
Check back tomorrow for miscellaneous photos from Wednesday’s game and a preview of the DePaul game.
