Georgetown didn’t exactly bounce back from its conference-opening loss to Notre Dame. The Hoyas scuffled through the first two-thirds of Saturday’s match-up with DePaul before pulling away behind Chris Wright’s offensive efforts. What stood as a one-point lead with 14 minutes remaining ballooned to 17 with one minute left, largely thanks to Wright’s 17 second-half points, which were his total for the game. In all, the win wasn’t impressive but is was a win, which is never guaranteed in Big East play. Some quick thoughts:
- MVP. Tough to say anyone other than Austin Freeman and Jason Clark (21 points apiece), but Wright (17 points, 7 assists) was the key to the Hoyas’ offense. He could have had a few more assists, save for some missed shots by his teammates, and his offensive aggressiveness after the half helped Georgetown pull away.
- Key Stretch. After DePaul once again narrowed the Hoyas’ lead, this time to 68-63 with 7 minutes remaining, Georgetown clamped down defensively, allowing just one DePaul field goal over the next six minutes, and holding the Demons scoreless for over three minutes, while rattling off an 18-6 run to put the game away.
- Key Stat. The Hoyas shot just 35.7 percent from three, marking their second straight game in which Georgetown has been below average from deep. Both Notre Dame and DePaul focused on contesting every Hoya three-point look, allowing Julian Vaughn (a steady 9 points, 10 rebounds on Saturday) and Henry Sims (4 points, 7 rebounds) more freedom in the post at the expense of space on the perimeter. Georgetown at some times has struggled to adapt; whether the Hoyas will adjust and re-find offensive fluidity is a question to consider going forward.
- Glass Half Empty. After showing an impressive ability to put away lesser teams, Georgetown couldn’t put away DePaul Saturday. Of particular difficulty for the Hoyas Saturday was limiting the wide-open looks of talented DePaul youngsters Cleveland Melvin (29 points on 13-of-19 shooting) and Tony Freeland (24 points, 8 rebounds), whose versatility gave the taller but less mobile Hoyas fits. They seemed unable to adjust to DePaul’s faster pace, losing the ball to the Demons’ press while failing to contain DePaul’s scorers in transition. The Hoyas can’t afford to keep frittering away double-digit leads in conference; eventually, a talented opponent will make Georgetown pay.
- Glass Half Full. Georgetown did just enough to beat DePaul on Saturday, pulling out a win against a scrappy, motivated team gunning for an upset. While they had a slow start on New Year’s Day, Georgetown ultimately locked the Demons down, clicking on offense while putting a lid on the opponents’ basket.
- Conclusion. Few Georgetown fans will be entirely satisfied with Saturday’s game, even if the result was as expected. Particularly in light of Wednesday’s loss at Notre Dame, the Hoyas’ failure to control the game early against DePaul was disturbing. But Wright, Clark and Freeman took charge late, grinding out a tougher-than-expected win. This was the third Hoyas’ game in nine days, with another road contest Monday still to play. Ultimately, a win is a win, and Georgetown can’t spend too much time dwelling on whether they should have won by 15, 20, or more.
Check back later today for a preview of Monday’s game at St. John’s.
