Survival: Georgetown 69, Marquette 60

Things looked bleak for Georgetown near the end of the first half Sunday against Marquette. They’d fallen behind by nine points, largely due to the Golden Eagles’ superior quickness and, more important, effort. The Hoyas were cold from the floor, settling for hurried deep balls that weren’t falling. Just when they tried to turn the tide, narrowing the deficit to seven, then generating a steal, leading scorer Austin Freeman came up limping from the resulting pile-up, and hobbled off to the locker-room.

But all was not lost. Georgetown, thanks to a timely hot streak by Chris Wright, narrowed the deficit to four at the half, then locked down on Marquette defensively after the break. Freeman returned and, while he hit several key buckets, the Hoyas’ defensive stinginess and effort on the boards held off Marquette’s late charge. Ultimately, the Hoyas ground out a 69-60 victory, their eighth straight win, and yet another impressive, late-game win in a streak seemingly full of them.

Some thoughts:

Player of the Game. Chris Wright. In a game in which Freeman missed several minutes due to injury, Julian Vaughn (6 points, 5 rebounds) battled foul trouble, and Jason Clark (6 points on 6-of-6 from the line) didn’t make a field goal, Wright took charge, scoring 20 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists. He found his deep stroke, hitting a career high 5 three-pointers. On the other end of the floor, Wright played tough defense, limiting Marquette’s guards’ looks for much of the second half. Sure, there were the standard collection of head-scratchers, including a back-court charging foul and a late turnover against Marquette’s press. But, Wright was instrumental in Georgetown’s defensive resurgence and in pushing the pace offensively, generating fast-break opportunities that were the key to Georgetown’s second-half offensive push. Also, while Hoya fans collectively gasped when Freeman went down, Wright was undeterred, willing the Hoyas back into the game.

Role Player of the Game. The easy answer would be Nate Lubick, whose 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks were a timely contribution, including two give-and-gos with Julian Vaughn in which Lubick fed Vaughn in the post then, when Lubick’s defender turned to double down on Vaughn, cut to the basket to finish Vaughn’s return pass. But the more under-the-radar, and ultimately better, answer is Hollis Thompson who, while amassing just 5 points, grabbed a team-high and career-high 13 rebounds, helping Georgetown to a draw in the rebounding battle. The contributions of Thompson, who was inaccurately characterized as “one-dimensional” by play-by-play doofus Mike Patrick (whose errors in the game were too numerous to list here), served as just another example of a Hoya who filled a need on the way to yet another victory.

First Half. There was not much to like from the Hoyas before intermission. They were settling for far too many threes, netting just 4 of 14 attempts while taking just 13 shots from inside the arc, making 7. The Golden Eagles were playing in a different gear, substituting at every whistle, with sometimes four fresh bodies coming off the pine at once. The frequent substitutions breathed life into a sometimes inept Golden Eagle defense, and gave fresh blood to the Marquette attack. The Hoyas could scarcely contain Marquette, which scored 32 of its 35 first-half point either within 10 feet or from the free-throw line. Davante Gardner, a 6’9″, 290-lb. beast of a freshman who had scored all of 7 points in league play, was a particular tormentor for the Hoyas, banging home 9 first-half points in the post. Johnson-Odom also had nine points before intermission, giving Georgetown fits on the perimeter. But Georgetown survived, largely thanks to Wright’s three first-half threes, and inside buckets by several Hoyas.

Second Half. The second half was a different story, at least for the Hoya defense. The two teams each shot about 43 percent in the first half, and Georgetown continued on that pace after the break (the Hoyas made just 7 of 27 from deep for the game). But Marquette hit an icy patch, scoring just six points in the first nine minutes of the half. During that stretch, the Hoyas netted 14 points, including a critical 9-0 run that gave Georgetown its first lead of the game.

Trailing 41-36, Georgetown turned to its seniors. Vaughn hit a hooker in the lane (copyright: Rich Chvotkin), then, after a stop, Freeman, who recently had checked back into the game, banked in a double-clutch mid-range jumper, while absorbing contact, from the right side to make the deficit one. While he missed the ensuing free throw, Freeman drained a baseline jumper on the next possession to put the Hoyas up, 42-41. After a Marquette missed free-throw, Thompson drained a three from the left wing to make the lead 45-41.

Although Marquette pulled even at 45, then pulled within one at 50-49, a Georgetown run put the game away. Freeman hit a tricky runner to make the lead three, then, after Marquette missed two more free throws, Henry Sims (7 points, 3 rebounds) used a nifty drop-step to lay the ball in and draw a fifth foul on Gardner, exiling that particular villain for the rest of the day. After a Sims free-throw and another Hoya stop, Wright got out on the break, finding Freeman in transition for a lay-in to make the lead seven. Eventually, Georgetown ran the lead to ten, having held Marquette to just 16 points in as many second-half minutes. While Johnson-Odom, who finished with 20, scored nine straight Marquette points to winnow the lead to three, the Golden Eagles never fully recovered.

Conclusion. Georgetown’s eight-game streak consists of a bunch of separate episodes, each of which has given us precious insight into this team. They can lock down top-flight competition, while withstanding last-second runs (see Villanova, Louisville). They focus in crunch time, methodically finding open teammates on offense while stifling opponents on defense (Syracuse). They withstand career nights by opposing stars (Providence). And, as we learned Sunday, they overcome shaky, low-energy starts to churn out wins they should get. Whatever the remaining five regular season games, and subsequent postseason tournaments, have to offer, this year has offered a rare privilege to see such a remarkable run.

Check back in Monday to see a look around the Big East, then Tuesday for a preview of the upcoming showdown with Connecticut.  In the mean time, check out Sunday’s box score here.