Georgetown mounted an impressive comeback Saturday, rallying from twelve points down to take a 45-43 lead on Nate Lubick’s lay-up after having trailed since the opening minutes. Having taken the lead, though, the Hoyas stalled, unable to muster any more offense. Three-pointers went awry, as they had all day, and unforced turnovers followed. Georgetown’s offensive ineptitude–the Hoyas shot just 36 percent from the field, while committing 16 tunrovers–may have been a sign of how much they miss senior guard Chris Wright, who missed the game after breaking his hand in Wednesday’s game against Cincinnati. The loss, the Hoyas’ third in four games, essentially drops them out of contention for the double-bye at the top of the Big East. But a series of losses elsewhere in the Big East has left Georgetown in a six-way tie for sixth place in the loss column. A win Saturday at Cincinnati would go a long way to locking up sixth place.
More coverage of that game, and a note on other important games this week, follows. A series of weekend obligations has made this recap a bit tardy, so here is a run-down of what others have said:
- Washington Post. Coach John Thompson III said the defeat was mostly the result of a poor shooting performance, the Hoyas’ second straight. Georgetown missed 32 of its 50 shots, including 11 of its 12 attempts after taking a two-point lead with 10 minutes 2 seconds remaining. The Hoyas’ 36 percent field goal percentage was their second worst this season; the 25 percent effort in Wednesday’s 54-46 loss to Cincinnati was the worst of Thompson’s tenure. “We got the ball where we wanted it most of the time,” Thompson said. “But you have to finish the play. You have to put the ball in the basket.”
- Hoya Prospectus. [T]he Hoyas ran into the same problem today as in the Cincinnati game, namely poor shooting, as well as an old nemesis, turnovers. In the Lift-off half today, Georgetown missed a bunch of outside shots [2/12 3FG], and but for the inside work of Henry Sims [3/3 2FG] would have been behind by more than the ten-point difference at the break, 33-23. The Orange had managed a 9-2 TO margin going into the locker room, and had scored more than a quarter of their points on the fast break. The Hoyas did dig deep and make a run in the Vesper half, thanks especially to Austin Freeman and Jason Clark, and even after losing a 2-point lead in the middle of the half held the ball down 3 points with 30 seconds to go. But Kris Joseph blocked a Jason Clark attempt to tie, and the rest was academic.
- The Hoya. “Chris Wright not playing [was] huge,” Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim said after the game. “I hope he can come back because Georgetown is obviously one of the best teams in our league with him playing, and that’s a huge loss.”
- ESPN/AP. “We came out on the losing end,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said, “but whether Chris is out there — when Chris gets back, until then — we’re going to figure this out.”
