Georgetown overcame a listless first half Monday night, shaking off the last of the pumpkin pie and stuffing; the Hoyas then ratcheted up their defense and found their shooting stroke en route to a 81-58 victory over IUPUI. Hollis Thompson led the Hoyas with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Henry Sims chipped in 14 and Nate Lubick and Markel Starks both reached career highs, the former in rebounds (14, to go with 8 points), and the latter in scoring (13 points).
The first half had little to love for Georgetown fans, as the Hoyas came out cold. The Hoyas converted just 13 of their 32 shots before the half, good for barely 40 percent; the Jaguars had a nearly identical percentage on 11 of 27 shooting. Georgetown trailed for most of the first half, though never by more than three, as star Jaguar wing Alex Young poured in 16 first-half points. Still, a flurry of late buckets by Thompson and Starks put the Hoyas on top by one heading into the break.
Apparently a one-point advantage over a lightly regarded foe wasn’t enough for JTIII or the Hoyas, who scored ten straight points out of the break. IUPUI’s shooting fell off entirely, as Young didn’t make a shot after intermission, and his teammates scarcely fared better. Meanwhile, Georgetown started to heat up. Soon, thanks to another, 11-2 run, the game was well out of reach, and JTIII was emptying his bench.
The win was a solid if initially unimpressive tune-up for Thursday’s visit to #12 Alabama, in a game that promises to be among Georgetown’s toughest thus far. Even in these lesser games, the continued development of role players is essential to later success. A few quick notes on those role players:
- Nate Lubick. At this point, the odds that Lubick will lead the Hoyas in scoring in any game this season seem slim. He doesn’t look to the hoop often enough to rack up big point totals, and doesn’t have enough of an offensive repertoire when he does try to score. But he’s far ahead of the last two Hoya posts, Henry Sims and Julian Vaughn, as sophomores. He makes the most of his strength and energy, averaging nearly six rebounds per game, putting him near the team lead (with Sims, Thompson, and Otto Porter, in what’s shaping to be rebounding-by-committee). Also, for all his scoring shortcomings, he’s a valuable piece to the puzzle, averaging nearly 3 assists per game, behind only Sims. Monday night, he showed the seeds of what eventually could be a stronger scoring game, hitting a three and throwing down a rim-rattling dunk that brought the sparse Verizon Center crowd, which included Roy Hibbert, to its feet.
- Otto Porter. The stud freshman contributes even in the background. Monday, he scored just six points, but grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists. Through six games, Porter is tied with Starks for fourth on the team in scoring, leads the team in rebounding at more than six per contest, is third on the team in assists, trailing just Sims and Lubick, and leads the team in steals, after swiping on Monday night.
- Markel Starks. The point guard continues to progress as a sophomore, averaging nearly 10 per contest on better than 50 percent shooting from the field. Consider that Starks has scored at least seven points in each game this year, after never doing so in his freshman campaign. Monday’s new career high was his third double-figure night of the young season. While he still is not a typical point guard–Monday’s four assists were a career high, and gave him just nine on the season. But his scoring is a welcome, much-needed contribution.
The Hoyas have a quick turnaround in this three game week, traveling to Tuscaloosa for Thursday’s game at Alabama. A preview of the action follows on Thursday. Til then, Hoya Saxa.
