The Hoyas flew back to the District on an emotional high from their comeback, overtime win over Missouri on Tuesday, but WAC power Utah State (5-1) is in town tomorrow, and it’s time to turn the page.

“I know they’re a really good team, and they’re really well-coached,” senior forward Julian Vaughn said. “They’re probably one or two in their conference right now. . Coach wouldn’t schedule them if they were easy. Every team is hard that we play.”

“They are a difficult team,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “They are, to date, with the exception of Missouri, maybe the best team we’ve seen. They’re well-coached, they’re going to run their sets, they defend. [Utah State Head] Coach [Stew] Morrill has won 800 games it feels like. He’s been through everything, done a great job. So it’s going to be an extremely difficult, physical game.”

With another tough nonconference opponent on tap, more players are logging quality minutes for Thompson than in recent memory, and No. 16 Georgetown has ridden its depth to a hot 7-0 start. As a team, the Hoyas are 29th in the country in points per game (80.7), seventh in assists per game (18.9) and 11th in field-goal percentage (50.9 percent). Senior guards Austin Freeman and Chris Wright and junior guard Jason Clark have been even better than advertised, but it has been the performance of the frontcourt – especially Vaughn and junior center Henry Sims – that has made the Hoyas look like a truly elite team for some stretches this season.

“Henry is just turning into the player that he is supposed to be,” Vaughn said. “We’ve seen it for a while. He’s finally putting it together in the games, stringing together good performances. He’s a whole different person, personality-wise, more confident. It’s good to see him play well. . It helps me. It helps the whole team.”

Clark, who along with Freeman, Wright and Greg Monroe rarely came off the floor for long periods of time last season, recognizes the importance of maintaining a dependable rotation.

“I think our depth plays a big role in our wins, and I think it’s going to play a big role in our season. Period,” Clark said. “We have a lot of players that come off the bench that can give us good minutes. I think our whole team, starters down to the end of the bench, can play significant minutes in our season.”

“We are deeper than we were last year, and what that means is we have more people that are ready to play and ready to contribute,” Thompson said. “We are working, progressing towards being a versatile team where we can do a lot of different things, play a lot of different ways. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.”

aking two late comebacks on the road at Old Dominion and Missouri and making timely plays at key moments in their other victories, the Hoyas, who have shown inconsistency in their mental approach to each game the past two years, have also found ways to win no matter the situation.

“We play very well together,” Clark said. “We stick together through the thickest games, just like this Missouri game. We were in a hostile environment, just us basically. We’ve just learned that when things aren’t going our way, we can always make something good happen.”

“That was a Big East road environment,” Thompson said of the atmosphere in Kansas City on Tuesday. “Hopefully that experience, along with the win, is what we take out of that game.”

Coming off their statement win, the Hoyas have a relatively quick turnaround and another pre-Big East test against Utah State, a team led by veteran forward Tai Wesley (15.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) – a scheduling feature that was by design.

“That’s what this [nonconference] season is about, just that mental preparation,” Thompson said. “There’s no very big game on the road, a very different style team that we’re going to have to face on Saturday, but at the same time an outstanding opponent that’s won a lot of games, that’s been to the [NCAA] tournament. That’s preparation for league play, so hopefully we are mentally prepared for that. Hopefully we don’t go through the emotional, mental rollercoaster ride, and we just stay even-keeled and stay focused.”

Tip-off at Verizon Center is set for noon tomorrow.”