Coming off a marquee road win over No. 4 Louisville Wednesday night, No. 12 Georgetown barely avoided being upset themselves Saturday by a scrappy Providence squad. The Hoyas (12-1, 2-0 Big East) shot just 30 percent from the floor and lost the rebounding battle in an ugly 49-40 win over the Friars (11-4, 0-2 Big East).

The Blue and Gray, who should move into the top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday, were led by senior guard Jason Clark — who had a game-high 16 points — and freshman forward Otto Porter, who added to his heroics at Louisville by pulling down 12 rebounds and constantly disrupting the Friars’ offense with his length and athleticism.

“I think that rebounds are always important when it comes down to holding our ground in close games,” Porter said. “Now that conference play has started, I’m trying to be more consistent since the games are getting more competitive.”

Porter’s effort didn’t go unnoticed by Head Coach John Thompson III, either. 
”Otto made the plays that you have to make to win games and it was glaring today. It’s easy to focus on who made what shot or who made what pass, but all the little thing that comes with winning, he has been very good at those things,” he said. “You have to do those things to have success in this league and to win when your shot is not falling.”

Senior center Henry Sims was a force on the defensive end of the court, blocking four shots and altering countless others as Providence struggled to get anything going in the paint. Sims struggled from the field, hitting just two of 13 shots and turning the ball over four times, but made up for it with his 7-of-9 performance from the charity stripe en route to 11 points.

“It’s always tough getting shots off against Big East teams,” Sims said. “When my shots aren’t falling, it’s especially important that I contribute with getting my teammates involved and helping defensively.”

Providence’s tough defense also did what Georgetown’s previous three opponents could not — keepMarkel Starks quiet. The freshman guard was averaging over 17 points per game over his last three games and had hit 10 of his last 14 attempts from behind the arc, but was largely held in check after hitting an early three. Starks wasn’t alone in his struggles, though, as junior forward Hollis Thompson mustered just only points on nine shots and the team as a whole made just 18 field goals.

“You’re not always going to shoot well. What happened to us today is earlier, I thought we were taking too many long shots. In the second half we tried to focus on throwing it inside and we were pounding it in, but it felt like there was a lid on the basket,” Thompson III said. “[But] you have to give Providence credit for their defense.”

The swarming Blue and Gray defense more than returned the favor, though. The visitors’ top three scorers — junior guard Vincent Council and sophomore guards Gerard Coleman and Bryce Cotton — came into the game averaging nearly 48 points between them, but were able to muster just 18 collectively. The three guards shot 7-of-33 from the field, with Council accounting for five of the team’s six assists. Coleman was particularly abysmal, going just 1-of-10 from the field and an abysmal 1-for-8 from the charity stripe.

The game’s tense ending would have been hard to predict after the opening few minutes, as the Blue and Gray raced out to an early lead that grew to as many as 14 with four minutes left in the first half. To their credit, the Friars battled to stay in the game despite having more turnovers than field goals in the early going.

Their persistence paid off as they tied the game twice in the last 20 minutes. The last tie came at 35-35 with eight minutes left, but Georgetown’s defense got stops when it needed to and turned enough of those stops into transition points to put the Friars away.

“I think this team has the ability, maybe more so than in the last couple of years, to win a ‘pretty’ game or win when it gets ugly. This was an ugly game,” Thompson III said. “With this group, all we’re concerned with is accumulating wins. Some nights it’s going to be pretty, a lot of nights in this league it’s not going to be pretty. … Systems go out the window and it becomes who is going to make the basketball play.”

The Hoyas return to the court Wednesday, Jan. 4 when they host No. 14 Marquette, although the Golden Eagles will likely be ranked lower after suffering a rout at the hands of unranked Vanderbilt Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Verizon Center.