MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For 25 minutes, Saturday’s battle between the two top-five giants lived up to its billing, with each team looking as if it could, at moments notice, take control of the game. But then the shots stopped falling for Georgetown, and Memphis made the most of the opportunity, pulling away for an 85-71 victory. “I still think this was the best team that we’ve played since I’ve been here,” Memphis Head Coach John Calipari, in his eighth year guiding the Tigers, said of the Hoyas, who are now 8-1. After the defeat, the glum countenance of Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III and his players said it all. “Trust me, we will learn and improve from this game,” Thompson said. Georgetown and Memphis fans alike had been counting down the days until Dec. 22 in anticipation of the duel of top-five teams before a full house of 18,864 at the FedEx Forum. While Memphis (10-0) entered the game against No. 5 Georgetown ranked second, Memphis players said they were hoping that a marquee victory here today would earn some respect for a squad that sometimes gets dogged for their affiliation with the less-than-stellar Conference USA. “It was a huge game for us,” junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts said. “We were the underdogs. We play off that.” Georgetown held the lead for 11 minutes during the first half, starting at the 13:01 mark. Sophomore forward DaJuan Summers (13 points) got the momentum going with a three-pointer, and on the following Memphis possession junior guard Jessie Sapp grabbed a steal and fed Summers for a dunk. Although the Tigers cut the Hoyas’ edge to one-possession several times, the Hoyas used good ball movement and offensive rebounding to stay ahead. The turning point, however, came in the second half on a 9-0 Memphis run that started on a jumper by junior forward Robert Dozier, which put Memphis up 47-46 with 14:32 left in the second half. Douglas-Roberts then made three straight baskets – a jumper, a three-pointer and a break-away dunk – to put Memphis ahead 54-46. Prior to Douglas-Roberts’ outburst, the lead had changed four times in the second half, but after it, Memphis would not relinquish its lead. “Those seven straight points – that just catapulted us,” Douglas-Roberts said. Douglas-Roberts had been in a bit of a slump entering the game, scoring a combined nine points in his last two games, but he bounced back in a big way against Georgetown, leading all scorers with 24 points. “He’s such a good player,” Thompson said. “He can score a lot of different ways. He got into a rhythm today. Guys like that, when they get into a rhythm, there’s not much you can do. You just have to hold back and hope he misses.” emphis opened up its lead to 75-60 11 minutes later; between 12:16 and 3:37 left, Georgetown was outscored 21 to 12. Thompson attributed the Hoyas’ offensive struggles to a lack of patience and poor shot selection. “When we would make a mistake or a bad decision on offense, it would lead to an easy basket to them down the other way,” he said. “This is something we know we have to address.” Calipari said he was proud of his team’s defensive effort. The Tigers applied full-court pressure after made baskets, and they made a point of keeping senior center Roy Hibbert away from the basket. In addition to shutting down the Hoyas’ post game, Memphis held Georgetown to zero three-pointers on six attempts in the second half. The Tigers also dominated the glass, outrebounding Georgetown 43-30. Senior forward Joey Dorsey led the way with 13 boards to complement his 11 points. In addition to Douglas-Roberts and Dorsey, two other Memphis starters finished in double digits. Junior forward Robert Dozier had 19 points and freshman guard Derrick Rose scored 18. “They had contributions up and down the line,” Thompson said. “That’s what good teams do. That’s why you have to look at them as one of the best, if not the best, team in the country right now, because they can hurt you in so many different ways.” Rose, one of the top freshmen in the nation, has made an immediate impact at Memphis, averaging 15.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in the Tigers’ first 10 games. “He’s not even close to what he’s gonna be, and that’s scary,” Douglas-Roberts said of his rookie teammate. “The hype – he deserved it. Look what he’s doing.” Hibbert, the target of many Memphis fans’ taunts, was held to three field goals on eight attempts and did not score until 9:15 had elapsed. His six points was a season low. He added six rebounds in his 27 minutes of action. With 14 points, freshman guard Austin Freeman led the Hoyas in scoring for the third-straight game. Georgetown does not play again until next Saturday, Dec. 29, against American at Verizon Center. That game, and a New Years’ Eve contest with Fordham, will conclude the Hoyas’ non-conference slate. Free Throws: – Georgetown had the nation’s No. 1 field-goal defense going into this game, allowing its opponents to score on only 34.5 percent of their attempts. Memphis, however, converted 46 percent of their field-goal tries. – In the John Thompson III era, Georgetown is 18-22 when outrebounded by its opponent. In addition, the Hoyas are 14-20 when trailing at halftime. – Georgetown sophomore forward Vernon Macklin is now 3-for-18 (a 16.6 clip) on the year and 13-for-41 for his career from the charity stripe after going 0-for-4 against Memphis. – Memphis now has a 37-game winning streak in FedEx Forum, which has been the Tigers’ home court since the 2004-05 season.