Analysis

By Brenna McGee Hoya Staff Writer Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Andreas Jeninga/The Hoya Georgetown freshman forward DaJuan Summers dives on top of Duke sophomore guard Marty Pocius (left) and junior guard DeMarcus Nelson in an effort to corral a loose ball.

DURHAM, N.C. – In the first half of their games this season, the Hoyas are undefeated.

Too bad they have to come back onto the court after halftime.

For the second-straight game – and the third time this year – Georgetown (4-3) blew a first-half lead on Saturday night, falling to No. 7 Duke (7-1) at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 61-52.

The Hoyas, who played a focused, well-executed first half, unraveled in the second as the Blue Devils made adjustments to extend their non-conference home winning streak to 46 games.

“There was a big difference in execution in the second half,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “They did a better job. They didn’t play us as tight. They definitely changed what they were doing, which is why we tried to change what we were doing at the same time, but it didn’t turn out as we wanted.”

With the loss, the Hoyas fell from the national rankings for the first time since upsetting then-No. 1 Blue Devils in January, giving Duke the distinction of having both added and removed Georgetown from the list of the top teams in the country. The Blue Devils, for their own part, climbed back into the top 10 after a loss to Marquette dropped them briefly to an 11th-place ranking.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It was just one of those good Saturday nights to be in here, and we were fortunate to win.”

In the first half the Hoyas put together their best 20 minutes of basketball so far this season, shooting 57.7 percent from the field, with 11 assists on 15 baskets. They scored 20 points in the paint and committed just six turnovers with crisp passing, excellent shot selection and strong defense, which drummed up memories of last year’s upset for many.

Conversely, Duke shot an abysmal 28.6 percent from the floor and committed 10 turnovers, which the Hoyas converted into 14 points. After junior guard DeMarcus Nelson hit two threes in the opening minute for the Devils, the Hoyas went on a 12-0 run to open up a 14-6 lead, and controlled the game for the rest of the period.

Duke pulled within three at the 4:48 mark when sophomore forward Josh McRoberts hit a pair of free throws, but the eight points Nelson and McRoberts each contributed were not enough to carry the Devils past the Hoyas at halftime, and Georgetown left the floor with just 20 minutes separating them from another tremendous upset.

The second half may as well have been a different game for Georgetown. The Blue Devils came out of halftime with a plan to disrupt the Hoyas’ offense, and it worked like a charm. With the Blue Devils playing a less aggressive version of man-to-man defense that at times morphed into a zone, the Hoyas managed just 18 points on 6-of-23 shooting and went through a nearly six-minute stretch without a field goal late in the half with the game on the line.

Georgetown’s star juniors, center Roy Hibbert and forward Jeff Green, tried to force some offensive production but were thwarted by double-teams, and teammates who got open looks were hesitant to shoot or – as was too often the case in the second half – turned the ball over.

While Georgetown’s offense sputtered, Duke’s ran like a well-oiled machine. Sophomore guard Greg Paulus, who was held scoreless in the first half, notched 13 second-half points, including two crucial free throws, to pick up a 51-49 lead with 4:57 left in the game. Freshman guard Jon Scheyer also collected all nine of his points in the second half to help the Blue Devils to a much-improved 56.3 percent shooting performance in that period.

“I needed to be there more for my team,” Scheyer said of his second-half contributions. “I wasn’t ready to play in the first half, so in the second half I was going to do whatever I needed to do for the team.”

The Hoyas only helped the Blue Devils along on offense, sending them to the free-throw line 18 times in the second half. Duke hit 15 of those 18 shots from the charity stripe – nine while the game was still up for grabs – and sent Georgetown home with its first 4-3 record since John Thompson Jr.’s second season on the Hilltop in 1973-74.

“We hate to lose, so losing is not a good thing for us,” Green said. “We want to win every game. We’re not right now, but we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and go back to practice, keep working hard, just move on to the next game.”

Unlike the loss to Oregon, where there seemed to be few positives to take away, there were bright spots for the Hoyas Saturday night. Sophomore guard Jessie Sapp continued his steady improvement, leading the Hoyas with 13 points and showing nice moves down low while playing solid defense. Green, though not putting up huge numbers, also showed improvement, with a focus that had been lacking in recent faltering performances.

“You know, it’s hard to sit here after a disappointing loss and say we showed progress, but in a lot of areas I think we did show progress today,” Thompson said. “Now we just have to keep moving forward.”

The Hoyas will have to move forward for the time being without freshman guard Jeremiah Rivers, who had to be helped off the floor with 2:16 remaining after he severely sprained his right ankle on an attempted block of a Scheyer layup. According to the Washington Post, Rivers is day-to-do.

Having now faced its toughest non-conference opponents, Georgetown will take on James Madison tonight at Verizon Center in what is expected to be less of a nail-biter.

Tip-off with the Dukes is set for 7:30 p.m.