On Georgetown’s first possession of Saturday afternoon’s game in New Brunswick N.J., junior guard Jessie Sapp dished the ball inside to senior center Roy Hibbert, but Hibbert bobbled the pass and he missed it. The possession was typical of the Hoyas’ Big East opener versus the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. Georgetown left with the win, 58-46, but not before 40 problematic minutes of basketball. Still, with Big East preseason favorites losing left and right, Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III was pleased just to come out on top. “The league is a monster league,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said after the match-up. “Very good players, very good coaches; you just have to execute. A road win in this league is good.” The No. 7 Hoyas (11-1, 1-0 Big East) entered the game off two blowout wins following a loss at No. 2 Memphis, while the Rutgers team (8-7, 0-2) had just suffered a defeat at the hands of South Florida. Both teams looked rusty from the start, with a low score of 27-20 at the half. Georgetown was weak in the paint all day, having a particularly difficult time rebounding. The Scarlet Knights outrebounded the Hoyas 43-26, including a 22-4 edge on the offensive glass. Hibbert was no help in the frontcourt, as he posted just four rebounds and six points to go with his four fouls and three turnovers. “I’m not happy with our defensive effort,” Thompson said, adding that the team needs to get better at rebounding. “We found a way to win games without being good at it. . There is a level we need to be at.” Rutgers’ problems, however, were greater. “We missed dunks, we missed layups, we missed free throws,” Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill said. “I don’t think we could’ve got any easier shots.” Georgetown’s offense was not where it had been, shooting below 50 percent from the field. There were a few scoreless stretches, including one early in the second half, with the two teams trading empty shots. In addition, the Hoyas were still aching at the free-throw line. Hibbert shot just 2-for-6 from the charity stripe, and the Hoyas shot just 7-for-13 as a whole. Luckily for Georgetown, Rutgers was worse, shooting 44.4 percent at the line. Freshman guard Austin Freeman was the game’s leading scorer on the day with 13 points. The game ended just as slow as it began, with one of the Hoyas’ lowest point totals so far in the season, and their lowest opponent point total so far. Georgetown will face a tougher test in its next game, Tuesday evening against DePaul. The Blue Demons have momentum on their side, coming off of two Big East wins, an upset against Villanova and another victory over Providence. The Hoyas and the Blue Demons face off at 9 p.m. EST at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Free Throws – Freshman guard Chris Wright did not play in the game after rolling his ankle in practice on Friday. He is day-to-day according to Thompson. – Said Head Coach John Thompson III after the game: “I know how I feel. It’s about us. . . . There’s a level that we need to be at, there’s a certain standard that’s expected, that those guys in that locker room have to understand and expect from each other. . . . We have to hold each other and have to get to that standard regardless of what the numbers say, and we did not do that at either end of the floor today.” – The Scarlet Knights scored six fewer points than the Rutgers football team posted in the International Bowl against Ball State on Saturday. – Senior guard Jonathan Wallace is 15-for-17 from the field in the Hoyas’ last three games.