Going into last night’s game against No. 1 Illinois, Georgetown knew it would take a near-perfect effort to win the game. While the Hoyas were certainly able to hang with the Illini for most of the way, the nation’s top team had too many weapons on offense and maintained too much pressure on defense for the Hoyas to handle and emerged with a 74-59 victory last night before an energized crowd of 12,401 at MCI Center.

“We could have played a lot better,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “That is a terrific team. They have few flaws. They’re experienced. They’re one of the teams that could win the national championship.”

With the win, Illinois has now started the season with eight straight wins. The Hoyas saw their three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-2 on the season.

Georgetown was able to maintain a small lead for the majority of the first 15 minutes as Illinois, who came into the game shooting a torrid 52.2 percent from the field, struggled to put the ball in the basket. While the Illini were shooting just 30 percent from the floor in the early going, the Hoyas shot 60 percent from the field in the game’s first 13 minutes. A three-pointer by junior forward Brandon Bowman with 6:38 to go in the half sent the packed student section into a frenzy and gave the Hoyas a 22-17 lead.

But just like three nights before against Penn State, the Hoyas went ice cold after a hot start. This time, however, the long offensive drought would prove to be their undoing. Over a nearly 10 minute span in the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, the Illini outscored the Hoyas 24-3 and turned a five-point deficit into a 16-point lead which they maintained for the rest of the game. During the run, Georgetown missed 10 of 11 shots and frequently could not get a look at the basket until the shot clock was down to its final ticks.

“Last five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, they were definitely the breaking points of the game,” Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber said. “We turned up the pressure defensively.”

Coming into the game, Illinois junior guard tandem of Dee Brown and Deron Williams had received a lot of attention from the national media. Georgetown, however, was able to hold the two All-Americans in check. Williams scored only eight points on 2-7 shooting and was responsible for six of Illinois’ 11 turnovers in the game. Brown was just as quiet, scoring only seven points, nearly eight below his season average, and shot 3-9 from the field.

Unfortunately for the Hoyas, the Illini’s two starting forwards, senior Roger Powell Jr. and junior James Augustine were able to take over the scoring load. Powell scored a team-high 19 points and Augustine added 15 for the Illini.

“I thought their guards threw excellent passes to the big men. They got their big men some easy buckets,” Bowman said.

It was a frustrating game for Georgetown’s two leaders, Bowman and junior guard Ashanti Cook. Bowman scored a season-low seven points. Cook had nine, but was held scoreless in the second half.

The Hoyas were also hurt when their top big man, freshman forward Jeff Green, picked up his second foul just over eight minutes into the game and did not return for the rest of the first half. Green played the entire second half and ended up with a game-high 20 points, 18 after the break, but it was not enough to get the Hoyas back in the game. Once the Illini had opened up their lead, the Hoyas got no closer than 11 points.

“There was frustration on all of our parts in the second half,” Thompson said. “But that’s going to happen and we have to learn to work through that.”

Despite the positives that can be taken from the game such as another strong performance by Green and the very solid first 15 minutes against the nation’s No. 1 team, there was still a lot of disappointment from the Hoya side at the end of the game.

“I don’t want any moral victories,” Bowman said. “What we did in the first half is irrelevant because we lost the game.”

Georgetown looks to rebound this Saturday when it returns to play its first regular season home game at McDonough Gymnasium in three years against San Jose State. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.