Before today’s game, American Head Coach Jeff Jones said that his biggest concern against Georgetown would be dealing with the Hoyas’ defense. He was spot on.
During the first half on defense, American had such a difficult time moving the ball and scoring, it looked like Georgetown was playing with extra men.
The trio of junior forward DaJuan Summers, Jessie Sapp and sophomore guard Chris Wright combined for 50 points and 11 rebounds as the Hoyas (5-1) ran roughshod over the Eagles (4-4). The final score was 73-49, but Georgetown slowed down in the second half and made errors that gave away baskets to American.
“They’re so long, they’re athletic, they’re aggressive,” Jones said. “I don’t think we handled their defensive pressure particularly well. When we go back to the tape, you’re going to see times where we’re just kicking the ball away and doing silly stuff. Maybe we had, I don’t know, too much respect for them.”
American managed just 5-of-25 shooting in the first half and went to the locker room down 40-12 without having attempted a free throw. The Eagles’ star senior, guard Garrison Carr, was haunted by Sapp and Wright in he first stanza as the Hoyas used tenacious man-to-man defense limit the value of the Eagles’ offensive possessions. American committed 12 turnovers in the first half to the Hoyas’ five and the usually-reliable Carr was 0-of-6 on three-pointers.
Sapp, Wright and Summers scored consistently throughout the game. Wright was nearly perfect, though, going 8-of-10 from the floor for a career-high 22 points with three three-pointers. With the clock at 1.4 seconds, he froze his defender with a crossover and sank a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer sounded. While the Hoyas struggled from the charity stripe last year, this season they have taken full advantage and made 15-of-19 free throws.
The Eagles’ frontcourt players could not work around freshman center Greg Monroe to begin the game and with Carr out of the picture, American’s other scorers looked lost. Even open shots would not fall for American and Carr. They did not score until senior forward Brian Gilmore connected from deep 5:43 into the first half.
According to Jones and Carr, Georgetown’s defensive set was nothing his team had not seen before, but Georgetown’s athletes and execution were superior to anything they had seen in shutting down Carr.
“I personally had plenty of open shots that I know that I’m supposed to make and I should make and I’m used to making them,” Carr said. “I depend on myself to make those because as a college basketball player you’re supposed to make open shots. They just weren’t going down.”
Despite the Eagles’ meager scoring output, Thompson believed his team’s defensive effort could have been better. Carr took 11 three-pointers in the game and 17 shots overall – too many by Thompson’s count. While only two went in, Thompson believes that on another day, many more could have.
“Particularly in the first half, he got a couple of looks that just didn’t go in,” Thompson said. “It’s hard to get 11 threes off against a team that’s trying to take away the threes. . We want to be there so he can’t take the shots he wants to take. For him to get off 17 shots and 11 threes against us – regardless of how many he made – that’s good on his part and not good on our part.”
Unlike most teams, this year’s Georgetown team has quickness and discipline at each position to avoid the matchup problems that a team like American tries to create with a bevy of screens. Several times, Monroe and sophomore forward Julian Vaughn comfortably transitioned to defending a guard and forced a turnover.
Last week against another team with a dynamic guard, Georgetown had similar success. Maryland relies heavily on junior Greivis Vasquez and Sapp again played a large role in limiting him to just two points and 1-of-7 shooting in the Hoyas 75-48 win.
“I think we did a good job against Maryland and it carried over. Everybody remained focused. They wanted to get better on defense,” Sapp said. “I like to play against some of the best players, but it’s not just me. We switch out a lot so I’m not always on that guy. When we go over scouting reports, everybody listens to everybody because you never know if you’re going to be on that guy.”
Georgetown’s next game is Monday night against Savannah State, 5-2 before their game tonight at St. Louis. While Savannah State is a small school without a conference, they gave Michigan a scare on Nov. 29, taking a 20-point lead in the first half before losing at the buzzer, 66-64. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Center.
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