Georgetown basketball is at a crossroads.
Even with its loss to the University of South Florida (7-22, 1-15) Saturday night, Georgetown (19-8, 10-6) still has 19 wins to its name. Also, GU finished tied for fourth in the Big East, which is probably better than most people predicted before the season began.
But the fact remains that Head Coach John Thompson III and the boys have lost four of six – their second straight late-season swoon – as they head to Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament.
Two paths now lie before them.
They can acknowledge the embarrassment, work on their intensity, and right their ship. The No. 23 Hoyas can use the recent tough times as motivation and they can fight to the top of the Big East. Georgetown can be feared once more.
Or the same Hoyas that were listless, lackadaisical, against the Big East’s worst can continue down that same path, and squander the incredible momentum built during a memorable three week, seven-game win streak.
The choice is theirs. The fight begins on Wednesday.
Across the ring from Georgetown will be the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (15-12, 6-10), a foe not unfamiliar to the Hoyas.
Earlier this season, on Jan. 24 in South Bend and immediately following the Hoyas’ upset victory over Duke, Georgetown and Notre Dame did battle, and though the Hoyas were up as many as 15 points and appeared to have the game won in regulation, 40 minutes was not enough to settle things. After a relatively sloppy five-minute overtime, the outcome was still up in the air. Finally, after a second overtime period, the Hoyas went ahead for good and escaped the Joyce Center with an 85-82 win.
Though its 15-point first-half lead dwindled considerably over the course of the second half, with 1.8 ticks left on the clock in regulation Georgetown led by four and seemed to be well on its way to a third consecutive win. Notre Dame got the ball to junior guard Colin Falls in the corner, and while he was aware that he was essentially just shooting to trim the Hoyas margin of victory, he kicked his legs and heaved a shot towards the cylinder.
Georgetown’s senior forward Brandon Bowman, however, didn’t get the memo that the shot wasn’t really important, and not only did he contend the try, he fouled Falls, or at least the referees thought he did. Just as JTIII and the Hoyas realized what a mistake it was, their fears became that much more real, as the ball dropped through the net and brought the Irish within one. One of the Big East’s best free throw shooters, Falls easily converted his chance to tie the game.
Still, though it may not have seemed in the bag the whole time – like when senior Notre Dame guard Chris Quinn nearly won it for the Irish as time ran out in overtime – Georgetown did come out on top. Senior guard/forward Darrel Owens and sophomore center Roy Hibbert led Georgetown with 18 points apiece, and Hibbert added 13 boards.
If this year’s Notre Dame team were defined by a slogan, it would be “close but no cigar.” Had the ball bounced their way a few more times, the Irish could be talking about an NCAA season and not one destined to end in the NIT.
The Irish’s string of tough losses began in December to ichigan, by four. In January, they lost at then-No. 20 Pittsburgh by three in overtime, at DePaul by six, to then-No. 24 Syracuse by six, at Marquette by two, to then-No. 21 Georgetown by three in double overtime, and to then-No. 6 Villanova by a deuce.
February didn’t cure the close game blues, as Notre Dame fell at then-No. 11 West Virginia by one single point, at Louisville by three, at then-No. 4 Connecticut by one in overtime, and to Marquette by eight. In all, the Irish suffered 11 single-digit losses.
Notre Dame is led by its sharp-shooting guards, Quinn, Falls and sophomore Russell Carter.
Quinn, a 44-percent shooter from behind the arch (second in the Big East), averages 18.2 points (fifth), 6.2 assists (first), and 3.7 rebounds per contest. Falls, who has made 90 three-pointers on the year, averages 13.6 points and 2.4 rebounds. Russell though he hasn’t received as much publicity, chips in 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Inside, the Irish’s chief threat is senior forward Torin Francis. Standing 6-foot-11, Francis averages 11.3 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Irish.
Francis is about all the Irish have in terms of an inside presence. Carter is second on the team in rebounding, and the only other player on the squad to average four rebounds is sophomore forward Rob Kurz, at 4.7.
The three-pointer is the name of the game for the Notre Dame offense. Only two Big East teams have taken more threes; neither has converted more than the Irish, who shoot 40.1 percent from long distance.
For Notre Dame to be successful, it needs those threes to fall. ore accurately, though, it needs to get hot from everywhere on the floor. In their six Big East wins, the Irish have averaged 50.3 percent shooting from the floor, compared to 41.3 in losses.
They need the long-distance accuracy of Quinn and Falls – Notre Dame shoots 44.5 percent from behind the arc in Big East wins, but 39.6 percent in league losses – and they need the post presence of Francis, who averages 10.8 points in Big East wins but 8.8 in defeats.
For some teams, the key to victory is convoluted and elaborate. With the Irish it’s simple: hit shots.
Statistically, Georgetown and Notre Dame seem pretty well matched. Notre Dame calls its offense the second-best scoring in the Big East; Georgetown has the best scoring defense. The Hoyas lead the league in field goal percentage (47.6 percent), but the Irish lead the field from behind the arch. Notre Dame grabs the fourth most rebounds per game; Georgetown surrenders the fewest.
Both teams pride themselves on passing; the Irish are fifth in the conference at 15.7 assists per contest, while the Hoyas are sixth at 15.6. Additionally, the two squads are second and third in the Big East, respectively, in assist-to-turnover ratio. On paper, it would seem that the two teams are set for a matchup as epic as the January tangle in South Bend.
Yet, the Hoyas have a substantial edge in the one statistic that matters, wins, and despite the questionable momentum, they enter the decided favorite. To beat Notre Dame, the Hoyas will need to return to the fundamentals that got them to where they are.
Georgetown needs to decide whether or not the three-pointer is its thing. For their first 26 games, the Hoyas took 19.8 per contest, and made a solid 36.3 percent of them. Against South Florida, they took just four (made two). Adapting to one’s opponent is one thing; totally abandoning the bedrock of their offense is another.
Was 21 against Marquette and 26 to West Virginia (both losses) too many? Probably. But is four enough? Maybe not. The Hoyas need to pick a basic offense philosophy, and trust it.
Perhaps more importantly, Georgetown needs its seniors to step up and take over, not fade away. Bowman, who had six turnovers against lowly South Florida, has 28 points over his last five games combined. He has 15 turnovers over the same span. Two-to-one assists to turnovers is good. Two-to-one points to turnovers is abysmal. The Hoyas need the 23-points, eight-rebounds, three-blocks Bowman that looked so confident against Duke if they are to take their game to the next level.
Senior guard Ashanti Cook, though he had 11 points against the Bulls, had just one assist and zero rebounds before fouling out. He turned the ball over twice. If Georgetown is going to be successful in the Big East tourney, Cook needs to distribute the ball more and turn it over less.
Owens, who after scoring 24 against St. John’s, 20 against South Florida, 13 big points against Duke seemed to be stepping into the role of sixth man extraordinaire at midseason, has been decidedly mediocre of late. Including eight in the most recent meeting with USF, Owens has 35 points on 10-for-26 shooting over his last five games. Owens not only needs to shoot better, but more often as well.
The seniors’ performance on the court, however, takes a back seat to their leadership off of it. The best college basketball teams have a senior or seniors that vocally guide the squad when the rigors of a tough season begin to take their toll. The Hoyas quickly need to find someone to lead this team if they are going to weather the storm into which they are about to embark.
A lot is on the line for Georgetown in New York. They’ve got an elusive seventh Big East tournament championship to seek, a 20th win to garner, and an NCAA tournament seeding to improve. But, what is most important for the Hoyas to do is to prove to a skeptical national media, a confused group of opposing coaches and a fan base that is slowly losing its optimism that Georgetown basketball still is the real deal.
Tip-off against Notre Dame is set for 2 p.m. on Wednesday at adison Square Garden in New York.
Hoya Notes: Sophomore forward Jeff Green and sophomore center Roy Hibbert were named Monday to the 10-man all-Big East second team. In the first Associated Press poll released after Georgetown’s loss to USF, the Hoyas were ranked 23rd.