Image Contributor
Freshman center Greg Monroe
TAMPA – This was the game Georgetown needed.
Coming off of a heart-breaking overtime loss to Syracuse and preparing to play No. 10 Marquette and No. 7 Louisville this weekend, the Hoyas could not afford yet another emotional, stressful affair, not against lowly South Florida (8-17, 3-10 Big East).
Georgetown played stifling defense against the offensively inept Bulls and used a 16-0 first-half run to take control early. With their 65-40 victory, the Hoyas improve to 14-10 and 5-8 in Big East play.
Asked after the game how it felt to play and win a game that did not go down to the wire, much less overtime, Head Coach John Thompson III was clear.
“Overtime, under-time. Wins are good,” he said. “Like I always do, we’ll enjoy this for a couple hours – actually probably a little less – and then once we get on the plane, start preparing for what’s next.”
eanwhile, his South Florida counterpart, Stan Heath, was equally unequivocal.
“No way to sugarcoat this one – we just got it handed to us,” he said.
For the Hoyas, this was almost a perfect storm – execution improved on both ends – and it came against an opponent having an almost comically poor night. While Georgetown shot 58.1 percent from the field, including 6-of-14 from three, the Bulls made just 14-of-35 two-pointers and 1-of-12 treys. Worst of all, South Florida made only 39 percent of its free throws.
“It was inexcusable, some of the things that I thought were happening,” Heath said. “Give Georgetown a lot of credit because they had a good game plan. They kinda jammed the lane up and they gave us what they thought we would be a little weak at and we kind of played into that and didn’t get the job done.”
Sophomore guard Dominique Jones, who entered the game fifth in the conference averaging 18.4 points, was held to 12 on 5-of-16 shooting, and senior guard Jesus Verdejo, who came in at 13.9 a night, was held scoreless.
“Jesus Verdejo goes zero and I don’t think we can win a game. It could be the Little Sisters of the Poor, and it’s going to be a problem,” Heath said.
He continued: “Two of our better guys that have been carrying us in many ways – boy on the same night, they didn’t have their A game, their B game and for [Verdejo], I’m not even sure that was his C or D game.”
“We were better tonight on defense,” Thompson said. “Their motion, and their flow and the pressure that Jones puts on you, is tough to deal with. I think our team, overall, as a group, as a unit, was in tune. Everyone was on the same page in terms of us stopping them – not necessarily me stopping my man, but us stopping them.”
For the Hoyas, this was the fewest points scored by a Big East opponent since they beat Miami 77-40 on Jan. 29, 1994.
Sophomore guard Chris Wright led Georgetown with 17 points and six rebounds, while freshman center Greg Monroe had his second-straight double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Coming off the bench for the second game in a row, senior guard Jessie Sapp scored 10 points (4-of-6).
A sign that the offense was functioning at a higher level, the Hoyas assisted on 17 of 25 baskets. Georgetown also outscored South Florida on the break, 16-0.
“Offensively, we executed – we were patient, yet not slow,” Thompson said.
The Hoyas jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead with a 19-4 run to end the half. After two free throws from USF junior guard Chris Howard to make the score 15-13 with 8:18 left, the Hoyas got two back on a pair of free throws by Monroe after he was fouled trying to finish off of a pick-and-roll by Wright. After a scoreless minute, Wright pushed ahead after a Bulls miss and found Sapp for an open three with 6:26 left. Just 30 seconds later, Sapp connected on another three, this time from the opposite side of the court, to push the lead to 10. Once again, Wright registered the assist.
onroe scored on another two freebies with 5:56 to go and after a South Florida missed runner, Sapp scored again, this time on an off-balance running baby hook. Wright was on the receiving end of a nifty backdoor feed from freshman forward Henry Sims on the next Georgetown possession to make the score 29-13 with 4:31 left. After another Bulls miss, sophomore guard Freeman (seven points) converted an easy two off of a pass from Monroe. By then, at the under four-minute timeout, the run was up to 16-0.
“We were able to make some shots,” Thompson said. “Jessie Sapp came in and gave us a huge boost. At that point, midway through the first half, we got the rebounds we needed – we really limited them to one shot.”
During the 16-0 spurt, the Hoyas corralled all five rebounds. For the game, they enjoyed a 37-26 edge, though Georgetown did surrender 10 offensive boards.
Asked after the game if he targeted the struggling Hoyas as a team his Bulls could run with, Heath was dismissive.
“Here is the hard part, we say they struggle – that is not a 5-8 team,” he said. “That’s just the problem in this league. Let’s just be honest about it. Georgetown in probably every other major conference is going to be top three in the league. There is no way you are top-10 team a month and a half ago and all of a sudden you are no good. So let’s not sit here and say well that’s a – no, they are a very good basketball team who plays in a great conference and hit a tough schedule.”
Georgetown must now turn its attention to the Golden Eagles (22-4, 11-2), who beat the Hoyas 94-82 on Jan. 31. Saturday’s bout marks the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Georgetown’s 1984 national championship. The Hoyas need to win at least one of their next two – Georgetown takes on the Cardinals (20-5, 11-2) on Monday – to stay in the running for a slot in the NCAA tournament.
“I have never lost confidence in this group,” Thompson said. “We are not where we want to be, but I have extreme confidence in what this team can and will accomplish this year.”
GAME NOTES: Sophomore forward Nikita Mescheriakov has missed seven straight three-pointers, all since moving into the starting five. . Sophomore guard Omar Wattad missed his second-straight game with an injury. . Georgetown shot 65 percent in the second half. . The Hoyas outscored the Bulls 44-26 in the paint. . The announced attendance was 7,015.
“
