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Entering Monday night’s season opener, the point guard and center positions had Hoya fans most uneasy. Could Chris Wright, after missing half his freshman season, be this team’s floor general? Would Greg Monroe, McDonald’s All-American and long-time No. 1 recruit, be able to step in right away and contribute? And how would the two new starters work in tandem?

After Georgetown captured a 71-62 victory, Wright scored a team-high 16 points, and Monroe debuted with 14 points and seven rebounds, those concerns seem to have been, for now, allayed. Yet Monday night’s contest gave rise to another set of all-too-familiar worries.

Georgetown struggled against the press, got beat on the boards, and at times grew too comfortable with the three-point shot – all problems which manifested themselves a year ago as well. While the Hoyas could likely defeat Drexel tomorrow without serious improvement – the Dragons are coming off of a 12-20 season and were picked to finish last in the CAA – Georgetown will need to make swift and significant strides if it is to weather a tough non-conference schedule and a brutal Big East slate.

The first signs of a Drexel press on Monday night showed up, not surprisingly, with inexperienced sophomores Nikita Mescheriakov and Omar Wattad on the floor together. Pressing on an inbounds play with about eight minutes left in the half, the Dolphins came away with an easy steal. While the Hoyas were largely unscathed by Jacksonville’s more concerted pressing effort in the second half, at times they looked sloppy, especially during Wright’s brief stay on the bench.

Last season, Georgetown was stymied by intense full-court pressure in losses to Memphis, Pittsburgh and Louisville. This year’s squad will need to show a press-breaking acumen or risk similar treatment once they face off against big-time foes.

The Hoyas picked up Monday right where they left off at the end of last season, playing smart perimeter defense and swarming interior defense, forcing the Dolphins to shoot 35 percent, including 14 percent from three. Yet the best defense in the world is of no use if you cannot corral the opponent’s missed shots. Unfortunately for Georgetown, that was precisely the case against Jacksonville. For the game, the Dolphins rebounded nearly half of their misses – 19-of-42 – and in the second half, they retained possession on 11 of 19 misses.

After Monday’s game, Head Coach John Thompson III called his team’s efforts on the glass “unacceptable” and called for his entire team to get in on the act.

“We have to group rebound,” Thompson said. “We have to gang rebound. Everyone has to get in there, guards, forwards, little guys, big guys; we have to do that.”

Georgetown’s starting backcourt had a good night on the glass – sophomore Austin Freeman grabbed seven rebounds, senior Jessie Sapp secured six, and Wright had four. By contrast, while Monroe’s seven-board performance was a good first effort, 6-foot-8 junior forward DaJuan Summers managed just four rebounds – not enough from the power forward position.

Finally, Georgetown needs to improve its shot selection. The Hoyas shot 23 three-pointers, making just five, yet found just 10 shots – including only four in the second half – for Monroe, who proved early in the game how effective he could be down low. Not only does Georgetown need to turn some of its perimeter focus inward, it also needs to be mindful not to fire up three-pointers early in the shot clock. Against Jacksonville, the Hoyas shot 17 of their long balls within the shot clock’s first 15 seconds.

“We took too many threes; we took way too many threes,” Thompson said. “We have to get different types of offense and get our threes off with different types of things [rather than] just come down pass and kick.

“That’s part of this team’s growth process. To learn OK, we can get that shot, but let’s try to get something else and I’ll get that shot later. Let’s try to throw it to get an interior touch; let’s try to get some penetration and drive, and if not, we can end up with that three.”

Lest Georgetown fans begin to worry, the kind of improvement that fixing these three areas will require has become something of a hallmark of Thompson-coached teams.

Echoing a familiar refrain, Thompson said after the Jacksonville game: “We want to be, by the end of the year, the most improved team in the country.”

Scouting Drexel

The Dragons opened the season with a 66-64 victory over cross-town rival Penn. Drexel was led by senior guards Tramayne Hawthorne and Scott Rodgers, who each tallied 16 points.

“Those are my seniors, my only two seniors that I have. You always want to have good guard play,” Head Coach Bruiser Flint said Thursday.

Hawthorne, who averaged 11.2 points per game a year ago, is the team’s top returning scorer, but serves as the team’s sixth man.

“He’s the guy that brings a spark off the bench,” Flint said.

Flint said he would stress to his players the need to stay between a man and the basket in order to avoid falling victim to the Hoyas’ backdoor cuts. Still, while many Georgetown opponents resort to a zone defense to combat the Princeton-style offense, don’t expect the same from Drexel.

“I’ve probably played about 10 minutes of zone in my whole career,” Flint said. “So I don’t know about that. But if I have to I will.”

Flint said he was impressed by Monroe’s Georgetown debut.

“Georgetown is legendary for their big guys and they continue it,” Flint said. “He’s going to be a really, really good player. Great passer. Great athlete. Good skill level. We hope he’s not that good on Saturday.”

As for what his frontcourt starters, junior forward Evan Neisler, a 6-foot-8 Boston College transfer, and Kenny Tribbett, also a 6-foot-8 junior forward, can do to neutralize Monroe?

“Keep him off the glass,” Flint said. “And actually, those guys got a little bit of experience on [Monroe]. They can’t let him do some things that guys did to them in their first year playing. . We gotta make it a little hard for him.”

Despite all the attention already paid to Monroe, Flint was well aware of the threat posed by Georgetown’s backcourt.

“They’re good and they’re the most experienced guys,” he said. “Sapp and Wright and Freeman: Those guys have been in big games and big situations. If you’re going to have a young team you want experienced guards.”

Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Verizon Center.

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