Going into last night’s Big East Conference match-up against St. John’s University (7-12, 1-7 BE), the sixth-ranked Georgetown Hoyas led the league in points allowed per game (57.5) and led the nation in field goal percentage defense (36 percent). After the Hoyas’ 74-42 thrashing of the Red Storm, both of those numbers will improve.
Georgetown’s stifling man-to-man defense never allowed St. John’s to get into the game. The Red Storm did not score their first field-goal until 4:34 were left in the first half, and they would only convert nine more in the entire game, finishing an abysmal 10-47 (21.3 percent) from the floor. St. John’s also committed 14 turnovers, never looking comfortable on offense and struggling to execute until the final buzzer. Their 42 points were the lowest total allowed by the Hoyas this year and only six more than the lowest score ever in the Big East, set by Boston College in 1988.
Georgetown was efficient on both sides of the floor. The Hoyas were 28-53 from the court (52.8 percent), and had one of their best games of the season from three point range, going 11-22 from behind the arc (50 percent). The team started the game on a 15-2 run and coasted to a 41-14 halftime lead. Had Georgetown converted more than six of thirteen free throws, the lead would have been even greater.
The Hoyas, who played without sophomore forward DaJuan Summers (foot injury), spread the scoring efficiently among nine different players. Sophomore forward Vernon Macklin led the way with a career-high 18 points, followed by senior center Roy Hibbert’s 11 and junior guard Jessie Sapp’s 10. Hibbert added 3 blocks but committed a season-high 6 turnovers.
In what was perhaps the highlight of the night, walk-on junior Bryon Jansen took a pass from sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers with time running down and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer for his first points as a Hoya. As the shot banked in off the backboard, an excited John Thompson III rushed to the scorers’ table to make sure that the basket counted. It did. The last-second shot handed the Red Storm their worst ever conference defeat.
The Hoyas (17-2, 7-1 BE) will face the Pirates of Seton Hall (14-6, 4-3 BE) on Saturday at the Verizon Center. Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m.
