Georgetown righted the wrongs of last month’s upset as Chris Wright led his squad to their first Big East tournament victory in two years over South Florida.
The Hoyas (21-9, 11-8 Big East) handled the Bulls (20-12, 10-10 Big East) easily, advancing to the tournament quarterfinals with a 69-49 victory. Georgetown avenged a 72-64 defeat suffered at home at the hands of USF.
The win sets up the third meeting this season against long-time rival Syracuse tomorrow at noon. It will be the 13th time the two schools have met in the conference tournament, the most of any Big East pairing. Wednesday’s win gave the Hoyas confidence heading into the matchup.
“I think we’re at a good place right now,” head coach John Thompson III said. “Our team is healthy right now. I think that the guys are extremely focused right now. And so mentally, physically, and emotionally I like where we are right now.”
Georgetown managed a 20-point victory even without major contributions from leading scorer Austin Freeman, who finished with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
The scoring slack was picked up in part by sophomore guard Jason Clark, who finished with 16 points, his highest total in eight games. Clark picked the Bulls apart from long range, converting on 4-of-6 three-point attempts.
“Jason made some shots—that’s not abnormal,” Thompson said. “He’s a very good shooter. I think our guys did a good job of finding him.”
The Hoyas also got an assist from the Bulls particularly poor shooting. USF hit only one shot outside of the paint in Tuesday’s victory over DePaul, and had only slightly more success today, hitting 1-of-10 treys and converting just 29.1 percent of their field goals.
“You can’t beat a top-25 team and a Big East team without hitting shots,” USF junior guard Dominique Jones said. “We know that. You know, they just weren’t falling.”
Jones, the Big East’s leading scorer in conference play, was nevertheless able to find the bottom of the basket, scoring 21 points to lead all scorers.
“The first time we played them, he got his, as he has all year. Their ancillary people—a guy averaging four points, he got eight points; a guy who averages two points got 5 points that game,” Thompson said. “Dominique is going to get his. You can’t stop him. But if you can somehow limit the numbers other people get—that’s what we wanted to focus on in this afternoon’s game.”
Georgetown did just that, allowing no breakout performances. No other Bulls’ scorer reached double figures.
The Hoyas were in control for much of the game, taking the lead for good with 15 minutes remaining in the first half. But the Hoyas did have a minor scare at the beginning of the second half, seeing its 12-point halftime lead dwindle to six in three minutes.
“They made a run,” Thompson said. “It feels like the first ten possessions of the second half we got fouls called against us. And it’s easy to get frustrated at that point. But I thought our guys did a good job of weathering the storm and understanding that it’s tournament basketball.”
Georgetown showed plenty of composure down the stretch, as foul trouble threatened a number of Hoyas. Junior forward Julian Vaughn fouled out with over nine minutes to play, and Wright, sophomore center Greg Monroe, and freshman forward Hollis Thompson all played with four fouls late in the second half.
Monroe in particular didn’t allow the fouls to fluster him, scoring eight of his 16 points after picking up his fourth. He also grabbed eight rebounds in just 25 minutes.
Most impressive, however, may have been Wright, who stayed on the court more than Monroe and was the Hoyas’ most consistent scoring threat. The junior point guard also performed capably in his role as the team’s facilitator, dishing out four assists, grabbing six rebounds, and breaking the Bulls’ full court press late in the game.
“It means so much more to this because he has the responsibility or burden—however you want to look at it—of running the team,” Thompson said of Wright and his scoring. “He is a scorer. So just the understanding of when he shot today or he has to get Jason or Austin the shot, it’s a responsibility he has and he has done very well this year.”
Wright had 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He was 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, but most of his scoring came on forceful drives inside. From the opening minutes Wright was aggressive in getting to the rim, resulting in a few missed lay-ups early in the shot clock but just as many important baskets.
“I thought he made the right reads most importantly,” Thompson said. “All of our guys can be aggressive. He made some big baskets, particularly in the first half when we needed baskets. And the second half, also. His aggressiveness is fine. It’s just I think our guys made the right decision most of the time.”
Against Syracuse, Wright and the Hoyas will have to continue to improve their decision-making. The margin for error will be much smaller against the larger and more talented Orange.
Still, Georgetown does seem to be on something of a roll, winning two straight games by 20 or more points after a stretch where they lost four of five. The Bulls certainly learned the dangers of facing the Hoyas.
“They’re a very difficult team to play against with one day of preparation, one walk-through, because they play such a unique style,” USF head coach Stan Heath said. “So I think they’re going to have success in these kinds of formats.”
