The Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team (13-4, 3-3 Big East) had an up and down weekend for the ages, suffering an embarrassing loss to the University of South Florida (10-7, 1-4 Big East), a notorious Big East bottom feeder, before rebounding just two days later with a dominant win over the University of Notre Dame (15-4, 3-3 Big East).
The Hoyas opened the long weekend Saturday night against the Bulls of USF in Tampa, Fla., who entered the game searching for their first win in conference play.
Behind hot shooting from freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who notched 11 points in the first half, the Hoyas jumped out to an early lead, gradually extending their advantage to 11 points. But USF kept the game close, trimming the Hoyas lead to just eight at the half.
The Bulls carried their momentum into the beginning of the second half, hitting 7 of their first 9 three-pointers and quickly grabbing the lead from the Hoyas with just under 15 minutes to play.
The rest of the second half was a blow-by-blow contest that saw the Hoyas trail by as much as 7 points before eventually cutting the deficit to just 1 with 2:33 to play. Star sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. kept the Hoyas in the game, leading all scorers with 21 points—his third straight contest with at least 19.
But the Hoyas were ultimately unable to close the gap. Despite three opportunities to score in the final 90 seconds, all after time outs, the Hoyas finally fell 61-58 after Porter Jr. missed a hopeful three-pointer at the buzzer.
Two days later, the Hoyas traveled to South Bend, Ind. to take on No. 24 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were looking to get back on track after losing two of their last three games, both to unranked opponents.
Georgetown was impressive from the opening tip, dominating the first half behind more hot shooting from Porter Jr., who once again led all scorers, this time with 19 points. The Hoyas never trailed after the 2:10 mark and entered the half with a comfortable 13-point lead.
The second half opened with a furious Notre Dame run that saw the Hoyas’ lead evaporate to 3 points with just under 12 minutes to play. Georgetown responded with an 18-0 run of their own, eventually extending their lead to as much as 22 points, putting the game out of reach.
According to Head Coach John Thompson III, weathering Notre Dame’s second half run was the key to the game.
“I think we just settled back in,” he said. “We kind of expected them to make a run. They have too many good players … I thought we did a good job chasing them off the three-point line. In the second half they got off 11 [three-pointers], and so I think we were just able to settle in and we hit a couple shots.”
Porter Jr. echoed Thompson’s sentiments. “Like Coach said, we knew they were going to make their run, and we just tried to stay composed,” he said. “Just continue to play. We don’t want to get rattled or anything like that, and I think we did a very good job at that.”
As for where his team stands after such polarizing results, Thompson had little to say on the subject.
“I don’t think this is the time to start summing up the team. We weren’t good the other night; we were good tonight. Hopefully we’ll be good the next night.”
Next up for the Hoyas is a date with No. 5 Louisville University (16-3, 4-2 Big East) this Saturday night at the Verizon Center. Tip-off is slated for noon.
