Back to an unfortunate reality.
The Georgetown men’s basketball team (9-6, 2-1 Big East) had its three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night, as the Hoyas fell on the road at Creighton (11-5, 2-1 Big East) 79-66. After the Hoyas’ struggles in nonconference play, the loss to Creighton makes an already obstacle-laden path to the NCAA Tournament even more difficult.
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Georgetown senior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and freshman center Jessie Govan each had 17 points for the Hoyas, who shot 47 percent from the field as a team, including 11-of-24 on three-pointers. But the the Blue and Gray could not overcome the even stronger play of the Bluejays and junior guard Maurice Watson Jr, who had a career-high 27 points, off 9-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds, and four assists.
“He controlled the game right from the tip. There’s no other way to put it,” said Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III of Watson.
Similar to Georgetown, Creighton shot 48 percent from the field, including 42 percent from three-point range. Unlike the Blue and Gray, however, they were much more aggressive going to the basket, as they made 21-of-25 free throw attempts. The Hoyas only attempted seven the entire game, all of which came in the second half, and only made three of them.
“They really guarded,” said Thompson. “We, instead of trying to get to the basket, settled for too many threes in the latter part of the game. But some of them were open.”
Govan’s 17 points are a career-high for the freshman and the most scored by any of Georgetown’s three freshmen this season. The 6-10 center made 7-of-9 attempts from the floor, including all three of his three-point attempts, to go along with six rebounds off the bench.
Georgetown worked itself back from a 10-point first half deficit in the second half, taking a 40-38 lead after a layup from sophomore guard Tre Campbell at the 18:04 mark. After much back-and-forth action that saw the Hoyas take a 56-53 lead with 10:57 remaining, the Bluejays never looked back after erupting for a 10-0 run to take a 63-56 lead with 8:01 left.
A Govan hook shot at the 3:09 mark to cut the Bluejays lead to 70-64 was the closest the Hoyas got in the final four minutes. Creighton closed the game on a 9-2 run.
“They had a lot of easy shots because of our mishaps on defense,” said Thompson. “Their success at the offensive end led to us forcing things at our offensive end. We have to get past that.”
Forced passes from the Hoyas led to 15 turnovers on the night, as opposed to Creighton’s 9. The pesky Bluejays took advantage of the Hoyas’ sloppiness for easy fast break layups.
Both teams opened the game on a three-point rampage, as Creighton and Georgetown combined to make nine of the game’s first 12 three-pointers. The Bluejays had a 22-19 lead at the under-12 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Bluejays went on a 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead, 29-19, at the 10:14 mark. After a pair of free throws from Creighton senior center Geoffrey Groselle made it 36-27 Bluejays, the Hoyas closed the half on a 9-2 run to enter halftime down 38-36, despite not attempting a single free throw the entire frame. The Hoyas, however, assisted on 10 of 11 made baskets.
The Hoyas will return to action this Saturday when they return home to host DePaul (6-9, 0-3 Big East) for a noon tip-off at Verizon Center. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
