In the 2001-02 Syracuse Men’s Basketball media guide, under the “Opponents” section, Georgetown’s senior point guard is dubbed as “Kevin Breswell.” Whether or not this typo was motivation for the Hoyas, Braswell and company made sure the No. 10 Orangemen won’t forget their names anytime soon with a 75-60 drubbing at MCI Center on Monday night. It was the second straight season Georgetown has defeated Syracuse in Washington.
“I gotta tell you, I feel a lot better right now than I did on the bus back Saturday night,” said Head Coach Craig Esherick, in reference to his team’s 67-56 loss to Pittsburgh over the weekend. “We were starting to slip in the loss column, and we had to start winning some home games. This is going to help our RPI.”
Coming off the second loss of the season to the Panthers, the Hoyas stood at 12-7, with a 3-4 record in the Big East, dropping them to fourth place in the division’s Western Conference. With solid performances all around the conference this year, the Hoyas were looking at a greater likelihood of an NIT berth than an NCAA berth heading into ESPN’s “Big Monday” showdown with the Orangemen.
Senior forward Preston Shumpert, the conference’s second leading scorer, did start for Syracuse, but played only 19 minutes, hindered by a re-inflammation of an eye injury that occurred last season. At one point during the first half, he missed shots from the left corner on three straight possessions. Shumpert finished with only three points, despite the presence of scouts from four NBA teams to see him.
“Obviously, Preston gives us stability out there,” said Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim. “His eye flared up, and I thought he could go. At halftime, it was pretty clear he couldn’t even see out of it and was in more pain. I didn’t think he should be playing. To be honest, that eye was pretty ugly looking.”
Without having to worry about Shumpert and his deadly long-range accuracy, the Hoyas came out strong, with Braswell dropping a 12-foot jumper with 11:36 remaining in the first half to tie the score at 11. First-year guard Tony Bethel, who finished with nine rebounds, buried a three-pointer with 8:25 remaining to give Georgetown a 19-17 advantage. Junior center Wesley Wilson showed the interior ineffectiveness of the Orangemen’s 2-3 zone with a nice drop step to put the Hoyas up, 21-19, with 6:48 remaining.
Throughout the first half, the Hoyas were relentless on the boards, finishing with 26 rebounds, 12 more than Syracuse pulled down.
“We’re not a great rebounding team,” admitted Boeheim. “When you show a weakness, your opponent is going to attack it, and Georgetown did that. When they put their minds to it, they are the best rebounding team in the Big East. They are just bigger and stronger than us.”
For the game, the Hoyas finished with 47 rebounds?including 18 on the offensive glass?to Syracuse’s 22, an amazing plus-25 rebounding margin.
“We rebounded the ball extremely well against Syracuse, and in general recently,” said Esherick. “In three of our last four games, we’ve had a rebounding margin of plus-20 or more, and that’s very good.”
The Orangemen’s 2-3 zone wasn’t working any more effectively in the second half, as the Hoyas came out strong. With 12:11 left in the game, first-year forward Harvey Thomas buried a three from the corner to give the Hoyas a 54-40 edge. It was part of a 14-point, four rebound effort in only 17 minutes of court time.
“Harvey brings us a lot of energy,” said Esherick. “Sometimes he brings so much energy, I need to sit him next to me on the bench to calm him down. Every time he comes into the game, something happens, good or bad. He gets the crowd really involved, and his defense is improving.”
Still, Thomas and the Hoyas’ performance Monday did not completely overshadow their loss to Pitt. The Hoyas played dismally against the Panthers in a game that thankfully was not televised to students living on campus. Bethel poured in 20 points, including draining his first five shots, but the second leading scorer was Wilson, who contributed only 10 points. Sweetney, the Big East’s leading scorer in conference games, was held to only six points.
“I don’t think it’s an issue so much of inconsistency,” said Esherick, referring to his team’s capacity to drub top-15 opponents such as Syracuse and Boston College but fall to teams like Rutgers and Miami. “We have four freshmen and four sophomores on this team, compared with only one senior. Last year, I had the luxury of having four seniors. I looked at the top 25 the other day, and there’s a lot of teams on there that we’ve played basketball against. I don’t think our performance is so much inconsistent as a combination of the composition of this team and our schedule this season.”
With nine games left, including a road date with Syracuse and an MCI meeting with the surprising Connecticut Huskies, the Hoyas will need to finish out 6-3 at the least, followed by a solid showing at the Big East Tournament in the first week of March, in order to secure an NCAA tournament berth.
Hopefully, some other media guides are spelling their names wrong.
