The Hoyas’ tournament bandwagon lost some steam Sunday afternoon as the men’s basketball team was manhandled by host St. John’s. The 76-67 loss dropped the Hoyas (16-8, 8-5 Big East) into fifth place in the Conference, but the damage done to the team’s tournament chances is more important.
The Red Storm opened the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back. As St. John’s went inside for their early points, Georgetown tried, but failed to bomb away from behind the arc, attempting four three-pointers in the game’s first four minutes with no success. Finally, first-year forward Jeff Green, who burned St. John’s for 21 points in the team’s first meeting, began getting touches in the low post.
“It was clear we were taking too many shots, so we just said ‘let’s throw it in.’ Even when we were taking those threes, [Green] was in the low-post; we just weren’t throwing it in,” Head Coach John Thompson III said.
First-year guard Tyler Crawford would hit the Hoyas’ only trifecta of the half with 12:15 remaining to bring the Hoyas to 16-12. It would be the closest they would come to the Red Storm for the rest of the day as the next seven minutes of the game belonged to the Red Storm’s junior forward Ryan Williams. Williams came off the bench for 13 instantaneous points, including three hits from downtown. By the time Williams was done, St. John’s had surged ahead to a 39-20 lead, their largest of the game.
“Williams gave them a huge boost in the first half to get the flow going,” Thompson said.
When St. John’s wasn’t shooting 58 percent from the field in the first half, they were grabbing offensive rebounds, eight for fifteen points. In comparison, the Hoyas had three defensive rebounds. The numbers were simply overwhelming, translating in the end to a 45-29 deficit and the highest number of points allowed in a single half all season. This was hardly what the Hoyas expected from the Conference’s worst offensive team.
“We did a great job of shooting the basketball early,” St. John’s Head Coach Norm Roberts said. “These guys really got to the glass and rebounded the ball. We kept them off the glass more than we did in the first game.”
The disparity in rebounds was even more surprising because the Red Storm’s main inside presence, sophomore forward Lamont Hamilton, was limited to only five minutes because of foul trouble.
“We have to do a better job of rebounding regardless of who is in the game for the opposition,” Thompson said.
As the second half opened, Georgetown seemed intent on making a run. Sophomore guard Ray Reed’s lay-up with 15 minutes remaining brought the Hoyas to within 47-35. Then Williams struck again, blocking a sure-fire two points by junior guard Ashanti Cook. The ball moved quickly back downcourt, where the Red Storm’s sophomore guard Daryll Hill hit a three-pointer and was fouled for a four-point play.
“I’ve been telling these guys that those are game-winning plays,” Roberts said. “Ryan blocking that shot when it looked like they were going to score, that’s a game-winning play. The past few games we’ve been right there where if we got a block like that we would have been the ones winning three games in a row.”
The Hoyas were never able to overcome what was truly a six-point swing.
“We had a few bad breaks. We cut it to 12 and they get a block and a four-point play,” Thompson said. “Then on the next possession they got a three-point play. That kills you.”
The Hoyas returned to the inside game with Green and junior forward Brandon Bowman. The two helped key a 10-0 run that brought Georgetown within eight with just over eight minutes remaining. With 3:15 left to play Cook would bring Georgetown within six on a three-pointer, but they would get no closer than that on the way to their second straight loss. Although Green and Bowman finished with 20 and 19 points respectively, the Hoyas got little help elsewhere.
“Guys that have made shots in the past were off,” Thompson said. “Darrell was 0-5, Ashanti was 1-4, Jon was 1-4; those are guys that have made shots, and they weren’t going in today.”
“For the most part you can look at our team and say we’ve gotten better, and looking at our performance today I can’t say we are better this week than last week”
