The men’s basketball team (16-10, 8-7) continued their late-season slide Wednesday night, losing their fourth consecutive game to No.16 Connecticut (20-6, 12-3) 83-64. The loss will probably end Georgetown’s hopes of an NCAA at-large berth, barring a spectacular Big East Tournament run.
In a must-win situation, the Hoyas faced a Huskies team looking to secure Head Coach Jim Calhoun’s 700th victory. In spite of that, Georgetown came out confident, hitting five of their first 11 three-point attempts on the way to a 21-19 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.
After being killed from the outside, the Huskies tightened up their defense. The result was a 22-5 run that saw Connecticut go into halftime with a comfortable 41-26 lead. A main catalyst for the run was first-year forward Rudy Gay, who scored the Huskies’ final 10 points of the half on his way to a career-high 20 points. One of the game’s interesting side-stories was the matchup of Big East Rookie of the Year Candidates in Gay and first-year forward Jeff Green. The hype proved to be well-deserved as Green scored a team-high 17 points.
The second half saw much of the same as Connecticut ran their lead as high as 25 points. Junior forward Brandon Bowman, who played most of the first-half with foul trouble, played only four minutes in the second half and finished with just one point. Georgetown never really contended in the second half, getting only as close as 58-45 before the Huskies sealed the deal on Calhoun’s momentous night.
Sunday, however, was the Hoyas’ best chance to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament as they hosted the streaking No. 24 Villanova Wildcats, fresh off an upset against Boston College. A win would have almost guaranteed Georgetown an invite, but the disappointing 67-56 loss marked Georgetown’s first three-game losing streak of the season and may have punched the Hoyas’ ticket to another tournament: the National Invitational Tournament.
Villanova, brimming with confidence after winning nine of their last 11 games, jumped all over the Hoyas, starting with junior guard Allan Ray’s three-pointer to open the scoring. The three-point deficit with nearly 19 minutes remaining was the closest Georgetown would ever get.
“We came out and got one or two lay-ups that didn’t go in,” Head Coach John Thompson III. said “It wasn’t like the last game where we just took a bunch of outside shots. We had some interior shots that didn’t go in and we had some outside shots that didn’t go in.”
After junior guard Ashanti Cook hit Georgetown’s first basket at the 17-minute mark, the Hoyas would miss their next seven shots over a five-minute stretch. With the Wildcats focused on stopping first-year forward Jeff Green, the perimeter was wide open, but Georgetown was unable to capitalize.
Despite their offensive woes, the Hoyas found themselves down only 8-4 after a Green lay-up. The shot was Green’s only one in the first half as he went on to match his season-low with five points.
From there, Villanova went on a 19-7 run begun by another trifecta from Ray. As the Wildcats began to heat up, Georgetown was unable to get even lukewarm, missing five straight three-pointers during the stretch on their way to three-for-13 shooting from outside in the half.
The Wildcats’ run was punctuated by a driving lay-up from first-year guard Kyle Lowry, who drew a foul in the process. Lowry, who had only one other conference start, finished with 12 points and seven assists. The basket gave Villanova their largest lead at 27-11 with just under two minutes remaining. A pair of threes from senior swingman Darrel Owens helped the Hoyas avoid their lowest-scoring half of the season as they went into halftime down 29-17.
“[Lowry] is incredible. What he did last game against B.C. was amazing in his first start,” Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright said. “We said if he could come in and put up another game like that, then we would know we have something special, and we do.”
On the offensive side, the Hoyas were stymied by Villanova’s interior defense. The Hoyas had only seven turnovers in the half, most of them coming on sloppy entry passes. Playing a mix of man-to-man and matchup-zone, Villanova’s defenders ensured that two or three players would swarm to Green whenever it appeared he would touch the ball. With no inside presence, Georgetown shot no free throws in the first half.
“Last game, Jeff had a pretty big game, so they wanted to take that away,” junior forward Brandon Bowman said. “Every time I went to the hole or Jeff got the ball in the hole there were about three players in there. Their strategy worked to pack it down low.”
Villanova’s offensive success was due largely to sophomore forward Will Sheridan. Entering the game averaging just 4.2 points per contest, Sheridan went for eight points in the half on a variety of baseline jumpers. His presence helped stretch the Hoyas’ defense.
“Will Sheridan has been invaluable to us all year, doing a lot of the little things,” Wright said. “He’s such a team player that he always acquiesces to the other guys. We’ve been trying to convince him he helps the other guys by forcing people to guard him.”
As the second half opened, Georgetown seemed to have found its shooting touch. Bowman hit the first of four consecutive threes by the Hoyas, and first-year guard Jonathan Wallace followed suit hitting two of his own. Bowman’s second hit of the run with 15:48 left brought the Hoyas to within 37-31.
Georgetown, however, would have their run and their momentum ended with a substantial amount of time left on the clock. Much like Ryan Williams’ block on Cook against St. John’s last weekend, Villanova’s junior forward Jason Fraser, second in the Big East in blocks, swatted first-year center Roy Hibbert from behind on a sure-fire lay-up attempt. The ball moved in transition to Ray, who hit a three-pointer to complete the five-point swing and give the Wildcats a 42-31 edge.
“They got confidence after beating a couple of ranked teams,” said Bowman. “They’re feeling pretty good about themselves and when you play with confidence things that don’t normally happen start to happen.”
Despite the deficit, the Hoyas still had some fight left. Countering Villanova’s run, the Hoyas put together a quick seven-point run of their own, highlighted by Wallace’s three-pointer in transistion following an outlet pass from Cook. Down only eight, the Hoyas were again reminded of this season’s Achilles heel.
Following a missed three-point attempt by Ray, Georgetown allowed a series of offensive rebounds on one possession, including two by the 6-3 Foye. The Hoyas survived the possession on a steal by Owens, but Cook promptly rushed a jumper and the lead soon ballooned back up to 12.
“We haven’t panicked when teams make runs,” Wright said. “Now, they know it’s coming, they know they’re going to respond and they have confidence that they’re going to respond. There were about three spots today and only one of them we took a timeout. The other two we just hit shots and made plays.”
The Hoyas made one final push with just over two minutes remaining when Cook hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to 58-48. On the ensuing possession, Wallace blocked Foye from behind, beginning a fast break that ended with Bowman hitting his fourth three of the game to bring the Hoyas within seven with 1:22 remaining. The points were Bowman’s last as he finished with a game-high 22 points before fouling out.
For the game, the Hoyas were outrebounded 41-31, the second-highest total allowed this season. The performance on the glass comes fresh off the Hoyas’ abyssmal showing in allowing St. John’s to grab 39 rebounds. The Hoyas also had other statistical exploits, jacking up a conference game-high 28 three-pointers to a conference game-low 10 free-throw attempts.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” Thompson said. “We’re fortunate enough that we put ourselves in a position where games this time of year are important. It’s not over. The Connecticut game is important. The Providence game is important. The Big East Tournament is important. We’re fighting and scrapping in the mix and then you lose, so it’s extremely disappointing.”
