It was a tale of two halves last Sunday, as No. 17 Georgetown squandered an eight-point halftime advantage and dropped a 69-56 decision to the visiting No. 11 West Virginia in front of 16,263 at the MCI Center.
“We played hard,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “We could have executed a lot better. For us to be successful we have to play hard, we have to play smart and we have to play together, and we could have played a little smarter at key times.”
The Hoyas (17-5, 8-3 BE) were doing all of the above in the first half, as they ran all over West Virginia (18-6, 9-2 BE) at both ends of the court: forcing turnovers that led to easy transition baskets and an attacked their vaunted 1-3-1 zone as well as any team has all season.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Wallace (five points) ignited the Georgetown offense on an assist from senior swingman Darrel Owens when he hit a trey from the top of the arc with 8:36 remaining. For the next five minutes, the Hoyas went on a 15-0 run, culminating in Owens’ theft of senior guard J.D. Collins and rim-rocking slam at the other end.
The Mountaineers could not get anything going in the opening frame, while the Hoyas could do no wrong. Georgetown had 13 assists on their 16 first-half baskets, shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from behind the arc. Senior guard Brandon Bowman (15 points, 11 rebounds) led the Hoyas with 13 points and sophomore forward Jeff Green (21 points, 10 rebounds) chipped in seven points and seven boards to help stake Georgetown to a 37-29 halftime edge.
“In the first half my head was spinning,” West Virginia Head Coach John Beilein said. “They were playing so well and we didn’t have answers. They were incredible. They just tossed it around like crazy. I just looked and said, ‘Now I know why they beat Duke’.”
However, as the Hoyas looked to knock off their third ranked opponent of the season, their efficient first half was followed by exactly the opposite in the final 20 minutes.
West Virginia came out of the locker room strong, reeling off an 8-0 run and holding the Hoyas scoreless until Owens knocked down a corner three at the 14:46 mark. That shot was one of only eight Georgetown baskets in the second half. The Hoyas struggled to adjust to the changes the Mountaineers made at the half and had even bigger problems breaking the seal on the hoop, stumbling to a disappointing finish.
“Traditionally, they play a lot of 1-3-1, and I thought we did a very good job in the first half,” Thompson said. “In the second half they stayed away from that. They switched to a man-to-man [defense], packing it in, saying you have to make shots to beat us. We were off tonight.”
See “Hoyas cool off” pg. 14
The Hoyas played one of their worst halves of the year. They were eight of 33 from the floor (24.2 percent) and two of 14 from downtown (14.3 percent). On the other hand, West Virginia didn’t panic and then they couldn’t miss. Aided by a 25-point performance by senior center Kevin Pittsnogle, the Mountaineers took the lead, 48-47, with 10:55 remaining and we use this every week.
“There’s a very small margin of error,” Green said. “You have to try and do everything perfect, and some of the things we did, we didn’t do perfect. That gave them a little confidence and they started hitting their shots.”
A Jeff Green fast-break dunk courtesy of a Wallace steal with a little under six minutes remaining would pull the Hoyas to within three, 51-54, but that is as close as they would come. Pittsnogle’s 25 was complimented by 13 points apiece from seniors guard Johannes Herber and forward Mike Gansey. The Mountaineers, with five seniors, shot 65.5 percent in the second half and used a 15-2 run near the end of the period to close out the younger, more inexperienced Hoyas.
“They are a veteran team. They are one of the most poised teams that I have seen. Period,” Thompson said. “[But] we did not play our best ball in that second half. We are a better team than that and we have to bounce back.”
The Hoyas’ second half snapped their seven-game winning streak and gave them their first loss in almost a month . /they dropped a 67-74 decision to now-No. 1 UConn (22-2, 9-2 BE) on Jan. 14.
But while a string of wins, including two victories against top-10 competition, can teach a team a lot, the Hoyas hope to learn just as much from the let down on Sunday.
“We have done a very good job of not dwelling on the past with our wins,” Thompson commented. “We have to learn from this. There’s a whole lot we can take away from this game and we must take it away and move on: If we don’t come to play, every team in this league can beat us, but if we come to play, we can beat every team in this league.”
Georgetown looks to bounce back tonight against Marquette (16-8, 6-5 BE) at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m.
