In what is becoming an emerging trend for Georgetown, 7-foot-2-inch sophomore center Roy Hibbert did his best impression of his famous predecessors in the paint. The Hoya big man turned in perhaps the best performance of his young career to lead the Blue and Gray to a resounding 70-52 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last Sunday.
“He has had some other very good games against quality opponents, but it’s March, and you’re playing for a lot more than you were earlier in the year,” Head Coach John Thompson III said of Hibbert’s inspired play. “You work all year to get here. You work all year to put yourself in a position to win now. So was this his biggest game? Yes. No doubt.”
Hibbert dominated the much-hyped match up with Big Ten player of the year, senior forward Terrence Dials, dropping in 20 points and securing 14 boards while also swatting three blocks en route to his seventh double-double of the season. Dials was able to register 19 points but only collected four rebounds, less than half of his season average, as he had no response for Hibbert and fellow sophomore forward Jeff Green on defensive.
Despite the fact that Green tallied only two points against Northern Iowa, Ohio State (26-6) Head Coach Thad Matta was clear in a pre-game press conference that Green was the one Hoya (23-9) who scared him the most. Green did not disappoint. In what Thompson described as his best game of the year, the 6-foot-9-inch Green filled up the stat sheet, pouring in 19 points, pulling down eight boards and dishing out six assists.
In front of a hostile Ohio crowd of 12,945, almost all of whom were clad in scarlet and gray, the Hoyas trailed for a total of one minute and methodically distanced themselves from the Big Ten regular season champions from the outset. After Hibbert blocked junior guard Ron Lewis’ three-point attempt from the wing and collected the rebound, he established position at the left elbow and converted a spinning lay-up that had Dials falling on his heels all the way to the hoop at the 10:59 mark. The basket was part of a 10-2 Hoya run that staked Georgetown to an early 18-10 lead and took the air right out of the 90 percent pro-Buckeye crowd inside University of Dayton Arena.
See “Buckeyes baffled” p. 14
“We came in knowing they were only an hour from this campus and we knew there would be a large fan base here,” Hibbert said. “But we’ve played in atmospheres with the whole crowd against us … so we just came in here, played and our seniors really led us.”
Georgetown’s senior guards Ashanti Cook and Darrel Owens benefited from the Hoyas’ bruising basketball down low. Cook finished 7-of-11 from the floor for 17 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists while Owens was 5-of-7 for 14 points. Along with Hibbert and Green, they were the only four Hoyas to score all night.
But more importantly than the Hoyas efficient offensive output, their swarming defense utilized their length, athleticism and size to disrupt the Buckeyes’ attack. A normally lethal team from downtown, Ohio State only converted 5-of-16 three-point attempts. Senior guard Je’Kel Foster hit three consecutive threes to pull Ohio State to within three, 22-19, with 6:56 left in the first half, but an Owens backdoor cut down the key for a lay- followed by an Owens trifecta from the corner with 29 seconds to go pushed the Hoyas lead to 13 at the intermission, 38-25.
“You can focus on Dials, but he’s too good, you can’t stop him,” Thompson said. “When you focus all your energy there they surround him with four terrific shooters … We told our guys, ‘Don’t leave [Foster].’ He’s been in a shooting slump, but he’s a terrific shooter … [and] with out luck he’s going to come out of it against us.”
The Hoyas hounding defense handed the Buckeyes their most lopsided loss of the year and completely confused Ohio State. Georgetown forced 11 turnovers, which led to 12 points, and dominated on the glass, 37 to 24, even outrebounding their opponent 12 to three on the offensive end. Senior guard J.J. Sullinger (10.4 ppg) was held to only four points and Lewis only managed two points, almost 10 less than his season average, without hitting a single field goal.
“Quite honestly, [today] was the first time since [an eight minute] stretch against LSU that we’ve been baffled by a team,” Matta said.
The second half was much of the same story as Georgetown used their sound motion offense and smothering defense to put away the Buckeyes. Dials was fouled on a lay-up off an assist from Foster at the 5:11 mark, sinking the free throw, to pull Ohio State to within six, 54-48, but that’s as close as they would get. A pair of Owens free throws with 2:28 remaining capped a 9-0 Georgetown run after Dials’ traditional three-point play and less than two years into his tenure as the Hoyas’ head coach, John Thompson III accomplished something it took his father eight seasons to do: lead his team to the Sweet 16.
“We’ll wait until the end of the season to see what all this means,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we’re not done.”
At the conclusion of the game a subdued atmosphere dominated the court even as rabid Hoya fans danced and chanted in the stands after the win.
“We know we have a lot more games to win, so we celebrated a little on the court and got it out of our system,” Hibbert said. “We celebrated in the locker room, but we came off the court with poise.”
The Hoyas look to come off the court at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis with the same poise on Friday night as they take on the No. 3 Florida Gators (29-6) in the Minneapolis region semifinals at 9:40 p.m.
