The seventh-ranked Georgetown basketball machine opened up Big East Conference play the same way it has dealt with the rest of its early season opponents: a sloppy first half offensively, a close halftime score, and a grinding, smothering defense that wears down the opponent. The victim on Saturday afternoon was Rutgers (8-6, 0-2 BE), and although the Scarlet Knights remained competitive for most of the game, the double-digit, 58-46 victory seemed inevitable throughout.
The once-feared Rutgers Athletic Center (the RAC) is not the intimidating venue it used to be, and on Saturday afternoon the collective eyes of the Scarlet Knight faithful were turned northward to the football team’s International Bowl. Back in the RAC, Georgetown’s sizeable New Jersey contingent made for a surprisingly loud ovation as the visiting Hoyas took the court.
There wasn’t much to cheer about for either side in the first half. Georgetown came out in a man-to-man defensive set, only to be rudely greeted by a Scarlet Knight squad that had clearly studied the tape of the Hoyas’ only loss to Memphis. Rutgers utilized the same dribble-drive tactics that were effective for the Tigers, scoring their first eight points in the paint. Georgetown collapsed to defend the drive, opening up the weak-side rebounds for easy Rutgers put-backs. The Knights out-rebounded Georgetown 12-2 early in the game.
“We’ve got to play with more energy early on,” senior guard Jonathan Wallace said after the game. “We try to come out hard from the start but we didn’t do a great job of that today.”
Junior forward J.R. Inman (11 pts), Rutgers’ leading scorer, provided an offensive spark for the Knights with a put-back dunk and a quick three-pointer to open up a 13-8 Scarlet Knight lead and force a Georgetown timeout.
The Hoyas came out of the timeout in a 2-3 zone to address the Knights’ dribble penetration, and forced turnovers in three of the next four Rutgers possessions.
The Hoyas found an offensive catalyst of their own in their sixth man, senior forward Patrick Ewing Jr. (6 pts). Ewing played only four minutes in the first half, but contributed immediately with a three-pointer and a backdoor feed to junior guard Jessie Sapp (10 pts) that sparked a 7-0 run. Wallace, Georgetown’s all-time leading three-point shooter, punctuated the Hoyas’ closing run from behind the arc for a 27-20 halftime lead.
Georgetown found a little more offensive rhythm to start the second half. Freshman guard Austin Freeman, whose stellar early-season play earned him a spot in the starting line-up, proved worthy of the promotion, leading all scorers with 13 points. The Hoyas shot a combined 11-23 from three-point range to open up a double-digit lead early in the second half that they would not relinquish.
“I don’t think we executed well at all,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “Our offensive understanding has to be significantly better than it was today.”
Georgetown led by as many as 17 early in the half, but an Inman dunk and a reverse lay-up by freshman guard Corey Chandler highlighted a 7-0 run that cut the lead to 47-37. Freeman put an end to the Scarlet Knight charge with a right-handed runner and the foul.
“It’s a big win,” Thompson said. “You come on the road and you win; this league is a monster, so every win is important.”
The Hoyas shot 47.6 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from behind the arc, and held Rutgers to 31.1 percent from the floor. Four different Georgetown players, Sapp, Wallace, Freeman and sophomore forward DaJuan Summers (10 pts), scored in double figures. Freshman guard Chris Wright sat out of the game after rolling his ankle in practice.
Georgetown (11-1, 1-0 BE) travels to Chicago on Tuesday to take on DePaul (5-7, 1-0 BE). The Blue Demons are coming off a win against 16th-ranked Villanova in their Big East opener. Tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m.
