Roy Hibbert had the guns on display at Madison Square Garden, leaving the shirtsleeves in the locker room at the start of Friday night’s semi-final against West Virginia. It wasn’t the first game this season that Hibbert went with the look, but normally the senior center waits until halftime for the wardrobe change. But tonight, the seven-footer was all-too-eager to cast off the sleeves, and with them his abysmal scoreless performance against Villanova. Mission accomplished. Hibbert was unstoppable inside and out, scoring 25 to lead the Hoyas to the 72-55 victory and their second consecutive Big East Tournament final.
“I knew he was going to come out hungry,” junior guard Jessie Sapp said of his teammate. “So we wanted to feed him.”
The Georgetown offense appeared to have done a 180 overnight in the first possession, as sophomore forward DaJuan Summers let fire from behind the arc, a shot that the Hoyas made 17 times against Villanova, only to watch it clank off the back-iron. But Hibbert was there to slam home the putback, surpassing his quarterfinal output in one leap.
That’s not to say a Hibbert-dominated game means no three-pointers—when sophomore forward Wellington Smith (2 pts) backed off of the Hoya center at the top of the key moments later, Hibbert squared up and drilled the long range shot. On the ensuing defensive possession, an energized Hibbert stripped Smith right in front of the Georgetown bench. Whatever speed the Hoyas were going to play at—with fleet-footed freshman Chris Wright back in the line-up—Hibbert was not going to be left out two games in a row.
“I was saying ‘I’m a monster, be afraid,’” Hibbert joked after the game. “I don’t really show a lot of emotion … but I just had to keep cranking those buckets out and I’m happy we got the win.”
Even with the big guy back on track, there was the matter of putting a stop to the seemingly unstoppable Joe Alexander, West Virginia’s junior forward who has averaged 31 points in his last three games. The brunt of that task was left to Summers and senior forward Patrick Ewing Jr. Ewing, West Virginia basketball’s public enemy number one, did little to endear himself to Mountaineer fans in the early-goings, holding Alexander to 4 pts off of 2-7 shooting in the first half.
“I think that between Patrick and DaJuan, and for stretches Jeremiah [Rivers], they play him differently,” Coach John Thompson III said. “They worked their behinds off.”
A Summers three-pointer over Alexander rounded out the first-half scoring, adding insult to injury and giving the Hoyas a 33-21 lead going into the locker rooms.
The second half began with Georgetown’s all-time leading three-point shooter, senior guard Jonathan Wallace (20 pts), striking from beyond the arc to increase the Hoya lead to 15. But the Mountaineers, only a year removed from the gun slinging ways of former coach John Beilein, are more than capable from beyond the arc. Senior guard Darris Nichols (9 pts) and junior guard Alex Ruoff (12 pts) combined to make West Virginia’s first three outside attempts of the half, cutting the lead to seven less than five minutes into the second.
“We have to get stops, and we didn’t get them at the start of the second half,” Thompson said. “I don’t know what it was, but it felt like they made four threes in a row. Once we started to get stops, everything was fine.”
The teams traded baskets, words and contact as the game progressed. The chippiness reached its climax with just over 11 minutes left to play as Wright was taken down hard in the backcourt by Smith. Wright was visibly and audibly upset, receiving a technical foul for the outburst.
Ruoff converted the technical shots, cutting the lead to 51-47.
From that point on it was all Georgetown. Sapp showed a new aspect of his game, posting up inside and scoring over Mountaineer sophomore guard Joe Mazzulla (2 pts).
“I play around with the big fellas and do post moves and stuff with them,” Sapp said. “Today was a chance to, how do you say, sport that talent.”
The ensuing 16-0 Hoya run was highlighted by a rim-rattling dunk by Summers in transition, and gave Georgetown a 20 point, 67-47 lead with under five minutes to play. The Hoyas would not relinquish the lead, tightening the noose on defense and dominating West Virginia on the boards, 40-22.
“This group has a knack for ending games,” Thompson said. “We execute. We get stops. The fellas get rebounds … we were slowly able to pull away.”
Georgetown shot 32-60 (53.3 percent) from the floor and 7-17 (41.2 percent). Hibbert led all scorers with 25 points, adding 13 rebounds (10 offensive), two assists and two blocks. Wallace and Sapp joined Hibbert in double figures with 20 and13, respectively. The Mountaineers were 20/49 (40.8 percent) from the field and 8/20 (40 percent) from behind the arc. Sophomore forward Da’Sean Butler led the Mountaineers with 16 points, followed by Ruoff and Alexander with 12 each.
The Hoyas will try to finish the job and take home the Big East Championship tonight against the Pittsburgh Panthers (25-9). The Panthers won the teams’ only match-up of the season in Pittsburgh, 69-60, on January 14. They beat the Marquette Golden Eagles last night, 68-61, to reach the final. Tip-off is slated for 9 p.m.
