Sports

Consistent Hoyas exact revenge on top-seeded Orange

March 11, 2010


With under a minute to go, Chris Wright dribbled the ball up the court, looking to seal a victory over Syracuse. The junior guard bounced the ball off his foot and into the Orange’s hands; Kris Joseph nailed a three and suddenly Syracuse was within four.

It was the second straight turnover leading to Orange points, and the Hoyas had missed three of their last four free throws. That’s the kind of stretch that could call back memories of the season’s two previous losses to Syracuse, the way the Orange dismantled the Hoyas at home, or how Georgetown came up just short in the Verizon Center. But that’s not where Wright’s mind went.

“I don’t think we were [worried],” Wright said. “We had the lead. Last two games, we were fighting uphill trying to get the lead. We had the lead and we just wanted to withstand that.”

Withstand it they did, as Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman snuffed out any chance of a comeback from the free throw line. Georgetown (22-9, 12-8 Big East) prevailed in the Big East tournament quarterfinals, sending Syracuse (28-4, 15-4 Big East), the tournament’s top seed, home with a 91-84 loss.

Down the stretch the Hoyas showed poise that was not always apparent during the regular season in close losses to the likes of Rutgers and Marquette. Georgetown attacked Syracuse with confident aggression, despite the Orange’s higher seed and regular season dominance of the Hoyas.

Wright was the leader of that attack, topping a solid game in the opening around against South Florida with a dominant performance. He finished with 27 points to lead all scorers, as well as six rebounds and six assists. And the stat sheet doesn’t account for the point guard’s work breaking the Orange press or the way he made his teammates better.

“Regardless, whether if its scoring or getting the ball to the right players, that’s my role on this team: to dictate how the flow of the game is going to go, and to make sure everyone stays positive and is in to the game and focused,” Wright said. “We had some guys step up. Hollis Thompson stepped up today, Vee Sanford made a big floater today. As long as you keep giving them confidence, anything can happen.”

The Hoyas came out ready to play from the opening tip, keeping pace with the Orange even as they went on a blistering shooting tear. Syracuse shot nearly 60 percent in the first half, but Georgetown capitalized on mistakes and turnovers to never let the Orange lead get beyond nine.

Turnovers may have been the key statistic on Wednesday afternoon, with the Orange committing 17 that led to 25 Hoya points.

“I think we made some really bad turnovers throughout the course of the game,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “But I told the players I think Georgetown is capable of beating anybody any night. They’ve proven that this year.”

On the other hand, Georgetown, save for the final minutes, protected the ball and prevented Syracuse from breaking out on any big runs.

“I think we did a very good job today, with the exception of the last minute or two, of not turning the ball over,” Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said. “Normally we turn the ball over against them. They do a great job of creating your turnovers into easy baskets.”

In addition to Wright, who had three turnovers, credit for protecting the ball has to go to sophomore guard Jason Clark, who gave the ball away just once. He had the ball in his hands often, as he too improved on a strong performance against USF, scoring 17 points and making three steals.

“We call Jason ‘Loose Change,’ because you never think about him,” Thompson said. “But if you keep collecting that loose change all of a sudden it adds up. Jason makes the hustle plays. He usually guards the opposition’s best perimeter player. He’s an underrated offensive player. He does the little things that make teams win.”

Georgetown trailed by three at halftime, but Syracuse took a page from the Hoyas’ book and came out of the locker room hot, running their lead to 59-51 with just over 12 minutes to play. But the Hoyas showed that they were in it for the long haul, going on an 18-2 run over the next five minutes.

The run was similarly timed as the one the Hoyas made when they trailed by 23 points in last month’s game against the Orange. The difference today was that Georgetown played consistently for a full 40 minutes.

“The games that we didn’t come out and play our best [from the beginning], we knew what happened,” Clark said. “They weren’t such good turnouts. So we knew that we had to come out from the jump and be ready to play.”

Once Georgetown had the lead, it was Monroe and Freeman, who both had relatively quiet games to that point, who kept it secure.

After Monroe picked apart the Orange’s interior defense in their last meeting, Syracuse came prepared to deny him his shots. The sophomore big man wasn’t bothered though, finding other ways to help his team succeed.

“Today they made a conscious effort not to let him score once he got it,” Thompson said. “We were still able to get it to him, but there were two, three, four bodies around him. But we’ll take that because of his unselfishness and his ability to find his teammates.”

Find them he did, as Monroe handed out seven assists. In the end he was also able to get more than a few shots in, going inside and going to the line to get 15 points.

Freeman was also contained—at least by his standards—for most of the game, but came alive down the stretch to finish with 18 points. He and Monroe hit six consecutive free throws in the final minute to ice the game.

Considering the stage and the opponent, the Hoyas could be expected to be exuberant after what was probably their biggest win of the season. But speaking to the media after the game, the players were sedate.

“Me and Austin, being the leaders of this team, we emphasize that we didn’t come out here to beat Syracuse or to beat one team,” Wright said. “We want to win the whole thing. We’re not going to get all excited.”

After all, there’s still another game tomorrow. Georgetown will take on Marquette at 7 p.m. Friday night.



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