On a day when students arriving early to the Verizon Center were given “gray-out” t-shirts to wear to Saturday’s game against Syracuse, the Georgetown men’s basketball team seemed to have their sights squarely on the Orange. But, in what can only be described as a classic trap game, the No. 11 Hoyas (21-7, 10-6 Big East) came out flat, showed few signs of being a top team, and lost handily to the unranked Cincinnati Bearcats (22-6, 9-6 Big East), 58-46. While the loss was tough in itself, the game could prove to have long lasting consequences due to the injury to Chris Wright.
Chris Wright, the heart of the Hoyas, struggled before breaking his hand. (Photo by Julianne Deno)
Early in the second half, the senior point guard was driving down the court on a fast break when a Bearcat defender dislodged the ball from behind. Wright lunged forward in an attempt to regain possession, but instead collided with a Cincinnati player and fell to the court. Wright was called for the foul. As he lifted himself from the ground he stared at his left hand.
During the resultant timeout, Wright put on a small brace and returned to the floor. It was evident that the guard was in pain, however—he was unable to handle the ball with the braced hand.
“I saw him staring at his hand, but I thought he was gonna be able to play,” senior guard Austin Freeman said. “When he asked to be taken out I knew it was serious.”
Wright ran to the locker room with the training staff, and returned with a sturdier brace four minutes later. Again, Wright writhed in pain when the ball touched his off-hand, and he fell to the floor, stopping the game. The Hoya senior watched the rest of the game from the bench with tears in his eyes.
After the game, head coach John Thompson III delivered the chilling news.
“Chris’s hand is broken,” Thompson said. “As for the preliminary report, exactly what’s broken, I’m not sure, but it’s definitely a broken hand.”
While the injury certainly seemed to seal the Hoyas’ fate, it was clear from the start that Georgetown did not bring their best game against Cincinnati. The Bearcats made the first true run of the game, taking advantage of multiple Georgetown turnovers forced by an active press and zone defense.
“We’ve always played Georgetown some zone,” Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin said. “They are so good offensively that you got to get them to change it up and not let them get into a rhythm on offense.”
The plan definitely worked, as Georgetown had arguably its most woeful offensive performance of the entire season.
The lone bright spot was the play of Austin Freeman in the first half. He dropped 15 points to keep the Hoyas level with the Bearcats heading into halftime.
Unfortunately Freeman’s play did not carry into the second half. He would only score four points in the period. The Hoyas had a horrendous shooting night, making only 25 percent of their shots from the field. The most telling statistic was that besides Freeman, not a single Hoya converted more than one field goal.
“We were just not in sync today,” Thompson said. “I don’t know that our intensity was down, but we just weren’t in sync.”
The Hoyas off night will most definitely prove to be costly, and leaves the team some pressing questions begging to be answered. Georgetown’s inability to perform against the Bearcats’ zone defense is a huge liability, with rival Syracuse coming to town on Saturday. But first and foremost, the severity of Wright’s broken hand could have ramifications far beyond Saturday. All in all, last night’s disastrous loss exposed weaknesses, and created new ones that could derail the Hoyas’ successful season.
