The Georgetown men’s basketball team (18-8, 10-5 Big East) had many opportunities to break open Saturday night’s game against DePaul (12-16, 6-9 Big East), but waited until the final moments to do so, winning 68-63 at the Verizon Center.
“We knew coming in that this game was going to be tougher than most because at this point DePaul has lost a few games in a row and they were coming out strong looking for a win,” junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera said.
Freshman guard Tre Campbell and senior forward Jabril Trawick hit three crucial free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold off the visitors after DePaul launched a furious late comeback attempt. The win makes three straight victories for the Hoyas, puts Georgetown at second in the Big East behind only Villanova, and has all but guaranteed the team a spot in the NCAA Tournament come March.
Smith-Rivera led his team in scoring, putting up 19 points as he connected on three-of-six three-point attempts. He added seven rebounds and did not leave the floor, playing all 40 minutes of regulation.
“Georgetown is clearly one of the best teams in our league, best teams in the country, playing well right now. Smith-Rivera was terrific. What a fine, money player he is,” DePaul Head Coach Oliver Purnell said.
With 1:52 left on the clock, it seemed the home team had done enough. Trawick had just hit a layup to increase the lead to eight points, and the Hoyas looked like they had finally put the game on ice. But then DePaul hit a layup and four straight free throws, cutting the lead to two and making the final minute a tense one before the clutch shooting from the foul line secured the game.
“I thought down at our end—we’ve done this in the past—we made poor decisions. They would make a shot and then we’d come down, one, two pass and shot instead of making them work a little bit and getting a very good shot,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “So we just have to keep turning the corner and growing in that regard.”
The Hoyas held an advantage inside, as senior forward Joshua Smith proved too much for the Blue Demons to handle in the paint. The big man finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds, good for his sixth double-double of the season.
“I was in a slump the last few games with how I was playing and my effort,” Smith said. “Tonight was one of those nights were my teammates were riding me out and I was just trying to perform for them.”
His performance boosted his team, and the Hoyas out-rebounded the visitors 43-30. They did not waste this advantage, either, as the home team scored 18 second chance points to the Blue Demons’ eight.
“We definitely got some very big offensive rebounds. One of them that Isaac [Copeland] got sticks out in my mind, but other people did too,” Thompson said. “We had some offensive rebounds that gave us second shots, but at the same time even though we had the advantage, we gave up some defensive rebounds where they got threes.”
The Hoyas took a three-point lead into the half and led by as many as 10 points throughout the second period, but DePaul continued to hang around within striking distance. The home team might have controlled the game a little earlier had they been able to stop the Blue Demons’ three-point shooting, but their defense struggled to contain junior Forrest Robinson, who finished 5-9 from three on the day.
“Obviously there was a stretch where we lost Robinson too many times,” Thompson said. “There were definitely miscommunications, whether it was a pick and pop or something else [Robinson] was open too much. Going into the scouting report you know that’s what he does, we know that’s what he does, so we can’t let him get those shots off.”
On a snowy Saturday night, which saw the Hoya faithful trudging across ankle-deep drifts on Key Bridge or waiting for buses for extended periods of time as a blizzard raged around them, the team showed their appreciation for the students who have made it out to cheer them on.
“It has been phenomenal for them to come out,” Smith said. “They’ve been out there the majority of the games, they’ve been loud and to be honest, we really thank them for coming out and supporting us.”
Next up, Georgetown travels to Madison Square Garden this Saturday to face St. John’s, a team that needs every win it can get to boost its tournament hopes. Tip-off will be at noon as the Hoyas look to build momentum in their final games heading into postseason play.
