HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel has spent the past few months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. You can find Parts 1-7 at:
https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/09/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-1
https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/20/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-2
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/15/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/20/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-4
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/29/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-5
https://hoopshd.com/2020/01/09/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-6
https://hoopshd.com/2020/01/17/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-7
He concludes his series with Part 8 featuring the Hoyas’ matchup last Saturday afternoon against Marquette:
Pregame meal was perfectly average: sandwiches/pasta salad/cookies. There were so many things going on besides the game itself that it was hard to keep up. Georgetown hosted a “gray out” so my blue shirt was easily visible in a sea of gray (for those of you wondering whether I actually attend these games!):
(photo credit: Peter Rhoads)
In honor of Martin Luther King Day both teams wore “We Cannot Walk Alone” warmup shirts:
As if that was not enough, the Hoyas wore pink sneakers in support of Men Against Breast Cancer:
Let’s tip things off:
Speaking of clothing, I have heard that horizontal stripes are not very slimming…but when Marquette breaks out its gorgeous powder-blue uniforms they are quite a sight to behold:
The Golden Eagles emulate the personality of their coach (Steve Wojciechowski) so you know that they will play hard for 40 minutes. Sacar Anim made a trio of threes in the 1st half but showed his strength on a tough layup: after getting bumped in the air and falling to the ground he skidded for a few feet and ended up knocking part of the baseline signage loose! It is always a newsworthy event when the nation’s leading scorer visits the nation’s capital. In November of 2018 Campbell’s Chris Clemons exploded for 45 PTS/9-19 3PM in this very arena so the crowd was intrigued to see if Markus Howard could match that effort. He may not be efficient but he does not disappoint: he took 12 shots in the 1st 12 minutes but after making 4 shots from behind the arc he got some well-deserved rest with 14 PTS in 14 minutes of action:
Georgetown’s Mac McClung did not make a single 3 of his own in the opening stanza but did a little of everything from 2-PT range: a pull-up jumper, a layup, a runner in the lane after splitting 2 defenders, and even a floater off the glass to finish the half with 9 PTS.
The surprise 3-PT shooter for the Hoyas was 7-footer Omer Yurtseven. Despite entering the game with only a single made 3 all season, he opened the game with a bomb from the top of the circle, then made a couple of dunks before nailing another 3 to prove that his 1st 1 was not a fluke. The Golden Eagles double-teamed him on several possessions after he received entry passes into the post but he still made the most of his opportunities with 14 PTS/5-6 FG despite battling opposing big man Theo John all day:
Marquette did not attempt a single FT in the 1st half but made a sufficient # of shots from the field to take a 42-36 halftime lead. The biggest ovation of the 2nd half was for the Georgetown men’s soccer team, who won their 1st national championship last month and enjoyed some VIP-quality seats in return:
After a turnover just 3 minutes into the 2nd half Howard noticed a wet spot on the floor, grabbed a towel from the bench, and then started drying off the floor…for 60 seconds! It appeared that the Golden Eagles might choke the game away by converting only 1-5 FTs through the 1st 30 minutes of the game but then they got their act together and drained 8 FTs in a row over the following 5 minutes. Yurtseven kept dominating in the paint and on the baseline, finishing with his 10th double-double of the season (22 PTS/11 REB/0 TO). Marquette had the lead for most of the half thanks to, of course, their superstar. Coach Ewing kept yelling out instructions but most of them failed to work:
Howard is not just a long-range gunner: he made jump shots, runners/floaters in the lane, and time and again would split a Georgetown double-team to either give himself a good look at the basket or find a teammate for an open shot.
Hoyas G Jahvon Blair did not make a single FG all afternoon but his 1st/only PTS of the game was a timely trio of FTs to tie the game at 76 with 1:34 left:
Coach Wojo called a TO as the crowd erupted with the loudest “Hoya/Saxa” chant I have heard all year:
McClung had a huge 2nd half with 15 PTS/0 TO and was fouled with 10.3 seconds left and his team trailing 80-78. He started the season simply perfect by making all 17 of his FT attempts during his 1st 4 games so I assumed we were headed for overtime…until he missed his 1st FT, and that was all she wrote:
Howard scored 28 PTS in the final 20 minutes and ended up with exactly ½ of his team’s total scoring output in an 84-80 win as Marquette improved to 13-5. At the postgame press conference I asked Coach Ewing if he feared that his team might be running out of steam due its short rotation. He said that while he is always worried about having a short rotation, there is not much he can do because “the cavalry is not coming over the hill”. He liked that his team played hard but they were just not good enough to get the job done:
Rather than wait for his coach to join him, Howard came to the microphone by himself. I know that wins are the most important thing but I wondered what it would mean to him to be the best player in the US. He answered that it would not mean that much to him because he just wants to be known as a winner. He plays his game and appreciates the fact that his coaches/teammates have confidence in him:
Coach Wojciechowski responded to someone else’s inquiry by stating that the Big East is “the best conference in the country, period”. I followed that up with “Is Markus the best player in the country, period?” He smiled and said that he knows that he is biased but he thinks Markus is the best:
That’s a wrap, I might make it back to Capital 1 Arena later this season but if not then feel free to check back in March.