HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. Part 1 was published last month:
https://hoopshd.com/2021/11/14/tripleheader-hoopshd-does-3-games-in-3-arenas-in-25-hours
He continues his series with Part 2 featuring the Hoyas’ matchup yesterday against Syracuse:
It has been rough-sledding for Georgetown over the past month: the good news is that they have won 4 straight at Capital 1 Arena…but none of the 4 are even close to a Tier 1 win (American/Siena/Longwood/UMBC). The pregame media meal featured a great selection (salmon/mashed potatoes/scrambled eggs/bacon/French toast) but I wish that they had warmed it up a little more. A big-time ACC opponent like Syracuse means that there were a lot of media in attendance, so I was sitting up high in the corner rather than down low under the basket as usual. Sadly, the result is that this 1 will be a little more essay and a little less photo:
With their longtime rival visiting DC today the Hoyas decided to reward the big crowd by officially naming their home court for Hall of Fame coach John Thompson Jr.:
FR C Ryan Mutombo had the 1st double-double of his career in his previous game vs. UMBC so you know that his father Dikembe cannot wait to see a repeat performance:
Let’s tip things off and get this rivalry renewed!
If you like Hall of Famers then look no further than the 2 coaches on the sideline in Jim Boeheim (Hall of Fame Class of 2005) and Patrick Ewing (Hall of Fame Class of 2008):
The Orange were in control for most of the 1st half with the inside-outside combination of Jesse Edwards and Joseph Girard III. Edwards dominated in the lane with a bunch of hook shots/layups while Girard got it done from farther away with a pair of threes. The Hoyas were able to keep it within striking distance thanks to several 3-PT shots of their own from seniors Kaiden Rice/Donald Carey but still found themselves trailing 44-34 at halftime. After grabbing some water, I found myself walking in the tunnel behind the legendary Bill Raftery, who was doing color commentary for Fox:
The best sighting of the afternoon was a pair of big men standing courtside who know this rivalry quite well from their many years of playing in it: Georgetown alum Alonzo Mourning and Syracuse alum Rony Seikaly!
Georgetown finally got their act together in the 2nd half as Carey made a couple more threes (including a 4-PT play) to help his team regain the lead with less than 12 minutes to play. There were plenty of fans on hand from both schools to it got loud/stayed loud for most of the 2nd half. Georgetown sophomore Collin Holloway stands only 6’6” but punished the interior of the Syracuse zone in the 2nd half by making layup after layup, including a reverse layup after watching Edwards jump OVER him! Syracuse was eventually able to retake the lead via a pair of Boeheims: Buddy kept making jump shots/layups while his brother Jimmy had a rebound/tip-in to give his team a 73-72 lead. Rice set a school record with 10 3PM in his previous game vs. UMBC, and his 5th and final 3 on Saturday gave the Hoyas a 75-73 lead and gave him the honor of being the only power conference player currently in the top-10 in the nation in 3PM this year. After a pair of Carey FTs gave the home team a 4-PT lead, Girard made a layup and was fouled with a chance to make it a 1-PT game. After making his 1st 3 FTs during the afternoon he was 23-25 on the season so the whole arena assumed that he would convert the 3-PT play…but he somehow missed it to keep the score at 77-75. Georgetown freshman Aminu Mohammed made a pair of FTs with 9 seconds left to clinch a 79-75 win:
I saw the worst game of Mohammed’s college career in person last month when he missed each of his 10 FG attempts in a 3-PT loss to St. Joe’s in Anaheim…and now I have seen the best game of his college career. He did a lot of everything on Saturday with a couple of fadeaway jumpers, an up-&-under layup, and he even made a 3 for the 4th straight game to finish with a career-high 23 PTS/career-high 13 REB/career-high 5 AST/8-9 3PM/2 BLK/2 STL. He was selected Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year a couple of months ago, and if he keeps playing like this he might end up leading the conference in RPG despite standing only 6’5”!
Ewing has had a rollercoaster of a season so far but he was all smiles and high-fives on his way to the locker room:
I wonder if there are any conflicting emotions for Georgetown assistant coach Louis Orr, who was a 1st-team All-Big East player for Boeheim at Syracuse in 1980:
That’s all for now, check back in the weeks ahead for Part 3.