Hanging with the Hoyas: Part 1

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. He was out of town for the season opener earlier this week but now that he is back in DC he has prepared this photo essay about the Hoyas’ matchup earlier today against Green Bay.

I finally made it to my 1st game of the season this morning. I missed the Hoyas’ OT win over Coppin State on Election Night, but this is actually my 2nd trip to Capital 1 Arena in the past 40 hours, as I was sitting WAY up high on Thursday night to see the Wizards beat the Mavericks:

My 1st pregame meal of the year was a good 1: Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich bites/sausage biscuit/fruit! An 11AM tip-off + an unseasonably warm and sunny November day in DC + 2 teams who combined to lose 50 games last season = plenty of good seats available. It was very good to see Ryan Mutombo, who subbed in late in the 1st half and appeared to be focused on the game despite the fact that his father Dikembe is still recovering from treatment for a brain tumor:

Let’s tip it off:

Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing has not won consecutive games since a 3-game winning streak from December 8-15, and with a starting lineup of 5 transfers and no Dante Harris in uniform due to “personal reasons” the level of optimism was mediocre at best:

SO F Clarence Cummings allowed the Phoenix to hang around for 20 minutes and ended up with a team-high 14 PTS (causing Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed to scream at his defense from his front row seat to, “Get a hand up!”):

SR C Qudus Wahab fouled out of his 1st game on Tuesday in only 15 minutes but had much better self-control on the defensive end today. He also dominated the paint on offense with a series of put-backs/baby hooks/fadeaway jumpers in the lane to give the Hoyas a 31-29 halftime lead:

SO PG Zae Blake was back in hometown of DC and tried to keep Green Bay in the game with a trio of threes in the 2nd half, but it would be far from enough:

Wahab kept getting the ball low in the past in the 2nd stanza and finished with 18 PTS/8-12 FG and only committed 1 foul during the whole game. After carrying the team in the 1st half he finally got some help in the 2nd half from several different players. SO PG Primo Spears made a pair of runners in the lane and a ton of jumpers en route to his 2nd-straight game with 20+ PTS:

His starting backcourt mate Brandon Murray was just as good whether he was taking shots from behind the arc (3-4 3PM) or finding a teammate for a basket (7 AST):

In addition to the starters, Georgetown was able to destroy Green Bay in the 2nd half (outscoring them 61-29) thanks to some strong bench performances from JR G Wayne Bristol Jr. (who made all 3 of his 3-PT shots) and SO G Jordan Riley (11 PTS/6 REB) as the Hoyas won 92-58. In the postgame press conference I asked Green Bay coach Will Ryan (son of Bo) whether Blake had some extra motivation while playing back in his hometown in front of family/friends. He said that Blake’s ticket list was pretty big! He called Blake a “gamer/hooper” who can do things off of the bounce, and that as his PG improves his decision-making he has a chance to be very good in conference play.

I wanted to know what Coach Ewing thought has been the biggest difference on offense this year (92+ PPG in back-to-back games) vs. last year (92+ PPG just once in 31 games). He confirmed that this year’s mantra is to “purge” last year. He is happy that his guys are playing their butts off and getting the ball inside to the “big fella” (Wahab). He singled out Murray for praise as well because he can score at all 3 levels and makes all the right plays/passes.

I followed up with Murray about how he seems to succeed whether he is scoring (6-9 3PM this season) or passing (7.5 APG). He stated that he is just seeing the court really well and making the right reads, which is why he was award the championship belt in the locker room.

That is a wrap for now, check back next month as the competition increases a few notches when South Carolina visits DC on December 3rd.