HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend this season covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. He was in attendance Saturday afternoon and prepared this photo essay about the Hoyas’ matchup against UConn.
I do not often get to see the #1 team in the nation and luckily we had a pregame meal that was worthy of the defending champs: bagels and cream cheese! You also know that it is a big game because there are fans sitting in the upper deck (a rarity this season):
Let’s tip it off:
Could there be 2 coaches from the same conference heading in such vastly different directions? UConn coach Dan Hurley entered the game with the nation’s longest winning streak (11 in a row), while Georgetown coach Ed Cooley has lost 10 of his past 11 games with the lone win coming by 3 PTS vs. DePaul:
Huskies SO F Alex Karaban came out hot and stayed hot throughout the 1st half with 17 PTS in 16 minutes thanks to a ton of layups, a pair of threes, and an old-fashioned 3-PT play:
Coach Cooley kept calling timeouts to try to re-focus his team and after 11 minutes he only had ONE timeout left. The only player who seemed to respond was JR F Dontrez Styles, who did his best Karaban impersonation with 17 PTS in 19 minutes with a trio of trifectas and an old-fashioned 3-PT play:
UConn FR F Stephon Castle has shown significant improvement as the season goes on. He had a pair of dunks, a 3, and a leaner in the lane to finish with 9 PTS in the 1st stanza and help his team build a 52-28 halftime lead:
In the 2nd half Karaban kept making 3-PT shots, Castle kept making layups, and UConn extended its winning streak to 12 games with an 89-64 win. In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Hurley about Castle’s continued development. He said that it was due to his humility and his parents: after Stephon had a poor performance vs. Butler last Tuesday Coach Hurley did not have to say anything to him because it was Stephon’s dad who “ripped him”:
Since Coach Cooley has now faced UConn twice in the past 4 weeks after playing them 3 times last year when he was at Providence, I wondered if he thought this year’s version of the Huskies was as good as last year’s squad. He was unsure but admitted that they are “damn good” and confirmed that he will always cheer for his fellow Big East members in the NCAA tourney:
That is a wrap, check back later this month when Rick Pitino brings the Red Storm to DC!