HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. Since Wednesday was a federal holiday, and his Quakers are not visiting DC this season, he decided to take a road trip out to Annapolis to see them face Navy in Game #2 of the Veterans Classic and prepared this photo essay:
The Midshipmen were kind enough to give me a front-row seat on the sideline, and the only thing better than the pregame meal of pizza/soda was this gorgeous view from the media room:
I arrived at halftime of Game #1 between St. Joe’s and South Florida and found myself surrounded by Philly basketball history everywhere I looked: current Penn coach Fran McCaffery scouting his Big 5 rival from press row (since the Quakers travel to Hagan Arena this Saturday), former Penn coach Steve Donahue manning the sideline for the Hawks, and of course, Chad’s favorite mascot that never dies:
I had time to attend the postgame press conference after St. Joe’s beat USF 83-80, and asked FR G BJ Ranson about making only 1-5 3PM in an OT win over Lafayette last Saturday but scoring a game-high 21 PTS on 6-9 3PM this afternoon. He said he had a cooler night against Lafayette, but feels that if he keeps shooting with confidence then his shot will eventually go in. The Baltimore native also stated that he had a lot of family/friends/coaches who came out to support him, as Annapolis is just 40 minutes from his home:
I recalled Coach Donahue’s comment at A-10 Media Day last month that he thought BJ will become “1 of the best shooters in the league” and wondered if he is already the best 3-PT shooter in the Ranson family. He said that was 1 thing BJ’s father/St. Joe’s associate head coach Bino Ranson could do, but coaches in that era would not let him shoot it so much…which he will remind you of! Bino has been very hands-on with his son throughout his development, and it is showing:
There was plenty of pregame pageantry before Game #2 including a free pin, a compelling national anthem with the fans lighting up their cell phones, and of course, the most famous uniform # in Patriot League history:
And you know it must be a big game because sideline reporter Gary Parrish is in the house:
Let’s tip off Game #2:
The 1st 8 minutes belonged to Penn SG Michael Zanoni, who made a pair of jumpers and a pair of threes as he outscored Navy 10-8 by himself:
The Quakers essentially “traded” Ethan Roberts to Notre Dame during the offseason for Sir Mohammed and a player to be named later (kidding!). I am unsure if it was an even deal as Roberts tied an Irish all-time record tonight with TEN 3PM…but Mohammed was certainly no slouch in the 1st half, making shots from all over the floor including a 3 that must have bounced 8 feet above the rim before dropping in, as the Quakers build a 15-PT lead and appeard to be coasting to victory:
However, Navy stormed back with a 22-1 run over the next 6 minutes thanks in large part due to JR G David Burnett, who had both an old-fashioned and modern-day 3-PT play to give the home team a 36-34 halftime lead:
Penn F TJ Power looked like the best player in the conference by scoring a team-high 26 PTS/4-8 3PM…but also looked like the puppet when he airballed a FT with under 6 minutes to play:
The 2nd half was a painful 1 for his teammate AJ Levine. The JR PG finished with 11 PTS/4 AST, but also finished the game on the bench. He injured his foot a few minutes into the 2nd stanza before limping off to the locker room, then returned to the game by the under-12 timeout and made a pair of pretty scoops at the rim. However, he was fouled in the final 2 minutes and went back into the tunnel while gripping his shoulder in pain:
Navy G Jordan Pennick had only made 4 shots from behind the arc all season, but was unstoppable down the stretch with a quartet of threes en route to a game-high 29 PTS as the home team hung on to win it 81-76:
I did not stick around for the postgame press conference because I had to hustle home, but check back later this month when I head back to Capital 1 Arena to see if the Hoyas can remain undefeated.
