Hoops HD

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel has spent the past few months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming next month. Even though he has met his quota, he will still cover a few more games to keep from getting rusty. Saturday afternoon Butler came to DC for its 14th overall meeting with Georgetown (in a series that only commenced a decade ago).

Thanks to the subway being closed it was a hurried pregame meal at the arena of an egg croissant and a pastry. Today’s game featured 2 of the 3 current Big East coaches who work for their alma maters: Patrick Ewing (Georgetown class of 1985) and LaVall Jordan (Butler class of 2001). There were no pregame notes available because I showed up late, but 1 thing they did not run out of was t-shirts for all the fans as part of the “gray-out” listing the names of some of the best Hoyas ever:

I usually try to focus on the on-court action but there were so many celebrity sightings it was hard to concentrate:

Alonzo Mourning in the front row!

Dikembe Mutombo in the front row!

Side note (because I actually have a Mutombo story): about 20 years ago Mutombo was in Phoenix for a game against my Suns, I was having a mid-afternoon beverage while catching up with a high school friend at a Cheesecake Factory that was located across the street from a Ritz-Carlton where the Suns’ opponents often stayed, we were minding our own business when the tallest man I have ever seen in person walks into the restaurant wearing a maroon velvet tracksuit, I sprint to the bartender and beg him to charge whatever drink the guy orders to my tab, the guy orders a beverage, the bartender explains why it is free and points in my direction, and the guy turns toward me and gives me the slightest of nods…and that is how I bought a drink for Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo!!

Do not forget about Ewing:

I felt like I had traveled back in time to the 1995 NBA All-Star Game in the great city of Phoenix, AZ:

If St. John’s (and its assistant coach Mitch Richmond) was the opposing Big East team and Grant Hill was covering the game for CBS, then we could have just replayed the entire game almost 24 years later to the day!

1 famous face who was not sitting courtside but rather in a corner suite at the top of the lower level was Vice President Mike Pence. The former Indiana governor’s wife Karen is a Butler alum, and apparently the VP is such a big fan himself that he had allegedly planned to travel to Memphis back in 2017 to watch the Bulldogs face the eventual-champion Tar Heels in the Sweet 16…but had to change his plans because the Republican party needed his help coming up with a plan to get rid of Obamacare. He did not make it onto the Jumbotron in his blue shirt from the front row of the suite, which is why this long-range photo from my baseline seat was the best that I could do:

And away we go:

Georgetown SO wing Jamorko Pickett put together 1 of his best offensive performances of the season in the 1st half via a corner 3, a layup, and 2 big dunks. His teammate Mac McClung was not too shabby either: he made a few jump shots, had a 4-PT play, and even made a corner 3 after getting his shot blocked. I attribute his success to his brand-new haircut/headband:

Or maybe he was inspired by the mascot driving an SUV:

Jordan Tucker is a Duke transfer who thought about joining the Hoyas before signing with Butler. His 1st 4 starts this season were simply terrible in terms of 3-PT shooting (5-26), but he got it going early today by making a trio of 3-PT shots and also converting an old-fashioned 3-PT play on a drive/layup/foul/&1. SR SG Paul Jorgensen made a triumphant return to DC (after spending his 1st 2 years of college as a player at GW) with a pair of jumpers and a 3-PT shot to help give his team a 41-35 lead at halftime.

The 2nd half quickly turned more physical as Butler G Aaron Thompson was whistled for a flagrant foul after taking down McClung on a breakaway drive to the hoop. “McClutch” was slow to get up and then limped around for several seconds with the assistance of some teammates:

He somehow made the 2 FTs and the subbed out for a brief moment before subbing back in and continued to play well throughout the game (finishing with a game-high 21 PTS). Alonzo Mourning’s son Trey did make a layup after halftime but got the paternal jinx by missing a pair of FTs after the arena staff showed his dad on the Jumbotron. Pickett only made 6 threes in the entire month of January but apparently saw his shadow last weekend as he now has 9 threes through 3 February games en route to a season-high 18 PTS:

The Hoyas kept it close throughout the 2nd half but PG Kamar Baldwin kept making tough layup after tough layup and matched Pickett with 18 PTS of his own while helping Butler hang on for a 73-69 victory. The visiting team has now won a whopping 7 straight games in this series with all 7 being decided by single digits. Georgetown is many things but unexciting is not 1 of them: they have played 6 home games this season in conference play and all 6 have been decided by 7 PTS or less. I asked questions of Tucker/Ewing/McClung in the postgame press conference but to be honest none of their answers were earth-shattering so I will just close with some photos of all the speakers, plus a combo shot of the 2 legends standing head and shoulders above everyone (both literally and figuratively):

Check back in the weeks ahead for our continuing coverage.