HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. 4 down, 4 to go:
Part 1: Central Connecticut State (https://hoopshd.com/2018/11/11/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-1)
Part 2: Richmond (https://hoopshd.com/2018/11/30/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-2)
Part 3: Liberty (https://hoopshd.com/2018/12/04/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3)
Part 4: SMU (https://hoopshd.com/2018/12/15/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-4)
Part 5 was Tuesday night when Appalachian State visited DC for the schools’ 2nd meeting all-time.
The pregame media room meal was catered by Maggiano’s: 2 kinds of pasta, meatballs/sausages, 3 kinds of sauce, plus chocolate bon bons/apple pastries for dessert!
It was evident early on that the Mountaineers are a veteran team (with 2 seniors/2 juniors in the starting lineup): when SO SG Trent Forrest went down hard it took only a second for all 4 of his on-court teammates to rush over and life him up (just as they hustle to chat together in a huddle before every single trip to the FT line). In contrast, Georgetown’s 7-3 record this year has been cobbled together with a lot of freshmen but is most directly a result of SR C Jessie Govan’s stellar play (19.5 PPG/8 RPG). However, Appalachian State coach Jim Fox came up with the blueprint to beat him: double-team him every time he touches the ball and hope that he picks up some early fouls. The 1st half result: 0 PTS/0 REB/2 fouls, and a look toward the heavens by the big man for some divine intervention:
His young Hoya teammates picked up the slack in his apparent absence: FR PG James Akinjo made a pair of threes, FR PF Josh LeBlanc had a pair of rebound/put-backs, and FR SF Grayson Carter made the very 1st FG of his college career on a nice-looking 3 from the top of the key.
Appalachian State star scorer Ronshad Shabazz has a real chance to graduate in the spring with 2000+ career PTS and he showed off the entire arsenal in the 1st half: banking in a jump shot, making another jumper from the baseline, a layup, a pair of threes, and a step-back jumper at the buzzer to put his team only 2 PTS shy of Georgetown at halftime (44-42). 6’8” PF Bennett Holley was much harder to figure out: entering the game with only 3.4 PPG, he was unstoppable in the 1st half while making 4 threes…then somehow airballed back-to-back 3-PT attempts in the 2nd half!
The player I was most excited to see was SO PG Michael Bibby, son of legendary Arizona Wildcat Mike Bibby. After playing for his father at the same high school Mike attended himself in Phoenix, Michael (who turns 21 on Christmas Eve) began his college career at South Florida, sat out all of last year after transferring to scenic Boone, NC, and had a DNP in each of his 1st 10 games this year before making his Appalachian State debut in DC. Fun fact: according to Teitel family legend, my brother allegedly beat Michael’s dad in a pickup basketball game during the mid-1990s (when they were both in high school in Phoenix). Funner fact: this is a photo of Michael’s 1st-ever 3-PT shot in a Mountaineer uniform (yes it was contested and yes he made it!):
During halftime I saw a display of all the different credentials used by media covering the Wizards at home: hopefully things will work out better for the next player whose image they use, as Washington traded Kelly Oubre Jr. to my Phoenix Suns (the worst team in the Western Conference) on Saturday:
7’ transfer Omer Yurtseven had a boot on his foot earlier this month but a look at his shoes during layup lines illustrates that he is on the mend:
Another solid sighting was Peter Biche, Chief Financial Officer of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the company that oversees almost every pro sports team in DC (Wizards/Capitals/Mystics/Valor/Go-Go), as well as the arena that most of them play in and the Monumental Sports Network. He went to college at Georgetown and is often seen in the front row at his alma mater’s games (seen here in the middle of the good seats wearing a blazer/slacks), but what should really impress you is his MBA from a little basketball power called Penn!
Shabazz did not do much in the 2nd half as the Georgetown defense kept a closer eye on him, but JR PF Hunter Seacat picked up much of the scoring load with an array of low-post moves: a lefty layup, a righty hook, a leaner in the lane, and even a lefty bank shot. Govan finally got it going in the 2nd half after making 2 shots from behind the arc but for the 1st time this season he was not the best big man on the floor. That honor belonged to Mountaineers’ JR PF Isaac Johnson: 10 PTS (mostly in the post), a career-high 17 REB, and even 3 AST to demonstrate his all-around game.
The keys for Georgetown in the 2nd half were 2 of their subs off the bench: 1 old and 1 young. SR SG Greg Malinowski did not play a single second in the 1st half but received a chance to shine after halftime and made the most of his moment by making a couple of 3-PT shots and knocking down all 5 of his FT attempts to finish with 11 PTS in less than 15 minutes of action. Most of the well-deserved attention this month has been directed toward the Hoyas’ freshman backcourt of #3 Akinjo/#2 Mac McClung (who combined for 31 PTS in 55 minutes):
However, the youngster who might end up as the biggest X-factor is LeBlanc. I still have no idea if he can make a jump shot or play more than 30 minutes/game, and he seems to make at least 1 freshman mistake every single game (be it goaltending, missing a dunk, or throwing a an alley-oop pass that does not reach its desired target), but he now has 2 double-doubles to his credit in 11 games OFF THE BENCH and is tied with Govan for the team lead with 85 REB this year. The Mountaineers hung around right until the final 2 minutes (cutting the lead to 74-71 after a Shabazz layup) but Georgetown made enough FTs down the stretch to win it 83-73.
I am not in the business of telling other people how to do their job, especially a Hall of Famer like Patrick Ewing…but I think that he should strongly consider starting his 3 fabulous freshmen next to Govan/Trey Mourning, perhaps during 1 or both of their upcoming cupcake home games against Little Rock/Howard before Big East play starts with a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse the day after New Year’s:
At the postgame press conference I pressed Coach Ewing to discuss the roller-coaster-of-a-week that Jamorko Pickett had: a DNP-coach’s decision on Saturday vs. SMU, followed by 8 PTS/3 REB/2 AST/2 BLK against the Mountaineers. Ewing said that the DNP was part of the past and that Pickett “did a great job on both offense and defense”. He followed that up by noting that the only reason Pickett went scoreless in the 2nd half was due to a lack of minutes because Ewing “did not want to break up the lineup” while Malinowksi was playing so well:
My 2-part question for Mr. Playing-So-Well concerned the almost unheard of opprtunity to face his former roommate now that they are both in new conferences (he lived with Seacat when they were teammates at William & Mary) and how it felt to be the best FT shooter in the nation (17-17 so far!):
Malinowksi confirmed that while they keep in touch by texting it was the 1st time he had actually seen his old roomie since they played together and that it was a “cool moment”. As far as perfection he preached the art of practice in that he “tries to make 50-100 FTs every day” and that his success at the line translates to success while shooting from anywhere on the court:
The Big East Conference announced Tuesday that it will represent the United States at the 2019 Pan American Games, the 1st time ever that a specific conference will be represent its country in men’s basketball at the Pan Am Games. I checked with USA Basketball as to whether Govan could participate and they emailed me back to say, “There is no eligibility requirement that would prevent an individual from the class of 2019 from being selected and/or competing.” Therefore, I asked Govan whether he had ever dreamed of representing his country or what it would mean to do so and he responded, “It would be really cool and definitely an honor to wear ‘USA’ on my chest if I am fortunate enough to be chosen”:
That’s all for now, check back in the weeks ahead for Part 6.
