This one stings a little extra.
Despite staging a valiant comeback attempt in the closing minutes, the Hoyas came up short, falling to long-time rival Syracuse 74-69 on Saturday night. Per usual, it was self-inflicted errors, in the form of turnovers, offensive rebounds, and poor three-point defense, that broke the Hoyas’ back. The loss marks Georgetown’s fifth consecutive defeat, and the Hoyas now sit at 3-8 on the season.
Both Georgetown and Syracuse got off to a hot start. Donald Carey poured in five quick points and Qudus Wahab converted two dunks to pace the Hoyas in the early going. Carey finished the game with 10 points, with eight of those coming before halftime. For much of the first half, the Orange matched the Hoyas almost step for step, and neither team was able to separate themselves. In fact, the largest lead held by either team over the opening 15 minutes of gametime was just five points.
The last five minutes of the first half were all Syracuse. After a Jamorko Pickett three pointer tied the game at 27, Georgetown went ice-cold. The Hoyas got several open looks but still struggled to find the bottom of the net. As a team, Georgetown shot an ugly 37% from the field and 28% from three-point range in the first half. With the Hoyas’ offense sputtering, the Orange ended the half on a 16-3 run, opening up a comfortable 43-30 lead.
The start of the second half featured much of the same. The Orange expanded their lead to 16, their largest of the game, with 16:18 to play. With the game in danger of slipping away, Georgetown turned up the intensity on the defensive end. This energy transferred over to the offensive end, as the Hoyas scored three quick buckets to cut the deficit to seven with 11:55 to play.
For a while, it felt like Georgetown might just pull off the comeback. Yet every time the Hoyas seemed to get within arm’s reach, the Orange had a resounding answer to regain the momentum. One memorable moment (for Cuse fans, at least) came with Syracuse up four and just over five minutes to play. The Hoyas forced a turnover, and Jahvon Blair seemed to be in the clear for a fast-break layup. Instead, Syracuse’s Robert Braswell pulled off a Lebron-esque chasedown block, and the Orange quickly struck back with a Buddy Boeheim three-pointer to extend the lead to seven.
Boeheim finished the game with 21 points, including three triples, to lead all scorers. As a team, Syracuse shot an impressive 9 of 22 (40.9%) from behind the arc.
Still, Georgetown would not go quietly into the night. The Hoyas responded with four unanswered points of their own, trimming Cuse’s lead to three with 3:10. In the final minutes, it was Georgetown’s own miscues that would prove to be the difference in the game. The Hoyas turned it over on two consecutive possessions, allowing the Orange to steady themselves and put the game on ice. With the shot clock running down, Syracuse’s Joe Girard III drained a contested jumper to put his team up seven with 1:15 to play. There would be no miraculous comeback on this chilly night in Upstate New York.
In addition to the late-game turnovers, Coach Ewing identified losing the rebounding battle as a deciding factor in the loss. The Orange outrebounded the Hoyas 38-32 and pulled down 12 offensive boards. Syracuse is not a team that is known for its size or physicality. Georgetown, on the other hand, prides themselves on controlling the paint. Moving forward, it will be difficult for the Hoyas to win games if they are not able to win the battle on the boards.
As many fans noticed, Coach Patrick Ewing rolled with some questionable lineup decisions down the stretch. After not seeing any first half action, freshmen Jamari Sibley and TJ Berger were on the floor for the decisive stretch in the final minutes of the game. Sibley had some good plays, especially on the defensive end, but both he and Berger committed some critical mistakes on the offensive side of things. I’m all for playing the freshmen more, but it would be nice to get them into the flow of the game before the final stretch where the game is decided. When asked about the unusual breakdown of minutes for his freshman, Ewing responded, “I’m going to put whoever I think is going to put us in the best position to win.”
Center Qudus Wahab was also noticeably ineffective tonight. A usual stalwart for the Hoyas on both sides of the ball, Wahab scored nine points and pulled down just one rebound. “The zone hurt him,” said Ewing when asked about Wahab’s struggles. “He’s not one of those bigs that’s going to get it at the top of the zone and be able to shoot it. The small unit was working, so I just didn’t put him back.” As Ewing referenced, he relied heavily on the small-ball line-up, with Jamorko Pickett as the five man, for a good portion of the second half. Pickett did lead the Hoyas in points (17) and rebounds (9), but he shot just 5 of 13 from the floor and 1 of 6 from three-point range. I sound like a broken record, but Georgetown truly does need Pickett to be a more efficient scorer if this team is going to break its losing skid.
“Georgetown’s been in every game,” said Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim after the game. “They just haven’t been able to quite finish.” Thanks Jim, for that hard-hitting analysis.
We expected this season to be a rough one. That being said, beating Syracuse would have compensated for a lot of the pain and suffering that this fanbase has endured this year. Instead, all Hoya fans are left with is a sour taste in the mouth and thoughts of what could have been.
