When the winless Hoyas made their way to Milwaukee to take on the rather formidable Marquette Golden Eagles this past Wednesday night, expectations were low. But after extending their already-impressive program-record losing streak to 15 games after losing by a score of 77-66, we are once again leaving the game with more questions than answers.
Yet again, the final score did not tell the entire story. Like almost every game during this losing streak, the Hoyas played a completely non competitive game and the same storylines persisted. They failed to execute their gameplan, showed little effort, and once they found themselves in a deficit they showed minimal desire to fight their way back into this game. As Coach Patrick Ewing put it after the game, “We had a gameplan we put forth. It wasn’t executed right.”
Once again, the Hoyas’ defense was almost completely invisible. Their inability to show any semblance of defensive fundamentals, execute on their schemes, or even worse defend the three ball made this game feel out of reach before it even started.
As has been the case multiple times this season, Georgetown allowed an opposing roleplayer to find his shot and have a career night from behind the arc. This time, freshmen Kam Jones was the one doing the work. He seemingly hit every open shot he was given. Jones ended the night 5 for10 from behind the arc with a career-high 19 points.
On the other side of the ball, the Hoyas were not much better. Prior to their most recent stretch of games, their offense was the only thing keeping them in games; while they would give up 70+ points per game, they would fire back with a decent total of their own. As of late, though, their scoring touch has become almost nonexistent.
The three-point shooting that was once driving their offense has now gone cold. In this game alone, the sharpshooting duo of Kaiden Rice and Donald Carey combined to shoot a disappointing 5 for 17 from deep and an abysmal 6 for 21 overall.
Similarly, after having a career night against Creighton, standout freshman Aminu Mohammed had another inefficient night offensively, finishing the night 3 for 19 from the field. To make up for this, though, he showcased his impressive rebounding abilities by pulling down 17 boards, 8 of which were on the offensive glass, to complete his ninth double-double of the season.
Easily the largest question mark leaving the game was the status of freshman center Ryan Mutombo, who did not play in his second straight game. Although Mutombo’s game has developed well as the season progressed, this two game absence brings serious concerns as to what happened off the court that caused Ewing to make this decision. Although he did not comment on his reasoning in his postgame press conference, Ewing did clarify that Mutombo is healthy.
With yet another underwhelming performance, the Hoyas have officially reached their worst statistical point in program history. They are last in the Big East in offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency, and are the second worst power conference team in the country, only beating out Oregon St. according to KenPom’s metrics. With only five games remaining to avoid the program’s first ever winless season in conference play, the Georgetown Hoyas head to Philadelphia to match up against 10th-ranked Villanova this Friday in hopes of finding one last bright spot as the 2021-22 season wanes.
