Georgetown narrowly avoided another upset Saturday, beating UMBC 79-70. With Brandon Murray out for the second straight game, Jay Heath and Primo Spears took control and torched the Retriever defense, combining for 45 points. A win is a win, but I don’t think the Hoyas showed very much improvement. Hoya defenders continued to lose track of their defensive assignments and let the opposing team shoot wide open threes. Their ball movement was also not ideal, as everyone tended to watch Heath and Spears take their defender one on one.
The Retrievers started the game by going up 7-0, leaving the few fans in the arena in shock. Luckily, Jay Heath caught fire, single handedly keeping the Hoyas in the game in the first half. Every time UMBC tried to extend their lead, Heath would answer with a three. The retrievers were able to move the ball around and seemingly create whatever shot they wanted. Our frontcourt could not take advantage of our size mismatch, as the Hoyas ended up getting outrebounded by the retrievers 43-47 for the game. The Hoyas battled back to keep the score tied at halftime.
Georgetown went on a big run to start the second half, preventing the Retrievers from scoring for the first seven minutes. It was an impressive display of effort by the Hoyas, who used their athleticism and teamwork to overwhelm the Retrievers. Primo Spears had a bounce back game, scoring efficiently and getting his teammates involved. With that being said, I thought UMBC let the Hoyas defense off easy by forcing shots instead of moving the ball to open shooters. The Hoyas secured a double digit lead for most of the second half until UMBC went on a late scoring frenzy. UMBC was able to make some difficult shots and cut the lead to just five points with under a minute to play, but the comeback was stopped short by the Hoyas.
Unfortunately, I left the game doubting we improved from the last game against American (I do not think UMBC is a better team than American, who has more offensive weapons than the Retrievers). I am especially concerned about the defense, which I don’t think is getting any better from game to game. The Hoyas are giving up over 73 points a game against a pretty easy schedule so far. It seems like a simple drive and kick leads to glaring holes in our defense due to our inability to rotate quickly.
We are also running out of time to figure out our rotation. Players like Jordan Riley, Brad Ezewiro, Denver Anglin, and Wayne Bristol Jr. all still look unsure of their role on the team. Ryan Mutumbo, who had a solid game against American (6 points, 5 rebounds in 11 minutes) didn’t get to play today. Heath and Spears both had to play 37 minutes, which I’m not sure is sustainable. Time is running out quickly, as the Hoyas are about to face a very talented and physical Texas Tech team.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!