Well, that was certainly something. In an absolute rollercoaster of a game, the Georgetown Hoyas fell to Texas Tech by a score of 79-65 in Lubbock, Texas. The Hoyas enjoyed the return of Brandon Murray, who missed the last two games with a hip injury, as the LSU transfer and Bryson Mozone both led the Hoyas with 18 points in the loss. The Red Raiders were supplanted by a huge night from sophomore center Daniel Batcho, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half and finished with 13 rebounds.
To sum things up: this game was drunk. The Hoyas showed promise early and then went down as much as 22 points in the early stages of the second half. While they eventually clawed their way back to being down just 1 with 5:46 left in regulation, they couldn’t string together enough quality offensive possessions to secure the victory. Am I surprised? Sort of, in the sense that it probably shouldn’t have been this close, but I’m not one to believe in moral victories.
Murray opened up the game in electrifying and silencing fashion, stymieing a Pop Isaacs layup with a forceful block and finishing the transition offense with a three-pointer just seconds later. Spacing and constant ball movement allowed Georgetown to flourish early on offense. Eventually, a Bryson Mozone three forced Texas Tech head coach Mark Adams to call a timeout at the 8:42 mark in the half, at which point the teams were knotted at 20. Who knows what Adams said to his team during this timeout, but if I had to guess it would be something along the lines of, “Do better,” and by god, that’s exactly what Texas Tech did.
The Red Raiders flipped some sort of magical switch and began smothering every Georgetown player, preventing the Hoyas from running any effective half-court sets. Naturally, the Hoyas forced several poor shots and passes as Texas Tech seemingly buried the game with a commanding 15-point lead at the break.
Toward the end of the first half, Georgetown switched into a 2-3 zone defensively, which did not prove to be at all effective. Despite coming out of the half in their same set, Ewing eventually returned to man. Soon after the switch, Georgetown began nailing what seemed like every shot they attempted and went on an improbable 18-0 run to cut the deficit to just 1. At this point, you’re probably scrolling through this article searching for my detail-oriented description of how exactly the Hoyas mounted that massive comeback and almost retook the lead late in the game. I’m sad to say I simply don’t have one. In classic Georgetown fashion, Texas Tech maintained the lead and went on their own 15-2 run in the last five minutes to close out the game.
On a positive note, Bradley Ezewiro played some really nice minutes off the bench, but Qudus Wahab logged just one (1!) minute on the floor in the second half. While we’re still unsure if his lack of playing time directly correlates with Georgetown’s success on the court, I’m willing to let Patrick Ewing explore it. Notable during the game, however, was the absence of Jordan Riley, who tweaked his ankle in practice.
The Hoyas continue on with a home game on Saturday, December 3rd, when they host GG Jackson and South Carolina at Capital One Arena at 12pm. Until next time, Hoya Nation.
