The Hoyas left their mojo in the Big Apple. Or maybe it was just the white uniforms.
Either way, Georgetown looked like a different team during Saturday’s frustrating 65-61 home loss to a perhaps overlooked UNC-Greensboro team. Struggles from recent years appeared yet again, as the Hoyas had 19 turnovers which turned into 23 points for the Spartans. There’s a lot to dissect, but the missed dunk by Omer Yurtseven which would have given the Hoyas a one-point lead with less than a minute left about sums up the day.
Despite jumping out to an early 10-2 lead, Georgetown quickly began to face trouble. As Yurtseven got into early foul trouble, UNCG began to pick up momentum. A rather frantic game with lots of pressing, the fast-paced tempo created a game of runs with little back and forth action. With Yurtseven on the bench, the Hoyas struggled to get the ball into the paint. UNCG’s three-quarter court trap also wreaked havoc on the Hoyas in the first half, leading to points off turnovers for the Spartans. James Akinjo tried to step up, but he simply was unable to do it all by himself.
Though Akinjo was aggressive, he sometimes pushed too much, leading to some bad decisions that ended in costly turnovers. Akinjo was out of control and made questionable decisions for much of the game, which seemed to spread throughout the team. Despite being the leading scorer with a lowly 12 points, Akinjo had perhaps his weakest showing thus far, as he was held scoreless in the second half.
After a discouraging start, holding out hope the Hoyas could turn it around seemed to be too much to ask. As the scoring spurts and droughts continued for both teams, the game lacked an overall flow. After going 0 for 7 from the field in the first seven minutes of the second half, Ewing turned to his bench. One of the bright spots of the game was Myron Gardner, who was part of the group that went on a 13-0 run for the Hoyas. Along with Terrell Alen and Jahvon Blair (more on this later), Gardner played 12 minutes and used his long wingspan to force turnovers on the press. With 6 points and 4 rebounds, it will be interesting to see the role Gardner plays moving forward.
This group, along with Yurtseven down low, helped Georgetown get back into the game. Forcing turnovers and then feeding it inside to Yurtseven, despite him missing several easy buckets and going three for 12 from the field, became successful for a short time.
The absence of Mac McClung and Josh LeBlanc in the 2nd half raised eyebrows. Ewing chose to keep his starting group on the bench until there were three minutes left, which was perhaps too long. LeBlanc surprising saw just 11 minutes on the floor in a game where his energy was needed. Three of Georgetown’s top offensive threats in Yurtseven, McClung and Akinjo combined to go 10 of 37 from the field. This lack of offensive execution was especially concerning, highlighted by the team’s inability to convert out of timeouts when the game was on the line.
The game can perhaps best be summarized with the play that Ewing drew up for Jahvon Blair with 7 seconds to go. This is not the guy to go to when the game is on the line. Though the Hoyas were in the lead for 23 minutes of the game, they would have been lucky to escape with a win. Perhaps it was a lack of preparation and underestimation of UNCG. Or maybe the Hoyas just aren’t as good as they showed at the Garden. Will the turnovers ever stop? Will they be able to actually rebound the balls when they need to? Will the execution and decision making improve? Will Ewing ever figure out how to best use his personnel? These are the questions that Ewing and the Hoyas need to answer. And soon.
