On Saturday, Ryan Hawkins torched Georgetown.
This time around, it was Alex O’Connell who did most of the damage.
O’Connell scored a career-high 27 points—including seven three pointers—as the Bluejays handed the Hoyas an 88-77 loss in the two teams’ second matchup in three days. After trailing by as many as 23 points, Georgetown got as close as six down the stretch but ultimately came up short. Tuesday night’s result marks the Hoyas’ 14th consecutive defeat, including 13 in a row to start Big East play.
Once again, Georgetown’s kryptonite was their poor three-point defense. Creighton’s stellar ball movement created all sorts of problems for the Hoyas. Seemingly every time the Bluejays made three or more passes, they were able to find an open look from the outside. Overall, the Bluejays shot 54% from the field and 41% from three-point range. Compare that with the Hoyas, who shot an ugly 38% from the field and 16% from beyond the arc, and you pretty much have the story of the night.
As he alluded to in Saturday’s postgame press conference, Coach Patrick Ewing continued to make changes to the rotation to see if anything stuck. That included a new starting lineup, as both Kaiden Rice and Malcolm Wilson got the nod. After starting his first career game on Saturday, freshman Ryan Mutombo was surprisingly a DNP on Tuesday night. However, Kobe Clark—who had played just 22 minutes so far this season—saw action off the bench.
Georgetown’s new-look starting line-up had some success in the early going, as the two teams traded leads for several minutes. The Hoyas appeared to have turned up the intensity somewhat on defense—forcing several Creighton turnovers—but defensive lapses still cropped up thanks to poor transition defense and mental errors.
The Bluejays took the lead for good thanks to a 6-0 run midway through the opening period (they wouldn’t trail from that point forward). That stretch included perhaps the most noteworthy event of the first half: Ewing received a technical foul for accidentally tripping O’Connell while he attempted to corral a pass near the sideline.
The final five minutes of the first half were an unmitigated disaster for Georgetown, as the Hoyas went on one of their patented five-minute scoring droughts. Creighton took advantage, ending the half on a 14-2 run to head to the locker room with a 48-31 lead.
For much of the second half, it looked like Creighton was primed to cruise to an easy victory. But the Hoyas did not fold quite so easily. Starting around the nine and a half minute mark, Georgetown rattled off a 19-4 run of their own. During this stretch, Ewing found success rolling with a small ball lineup and turning up the intensity with the Hoyas’ full-court press. Georgetown was able to force Creighton into multiple turnovers. On the night, the Bluejays turned it over 19 times, which the Hoyas converted into 28 points on the other end.
Freshman standout Aminu Mohammed also played a starring role during the Hoyas’ comeback attempt. Mohammed turned in an efficient offensive performance, scoring a career-high 27 points on 8 for 15 shooting and a perfect 11 for 11 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and had a pair of steals before fouling out in the closing minutes.
Dante Harris also had a career night with 23 points, but this was largely a result of the sheer volume of shots that Harris attempted—he was 9 of 24 from the field and 1 for 6 from deep.
Thanks in no small part to Mohammed’s attacking play, Georgetown cut Creighton’s deficit to as little as six with 3:16 to play, and again with 2:45 remaining. However, a pair of crucial possessions ended in bricked three-point attempts from Kaiden Rice, who finished the night 0 for 8 from the field. The Bluejays proceeded to make their free throws down the stretch to avoid the Hoyas’ upset bid.
While it was encouraging to see the Hoyas show fight late in the game, the hole they had dug themselves was simply too deep to come back from. You can’t fall behind by 20-plus points and expect to win, plain and simple.
At this point in the season, it’s pretty clear cut what this Hoyas team is: the worst team in the Big East, and by a large margin.
The only questions that remain are (1) will the Hoyas manage to win one of their remaining six games, and (2) what direction will the program choose to take at season’s end?
