HOYAS WIN! HOYAS WIN! HOYAS WIN!
The Hoyas squared off against the Coppin State Eagles (ranked 331st on KenPom) Tuesday night. The broadcast began on what would have been the World Surf League on FS2 as the Seton Hall, Wagner game ran overtime. Fans (and now stands completely full of cardboard cutouts) would be pleasantly greeted by Bill Rafferty and Eric Collins on the call – a surprisingly solid duo for what was not hyped to be a notable contest. This game had the potential to make history, as no MEAC team had ever taken down the Georgetown University Hoyas.
From this tip, it appeared as though the Hoyas would be bringing the consistent energy and effort that had allowed them to hang in tight for most of the game against West Virginia. Jalen Harris set a fast pace reciprocated by an Eagles team that is also known for running the court (the Hoyas and Eagles are 45th and 13th nationally on KenPom’s tempo rankings, respectively). Blair misread the defense several times and gave up three unforced turnovers in series. The Eagles would take a surprising early 8-4 lead as Ewing was forced to call a timeout less than three minutes into the game. Wahab was perhaps the only bright spot early on as Pickett took an ugly three that airballed wide left of the basket.
Dante Harris, the first reinforcement to enter the game, clocked in with 15 minutes left in the half. At that point, the Eagles and Hoyas were trading blows as the game was knotted up at 13. The Eagles started hot as they hit 3 of their first 5 shots from three. Things only got worse as Chudier Bile and Kobe Clark entered the game at the 12 minute timeout as the Hoyas remained down by three. Clark took a stumble at the end of a play and lay on the hardwood writhing in pain, only to be walked off the court by a trainer. He would later return to the sidelines in a walking boot and Ewing noted after the game. Ewing could later remark on the injury, “I don’t know what’s happening right now. It’s a sprain as far as I know.”
The Hoyas would continue struggling through the first half, playing a deflated brand of basketball and turning the ball over repeatedly.
For what may have been the first time this season, Ewing mixed things up and played Pickett at the 5. This small ball set changed the pace of the game, and the Hoyas finally retook the lead late in the first half. At one point with under 7 minutes left in the half, Coppin State had only made one of their last 12 field goals. Georgetown complimented the Pickett substitution with a rare Hoya zone that seemed to work well to close out the half. Coppin State was forced to take ugly outside shots that failed to fall.
In the blink of an eye, the Hoyas were somehow up 15 at halftime. Undoubtedly, the Hoyas were mostly winning thanks to the Eagles shooting a roungh 25.7% on the half, while the Hoyas were making buckets from the field at a 57.7% clip. Coppin State’s guard Koby Thomas had a particularly ugly half, recording a single dunk and eight missed field goals.
Jalen set the pace with a clean fake and hard drive for a bucket that set the tone for the rest of the game. Pickett even executed a mean block as Coppin State couldn’t buy a bucket for their life. The Hoyas continued running up the score thanks to a combined 41 points from Blair and Pickett. Conversely, the deflated Eagles somehow managed to only make one of their first 18 takes from beyond-the-arc.
By around the eight minute mark, Ewing subbed in most of the freshmen including Jamari Sibley, TJ Berger, Dante Harris, Collin Holloway, and sophomore Malcolm Wilson. The young squad showed out and collectively tallied another 13 points late in the game. On one occasion, Sibley’s deflection led Dante splitting two defenders and ultimately pulling up for a three. Soon after, Berger hit a pretty three from the corner that had the bench going crazy. By the time Blair banked in a triple from downtown and jogged away laughing, you knew the Hoyas were hitting their stride.
For the first time this year, the Hoyas handled business convincingly, albeit against a shorthanded Coppin State team that shot a gross 18-66 from the floor. Although the turnover numbers (26 Georgetown turnovers today) desperately need to go down, the boys should be buzzing thanks to quality minutes all around and what appears to be quickly developing team chemistry. Blair (22 points), Pickett (19 points and 18 rebounds), and Ewing all were quite happy with the performance in the post-game press conference and felt that it showed promise for their upcoming battle with Villanova on Friday.
“It was definitely great to get on track. I thought my guys played well against West Virginia for the most part… We won’t be able to turn the ball over [like this] against good teams, though,” said Ewing.
Needless to say, Villanova will be a much tougher challenge, but the Hoyas certainly have some confidence heading into conference play.
