Missing multiple players due to illness and injury, Georgetown could have easily fallen victim to an upset at the hands of Howard. Instead, the Hoyas found production from unlikely places and secured a gritty 85-73 victory over the Bison on Wednesday night.
Freshman Tyler Beard was the star of the night, scoring a career-high 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Junior center Malcolm Wilson also had his best game as a Hoya, scoring a career-high 13 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. As a team, Georgetown shot 55% from the field as four Hoyas scored in double digits. “It was just a great effort by everyone,” Patrick Ewing said after the win.
Shortly before tip-off, it was announced that Kaiden Rice and Jalin Billingsley were out with a non-COVID illness. Jordan Riley was also not dressed—we later learned that he is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury which will require surgery. With these absences from the line-up, the Hoyas dressed just nine players tonight (two of them walk-ons). In particular, walk-on Chuma Azinge saw a healthy dose of court time, playing nine minutes.
Seeing Georgetown’s lack of depth, Howard clearly made a concerted effort to push the pace, working to speed up Georgetown while the Hoyas were on offense. This seemed to work in their favor in the early going, as the Bison’s on-ball pressure forced the Hoyas into turnover after turnover. Howard also got things going on the offensive end, draining five of their first six three-point attempts. The Bison rode this hot start to a 31-22 lead at the nine-minute mark of the first half.
After falling behind, the Hoyas responded admirably, increasing their intensity on both sides of the ball. From that point on, Georgetown rattled off a 24-8 run to end the half. Strong attacking play from Collin Holloway and Tyler Beard played a key role in flipping the script. The Hoyas also tightened things up on the defensive end to swing the momentum in their favor. “Our number one focus right now is getting better defensively,” Beard said after the game. Heading into the break, Georgetown held a narrow 46-39 lead.
Coming out of the locker room, the Hoyas put together a quick 6-0 run, but the Bison responded with a counterpunch of their own, cutting Georgetown’s lead to four with 14:59 to play. This was as close as Howard would get. Over the course of the next seven minutes of game time, Georgetown went on a 18-4 run to seize control of the game. Holloway and Beard once again led this charge, combining for 16 of the Hoyas’ 18 points over this stretch. While the Hoyas were somewhat sloppy down the stretch, the Bison never really threatened again, and Georgetown walked away with a win.
Beard’s play provided major reason for optimism coming out of tonight. Up to this point, Beard has operated mostly as a facilitator, and he has excelled in that role. But tonight he showed that he can be a scorer as well. What’s more, Beard flashed the ability to score at all three levels—he got to the rim, hit a pull-up jumper, and knocked down three triples. It’s going to be hard to keep Tyler Beard off the court if he keeps playing like he has these last few games.
Another strong point for Georgetown on Wednesday night was the play of the Hoya big men. Even without Timothy Ighoefe—who will be out at least a few more weeks with a hand injury—the Hoyas thoroughly dominated the smaller Howard forwards on the inside. Georgetown outrebounded Howard 41-30 and outscored the Bison in the paint 44-20. It’s clear that Malcolm Wilson is beginning to develop into the type of player that can defend at a high level, while still giving you something on the offensive end.
Despite all these positives, it wasn’t the Hoyas’ best outing by any means. This season to date, Georgetown’s Achilles heel has been turnovers and defending the three-point line. Both flaws were on display on Wednesday night. In total, the Hoyas turned the ball over a ghastly 23 times. In terms of three-point defense, Georgetown allowed Howard sharpshooter Kyle Foster to explode for seven made threes on 12 attempts. Both of these are areas that must be improved upon if the Hoyas are to compete with the higher-caliber opponents that they’ll face in Big East play.
Still, it’s hard to be too critical of the Hoyas’ performance. Taking care of business against Howard—especially without two major pieces—shows marked improvement over where this team was at a month ago. It’s also highly encouraging that Georgetown is getting valuable contributions from a variety of different players on a game-to-game basis. Perhaps the Hoyas are beginning to put it together just in time for the start of conference play.
