The Youth Shall Lead Us: Georgetown Beats Rutgers 52-50, Moves To 16-3

by JGD on Jan 21, 2012 2:43 PM EST in Game Summaries

Charles Cherney - AP

Not a lot of this happened today. (AP Photo/Charles Cherney)

Newsflash time - this freshman class is special. Not sure if you folks knew that. Otto Porter scored the last 6 points for Georgetown, as the Hoyas narrowly escaped Rutgers 52-50 after being down 4 points with less than 2 minutes to play. The Hoyas played Porter and fellow freshmen Jabril Trawick and Greg Whittington for the majority of the second half, with the young fellas leading us to victory. Porter was the late game hero, but Whittington's 7 straight points after Rutgers went up 38-31 singlehandedly saved the game. Trawick was unbelievable on defense, spending his time guarding 5'9" Myles Mack and completely taking him out of the game.

The freshmen got help from seniors Henry Sims and Jason Clark as well. Sims had his first double double of the year, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Clark played excellent defense on Eli Carter throughout the game and added 11 points, 8 of which came from the free throw line.

More recap after Le Jump.

No one will ever say this was a pretty game. The Hoyas shot 29% from the field and 21% from the three point line. Sims, Clark, and Hollis Thompson combined for 4 field goals, and Georgetown's starters had a combined 6 field goals. Part of this statistic was poor shooting, but another part of it was by design. Mike Rice and Rutgers wanted to ugly this game up, evidenced by 29 personal fouls and Georgetown's 36 free throw attempts. It was clear that Rice knew his young squad couldn't outscore Georgetown, but he definitely thought he could outslug them. He saw Georgetown's free throw percentage the last few games and thought his team could outlast the Hoyas in a brutally ugly game. I'm sure Rice will find a way to complain about the refereeing in his post game remarks, but he only has himself to blame. Each of those 29 fouls were legitimate. Rice took a gamble and it almost paid off. Rutgers is a team no one in the Big East will want to see the rest of the year and in years ahead, no doubt about that.

But today, the Hoyas won a type of game that many in the media didn't believe they could. SI's Seth Davis wrote earlier in the season that many couldn't see Georgetown winning an ugly game, and that the Hoyas have to shoot well to win games. In 2010-2011? Absolutely. But this year's team has won ugly, and has won ugly often. And trust me, there was no uglier game than today. The Hoyas made THREE field goals in the first half. Yet, here we are, sitting at 16-3 overall, 6-2 in the Big East and top 10 in the country in a year that we were predicted to finish 10th in the conference.

With the news out of Syracuse that Mookie Jones is done for the year and Fab Melo has academic issues forcing him out of today's game against Notre Dame and Monday's game against Cincinnati at a minimum, the Big East got a whole lot more interesting. For the Hoyas, the next week should be focused on getting Hollis Thompson and Markel Starks back on track before heading to Pittsburgh next Saturday. Nate Lubick played another nice game, grabbing crucial offensive rebounds and playing stellar defense.

Thankfully, even in a game in which we shot the ball so poorly, this year's Georgetown team has enough pieces to grab a victory from what looked to be certain defeat. Onto the next one, a win is a win, and any other sports cliche you can think of.

Hoya Saxa, Pittsburgh is next.

0 recs | 203 comments

Comments

The three worst shooting win's in JTIII's tenure:

Howard, 2011-12 (32.7%)
Providence, 2011-12 (30.5%)
Rutgers, 2011-12 (29.3%)

AnotherGtownJack - January 21, 2012 reply

incredible stat

TheMidRangeGame - January 21, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Yet seemingly these are the same Hoyas

that shot 76% in the second half against Marquette just two weeks ago.

HoyaSmacksYa - January 21, 2012 reply

freshmen

TheYellofAllYells - January 21, 2012 reply

But what does it mean?!!

That their defense is good enough to compensate? That they can rebound better than ever? That theyve been schizophrenic and still managed to finish games? That luck is a bigger factor this year?

Insidious Rex - January 21, 2012 reply

3 W's

The fact that those were all win’s really says something about the mentality and toughness of this team.

jsk793 - January 21, 2012 reply

and makes this week a lot better

Hire Esherick - January 21, 2012 reply

And depth

I think Seth Davis only had part of the story for last year’s team right. It’s not that we just had to shoot well, it’s that we really had to be firing on all cylinders to win last year. This year we don’t, and this game shows why: Hollis disappears, and Whittington and Porter are there to step up in ways no one has been in recent years.

Will Bunnett - January 21, 2012 reply

Hollis = leg injury

According to JTIII’s on-court postgame interview. Said he was trying to tough it out but wasn’t himself on the court.

hoyasaxan - January 21, 2012 reply

Pulled muscle

Good thing we have a week off before Pitt.

JGD - January 21, 2012 reply

trawick set the tone on defense

love that kid. toward the end, he refused to lose. assists on 3 baskets in a row

boumtje - January 21, 2012 reply

Totally agree with that.

He gave the Hoyas a real toughness in the second half. He would have fit in very nicely on the Hoya teams of the mid to late 80s.

ReggieandtheMiracles - January 21, 2012 reply

Now that's really saying something!

My feed from ESPN3 got so screwed up, I onlky saw a few minutes of the game. If Brilly from Philly has defense that stacks up with JT2, then this team can go places.

DrTox - January 21, 2012 reply

We will not beat remotely decent teams when we don't shoot well and turn the ball over like crazy

tjm62 - January 21, 2012 reply

focus on the defense

outstanding today

Hire Esherick - January 21, 2012 reply

I missed the first half

Was the poor shooting due to bad shots or just good looks not going in?

AnotherGtownJack - January 21, 2012 reply

while a lot will say it was poor shooting...

The amount of times I screamed “JUST DUNK IT!!!” after a missed layup makes me think otherwise

Moose#10 - January 21, 2012 reply

They spent all week "vigorously" practicing their free throws

and forgot how to make a layup.

HoyaSmacksYa - January 21, 2012 reply

Just turned on WVU v Cinci

they’re talking about PB&J. wtf?

PitHoyaFan - January 21, 2012 reply

cincy is legit

Hire Esherick - January 21, 2012 reply

Hate to say it but I agree

Also I love Saturday’s like this. So much basketball is on.

Great Vengeance and Furious Anger - January 21, 2012 reply

It's a good..

sign when a team wins when they don’t have their A game. It’s easy to win when everything is going your way, shots are dropping, etc. You build character when you win games like this.

Esteban d' Amur - January 21, 2012 reply

classy

"There were some bizarre plays, some bizarre whistles…It was interesting that the last two minutes, it was decided by a whistle by a certain, individual referee who decided to take it upon himself to decide the game."

-Rutgers coach Mike Rice on the officiating down the stretch

thunderbus - January 21, 2012 reply

I mean

It’s his problem. His strategy didn’t work, simple as that.

JGD - January 21, 2012 reply

Also

He’s a bitch

Great Vengeance and Furious Anger - January 21, 2012 reply

I would like to buy him a thesaurus

He used “decide” 4 times in 1 sentence.

StPetersburgHoya - January 21, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Plausibly

a common tactic in modestly effective rhetoric (see also Southern Protestant sermons)..

PerryMcDonald'sRightCross - January 21, 2012 reply

He always bitches...

when he loses.

Casual Hoya