Advertisement
basketball Edit

Gray's Take: Hoyas earn gritty win over Blue Jays

January 16, 2020 - During the season, there will be times where you get tested as a team whether it’s by an opponent or your coach. After suffering a double digit loss to the Villanova Wildcats, Hoyas Head Coach Patrick Ewing wanted to see a certain level of intensity from his team. They would host number 25 ranked Creighton Bluejays. Georgetown defeated the Bluejays 83-80.

Sitting courtside to this game, I witnessed two teams battle it out for 40 minutes. Creighton guard Marcus Zegarowski had 20 points and earned every bucket. Guard Mitchell Ballock struggled offensively with the defensive pressure from Hoyas guard Jamorko Pickett. Outside of the two threes Ballock hit late in the game, he was held without a point.

Early in the game, Georgetown struggled with turnovers. The guards were missing the bigs on the pick and roll in the first half. Instead of making the easy dump off pass to Centers Omer Yurtseven and Qudus Wahab, they would force unconventional passes to the corner that caused four turnovers. The Blue and Gray even endured a six minute scoring drought in the first half. When the shots weren’t falling, they continued to be assertive and get to the free throw line.


Mac Mclung, attacking the paint.
Mac Mclung, attacking the paint. (HoyaReport.com)

In the second half, the Hoyas offense began to elevate. Yurtseven exploited a mismatch in the paint by getting extra possessions and easy baskets. Georgetown was much more aggressive off the pick and roll getting downhill and forcing the defense to commit or draw the foul. They didn’t force shots and just took what the defense gave them. When they had a mismatch inside with the bigs one-on-one, they capitalized on it. They moved the basketball until they see a wide open shooter and it worked perfectly

Once the offense started to click for the Hoyas, the defense followed. Yurtseven securing defensive rebounds really set the tone. The Hoyas would stretch their lead in the second half up to nine just for Creighton to cut the deficit

Creighton would cut the lead back to one. Georgetown showed tremendous poise knocking down easy shots created within their pick and roll. Standout guard Mac McClung finished with 19 points including a big mid-range jumper to give the Hoyas a four point lead down the stretch.

Coach Ewing was very pleased with the effort and execution from his ball club today. He pointed out how Guards Terrell Allen and McClung had been sick for three days and haven’t practiced. Both players came out and fought hard despite their conditions. Ewing said that Mosley is the MVP of this team because of how he continues to progress year after year.

The win moves Georgetown to 12-6 and 2-3 in the Big East. Meanwhile, Creighton drops to 13-5 and 2-3 in the conference. The Hoyas will host Marquette on Saturday at Capitol One Arena.

Advertisement