Hoyas salt it away in second half
November 22, 2019 - Going into the second half down 42-37, Georgetown looked poised for an uphill climb against Texas. Lucky for them, sophomore guard Mac McClung scored 11 of his team high 19 points during the first 20 minutes, helping the team remain close. More would be necessary if Texas was to be vanquished.
More happened; junior forward Jamorko Pickett (15 points) added seven of his season high 15 points in second period action, the team outscored Texas 45-24 including 30-12 during the last 13:42, producing an impressive 82-66 win over the Longhorns before a roused Madison Square Garden, 2K Empire Classic crowd last night.
“I knew I could score like this, have an offensive game like this every game” said Pickett of his performance, “but today I took it personally and I knew I just had to start off the game strong, come with a lot of fire for us to win”. Pickett, who put together a one man, five point, back half run had a previous single game mark of 10 points for 2019-20.
His coach, Pat Ewing, lauded G’town’s second half defense, saying “We did a much better job of defending the line, closing out, not get beat off of penetration and be able to stay with our men. And when the shot went up we did a much better job or rebounding”.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2016/jagan-mosely-910The numbers bear that out: UT managed to shoot 50% and 44.4% from the field and three point land in first half play, respectively, only to be held to a startling 22.2% overall and 27.3% beyond the arc in during the last 20 minutes. Texas, coached by Shaka Smart finished at 37.7 % overall, 37.9% from long distance.
That same dynamic exists in rebounding, with UT owning the glass 20 13 in the first stanza, while Georgetown turned the tables and prevailed 21-8 between the 20th and 40th minutes.
Senior guard Jagan Mosely paced the game via seven rebounds for Georgetown, a yeoman’s job for not only a perimeter player, but in spite of the Hoyas leading scorer and rebounder, Omer Yurtseven, battling foul trouble and eventually fouling out. The senior center produced just 10 points and four caroms in a season low 12 minutes.
Also picking up Yurtseven’s slack was freshman pivot Qudus Wahab. After contributing his career high in points (nine) and minutes (21), along with three rebounds, his coach was, well proud.
“He played great. When he went in, I told him ‘Look, you’re not a freshman right now. You just have to step up and play’…He did an outstanding job”.
Junior guard Matt Coleman III led all scorers with 22 points for #22 ranked Texas, now 4-1 on the year. Jessie Febres, a junior guard, was its top rebounder with four. The team faces California tomorrow night at 930p.
Ewing’s mob shot 50.5% overall, 45.5% on three pointers, both season bests. James Akinjo, a sophomore lead guard, was the other Hoya in double figure scoring with 14 points. His six assists were game tops.
Duke, the nation’s top team, by virtue of defeating California faces G’Town (4-1) tomorrow, a 7p EST start. Ewing, declined to comment on that, instead commenting “Everyone did something to help us win this game tonight”.