December 22, 2019 - Yesterday Georgetown cruised to a 99-71 win over visiting Samford, a victory in which the Hoyas led by 22 in the first half, 29 during second half action. The win included leading all but the first minute and ten seconds, in addition to career highs in points and rebounds for a key G’Town player

That would be senior center Omer Yurtseven, owner of a 32 points, 17 rebound, four block statline.

“Basically my teammates were able to find me…I’m getting back to a rhythm as BIG EAST play comes” was Yurtseven’s take. He sat out all last season after transferring from North Carolina State.

“Omer was so beastly inside” stated sophomore guard Mac McClung (25 points, five assists), which also helped mitigate Samford’s press.

The Hoyas managed 20 assists versus the Bulldogs, tying the team’s second-best season mark. Senior guard Terrell Allen had seven assists, just two turnovers.

“One of the things I love now is the ball is moving. It’s not sticking” said the team’s head coach, Patrick Ewing. “That’s one of the things we’ve talked about all year; ‘If you have your shot, take your shot’. I would never stop anybody from shooting, but will always try and tell them make the right play”.

The backdrop for this is recently losing four players to transfer, two being starter level guys. Since their departure, the Hoyas are a much more pass-happy bunch. Just ask Samford head coach Scott Padgett, who opined “You watch the film of the last four games, and it looks like a totally different team. They’re sharing the ball. I think everybody looks like they know their role and understand their role”.

Specifically, per Padgett, “They’re playing a lot off of McClung and Yurtseven. And the other guys, when you start putting a lot of attention to them, the ball starts moving and the other guy are starting to get open looks. And they’re stepping up with confidence and knocking them down”.

Speaking of career high’s, McClung pulled down seven rebounds, a fact that elicited applause and laughter from Ewing.

“They’re in my ear all the time about ‘Get on the boards, get on the boards’, I just tried to show them” said McClung of being pushed to rebound more by coaches and teammates. “I tried to do better today. It worked out a little bit”.

Yurtseven reinforced the need for team rebounding, saying “We need their help (from smaller players)…Them helping out is definitely important”.

G’Town bested the rebounding battle 53-30, while beating Samford 48.7% to 40.7% on field goal shooting, though they trailed 33.3% to 25% on long balls.

Senior Samford guard Josh Sharkey accounted for 24 points, five rebounds and seven assists, though he did cough it up eight times. Brandon Austin, a senior swingman, logged his team’s best 26 points. Nine rebounds were secured for Padgett et al by junior guard Jalen Dupree.

The Bulldogs, now 6-8, are off until the new year, when their Southern Conference slate begins New Year’s Day with The Citadel at 2pm EST.

Georgetown (9-3) , which also received 14 points, six rebounds from junior forward Jamorko Pickett, takes a week off, next lining up December 28th against fellow DC institution American. Those festivities begin Noon EST.