Smacked at home

January 28, 2015 - After Xavier took out Georgetown 66-53 at Verizon Center last night, it was clear the Hoyas were out-toughed and out-played for the second time by Xavier this year. And again, the Musketeers rang an 'L' on a newly ranked Georgetown team.

Head coach John Thompson III said afterward of the set back "It's a bad loss. It's a hard loss" one in which "We did not play well", an outcome he credited Xavier for creating.

"Coming in we felt like Georgetown was playing as well as anybody's that in our league" said Xavier head coach Chris Mack. "We got them at home and knew that they'll be...ready to go. I felt the difference in the game was the way we came out".

Defense and rebounding created Xavier's initial advantage.

Routinely the Musketeers, now 14-7, 5-4 and fourth place in the BIG EAST after winning their first league road game jammed cutters, defended shooters and played with force. One important result was 13 first half Hoya turnovers, 17 for the contest. Some were unforced, but many were not.

"It's about staying poised, staying focused, and sticking to the game plan" opined sophomore Xavier guard Myles Davis, who led the game with both 19 points and five assists. "We knew their offense and what they would run. The turnovers just happened the way our defense was playing" He also admitted the giveaways "fueled us".

Those miscues greatly contributed to the Hoyas only scoring 16 points in the first half. During that stanza G'Town missed 12 of their 16 shots (25% completion mark), half of the attempts being three pointers, one being made. By comparison Mack's team shot 40% in the first half, 40.9% for the game.

"The turnovers, particularly in the first half, we dug a hole for ourselves, that against a good team...the hole was just too deep to climb out of" admitted Thompson.

Rebounding also was a factor in Xavier's win; the Musketeers won that battle 36-28. According to Mack "Defensively our guys did great job of limiting them to only one shot". He went on to note the Hoyas not having a first half "offensive rebound despite 12 misses from the field" as important, while also crediting his backcourt, which set the tone early "just carving out space", eliminating offensive rebounds. "Really, really important" to his team was to "put pressure on their first attempt".

Case in point was sophomore guard Remy Abell, who had a game best eight rebounds, also adding 11 points. G'Town was led in caroms by senior swingman Jabril Trawick (six), but he also finished with six giveaways, five in the critical first half.

Thompson acknowledged the rebounding discrepancy's importance, saying "That was key. We did not do what we were supposed to do on the boards. We've been pretty good on the boards this year I think, and tonight we just didn't".

The Hoyas (14-6, 6-3 and second in league standings) mounted a second half comeback, or as Mack said "Halftime they woke up a little bit" repeatedly mustering mini-charges, only for Xavier to answer; Over 10 times after starting the period down 29-16, G'Town reduced a lead by several points, to the which the Musketeers responded with a timely bucket or two. G'Town, finishing at 39.5% shooting overall and 27.3% from three point land would only get as close as eight points during the last 20 minutes.

Add free throw shooting to Georgetown's troubles - the Hoyas finished at 54.2% from the stripe, key misses occurring in the second half (46.2% then). Thompson, when asked about the slippage - his team had not shot below 72.2% over the last four games, and including a loss at Providence (55%) has averaged 71.3% on free throws for the year prior to Tuesday - took a moment to reflect before saying "They didn't go in, and they had been going in. Our routine hadn't changed".

Joining Abell and Davis in double figure scoring for Mack was senior center Matt Stainbrook and freshman wing Trevon Bluiett, finishing with 11 and 12 points, respectively. Both had four rebounds.

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera paced Georgetown with 13 points,and was a defensive focal point for Mack's bunch. "They played pretty good on ball defense" recounted Smith-Rivera on Xavier's approach to him. "And a lot of times on the drives or coming off a lot of the screens, they pretty much double teamed me". He added his team's offensive flow was impacted.

Freshman swingman L.J. Peak, relegated to a backup role due to injury, scored 12 points in 10 minutes for the Hoyas. Joshua Smith, G'Town's senior center Joshua Smith, who X's Stainbrook noted was hard to guard and box out, logged 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two swats.

After first saying his team must "go back to the drawing board", Thompson backtracked, indicating "we just have to be better". The team next travels to Nebraska.

"We have a couple days here to get ready for Creighton on the road", a January 31st, 2p start. "We have to be significantly better Saturday than we are Tuesday night".

Xavier also plays Saturday, at Seton Hall. Tip-off is Noon.