This and That; Hoyas Fall to Johnnies Late

Georgetown narrowly lost to homestanding St. John's in Madison Square Garden, Sunday, by a score of 75-73. Below are related observations and quotes.

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By accessing this link, the school's game report becomes available.

The Trend Trended

During their now ended 29 game, BIG EAST Conference losing streak, the Hoyas typically fell after either leading or minimizing a deficit. They basically hit bad spells which did them in, periods of time marked by scorelessness, selfishness and a lack of focus on both sides of the ball.

Sunday at St. John's, was much the same.

After leading 39-35 after the first 20 minutes, Georgetown maintained their small advantage, even driving it to nine just after the period's second TV timeout, that last score created by sophomore guard Brandon Murray's (17 points, four rebounds) two free throws.

HC Pat Ewing's guys were in control. Then they weren't, as his Johnnie counterpart, Mike Anderson saw his side equalize the score at 70, with just 92 seconds in competition. Leading the comeback was junior wing David Jones, who dropped six of his SJU team tops 17 points during the stretch, two free throws pushing the Johnnies ahead within 30 seconds. Hoya graduate forward Bryson Mozone's three ball returned the Hoyas to a one point lead, yet they would not hold on.

"This is a game we had opportunities to win" lamented Ewing afterward. His teams' "turnovers - we had six at halftime, ended up with 15, nine in the second half. We talked about in our scouting report we have to limit offensive rebounding. They got 20" were highlighted. in sum, "Those are the things we have to take care of. The turnover game, the offensive rebounds game, and with three minutes to go, we got to not turn the ball over. And even if we aren't scoring, they can't score".

This time around, the game cinching drama happened after 18 seconds to play.

Anderson's crew inbounded the ball, facing a rare Hoya zone defense. Of changing his scheme, Ewing indicated "We went a zone to mix it, something we had not done today, so we thought it would throw them off".

Rookie Johnnie guard AJ Storr shook free, launching a three ball he sank as the clock read just four clicks. Of his cool, calm demeanor, Storr (12 points, 1-4 from three, five assists) noted "It was pretty normal. It's not my first game winning shot" in his life, though it was his initial one at SJU. In his mind he was wide open due to "It was a great pass from Andre Curbelo (junior guard, eight points, four rebs, three helpers)".

Mozone (six points) got a shot off at 1.4 seconds remaining, which was errant, to which Ewing opined "We executed the play to perfection" as "Bryson Mozone was wide open. It just didn't go in".

Anderson, Ewing's SJU counterpart reset his team at intermission with them responding positively, as "There were two things on the board that i wrote down" during halftime, shared the coach "the turnovers...the the physicality of the game. And I thought our guys took the message in the second half. We had two turnovers, and i thought we had a lot more effort, especially the last six or seven minutes".

In the end he stressed "We made one more play than Georgetown did", also championing his team for feeding senior big Joel Soriano (12 points, 15 game best boards).

Q is Struggling

Upon simply looking at his stat line, senior pivot Qudus Wahab's output was pretty good - 14 points, seven rebounds. Seemingly he showed well. Despite not shooting as much as some others, Wahab's play is central to what G'Town can do, given Ewing's oft-stated penchant for playing inside out. The Blue and Gray need him to produce well if victory is on the offering.

Versus SJU, the numbers don't tell a complete tale, as Wahab routinely bobbled passes, tried to force shots over his left shoulder, failed to pass well when double-teamed, wasn't the overall stout interior presence necessary, all trends that have occurred several games now.

How can Ewing et al return their big man back to what must happen?

"Just have to keep talking to him. Keep talking to him, keep showing him film" answered Ewing. "In order for us to be any better, he has to be better.

"We have to hold him accountable. He has to know what we're doing;. I want him to set the pick and roll and he has to roll. When he rolls and they double him, he has to make the pass".

Soriano resisted the chance to share how he attacked the struggling Wahab, instead pointing attention to himself, saying "I feel like I struggled myself today. Missed a lot of layups, missed a lot of shots". He also credited "my teammates who picked up my play".

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