This and That: Jacksonville

November 13, 2017 - Yesterday, Georgetown took out Jacksonville 73-57 at Capital One Arena. Following are observations from it:

Pushing pace and guard play

Head coach Patrick Ewing has been consistent in a bedrock offense principle. He doesn’t want to play slowly.

“We want to push the pace all the time” he once again stressed. “That’s something I’ve been stressing since I took the job”.

Early on against Jacksonvile, the Hoyas didn’t necessarily meet that standard, though later on got a number of fast, half court buckets. Graduate guard Trey Dickerson seemed effective in that regard, dropping a pair of dimes in speedy fashion during second half action, using little shot clock to do so.

Ewing lauded his work, noting “Trey, he did a pretty good job when he got in there”. Dickerson finished with three points, those pair of dimes, one block and a steal in 15 minutes.

What about senior guard Jonathan Mulmore? The former junior college standout didn’t necessarily push pace early on or play like his pants were on fire, but nevertheless was effective. Ewing identified it, saying “Jon played a terrific game on both ends of the floor. He only had one turnover, I think he had maybe seven assists”. For the record, Mulmore added five points and three rebounds to that stat line.

Atmosphere

Over nine thousand fans witnessed Ewing’s first game and victory as head coach. There was a certain energy in Capital One Arena, which the Hoyas felt.

“It felt great, you felt the atmosphere as soon as you started warming up” recalled junior pivot Jessie Govan. “Felt like it was going to be a good game, a good day. During the game, the crowd was really into t it, that got us kind of hyped too”.

Attending were a number of luminaries both Hoya and not: Dikembe Mutumbo, Alonzo Mourning, Charles Smith, Mark Tillmon, Mike Graham and other ex-Hoyas were there. Outside of Hoya Nation, Michael Jordan and Jeff Van Gundy were just some of those present.

Obviously, all those folks had a connection to Ewing – either via college or professional experiences - who was happy they attended.

Ewing on his past supporting the present: “Georgetown friends were there…we all had a lot of friends. Here. It meant a lot to me because they showed up to support me”.

Govan got it done

Jessie Govan has been saddled with huge expectations by Ewing, who believes his 6’10” center must perform well if the team finds success.

Versus Jacksonville, Govan did, logging 20 points, 15 rebounds four blocks and two steals. He tied classmate/teammate Marcus Derrickson for game high point honors, while also leading the contest in caroms, and rejections.

Part of Ewing’s message to Govan has been to impact the game in multiple ways, as Govan revealed “Coach has been harping on it since he got here. So, I really wanted to, the whole team really wanted to get a win this game…for us to get it I had to make an impact on both sides of the ball”.

Walker entered the game awake

Freshman forward Antwan Walker only finished with two points, one rebound, one assists and two steals, pedestrian numbers that don’t illustrate his work’s breadth: A 6’6”, athletic performer, when inserted Walker immediately went to work, picking up 94 feet defensively, hustling and creating energy.

Ewing, after indicating Walker made several mistakes, did laud his young charge for effort and energy, both of which must be fundamentals of his game.

Discuss the game on Premium Court.