Following are observations and quotes from G'Town's 79-70 loss to St. John's this week.
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Pressure Defense Burst Pipes
St. John's HC Mike Anderson's pedigree is strongly centered on pressure defense. A Nolan Richardson alum and acolyte, Anderson was coached by the hall of famer, later coaching with him for 20 years at Tulsa and Arkansas. Richardson's 'Forty Minutes of Hell' mantra and schematics were firmly instilled.
With that in mind, the Johnnies forced 20 Hoya turnovers, producing 14 steals. Pressure defenses - 94 foot man pick up, 3/4 zone press, Diamond-esque sets - were unleashed on Georgetown. Interestingly enough, this onslaught had become secondary for SJU in 2022-23. Why did Anderson dial it up again?
"It's that time of the year where I have to let them go" revealed Anderson.
The impact?
"Pressure defense i thought was a really big difference in this game" opined Anderson. "I thought we sped them up, got us some easy opportunities too".
Elaborating more fully later, Anderson noted "I just thought we made other guys (not named Primo Spears) handle the ball in those situations. I thought there were times we came and trapped them, times where we sped them up. I thought that was the difference in the game".
Perfectly illustrating the point of Hoya futility dealing with pressure were three sequences:
After Georgetown's HC Pat Ewing called timeout after a bad fast break, alley opp attempt eventually resulting in a SJC dunk while the clock stood 15:59 in first half play, Anderson's guys picked up full court, speeding GU up and helping cause another errant alley 0op. Around 25 seconds later, SJU trapped the first inbounds pass, junior guard Posh Alexander stole the ball at halfcourt, leading to his team scoring. The Johnnies authored an 8-0 run around that time.
In the second half Anderson's team suffered a 7-2 run, prompting the coach to call timeout. After their first subsequent make, a Soriano free throw, the pressure returned, four guys guarding the inbounds. On cue, Alexander stole a pass and scored, followed by backcourt mate, junior guard Dylan Addae-Wusu logging two steals, the first creating foul shots for AJ Storr, the second a layup for Alexander. Diamond pressure was the culprit. More than one Hoya coughed up the rock.
When Anderson's team again was being challenged, this time by G'Town whittling a nine point deficit to five, he rung up pressure once again, this time full court man camouflaging Diamond intentions. Again an immediate Alexander steal occurred, with junior wing David Jones scoring. Just eleven seconds later, junior guard Andre Curbelo created a wrap around swipe, received the ball from Alexander and scored. The Hoyas were now down ten and again credit Diamond pressure.
More from Anderson on his pressure defenses' impact included Johnnies being "connected defensively", with a side benefit of pressing raising the team's energy level.
Will foes see this more expansively pressing Red Storm version going forward?
Likely, given their retreat from it was impacted by "We had a lot of guys injured, a lot of guys out" who have returned, extending his bench, which "allows me to play more guys", a necessity to aggressively press. The impact versus G'Town makes it more attractive too, as does the season approaching tournament time.
Georgetown's HC Pat Ewing lamented "I just thought we were too careless. Way too careless" generally, with consistent mistakes biting "us in the butt". He also didn't think handling SJU's pressure was necessarily difficult to prepare for, it was "We just have to execute". Going further, he stated "They play like they play. That's how Mike's teams play, - they muck up the game, they press" even zoning at times.
Ewing circled back to his squad, continuing. "We've just got to take care of the ball. We just made so many careless mistakes" and later stressing "We just couldn't get over the hump".
Stat Take
Georgetown, now 7-22, 2-16/11th in the BIG EAST, shot 42.6% overall, 40.9% on three pointers. Sophomore guard Brandon Murray led all scorers with 25 points, the game with seven turnovers. Junior guard Jay Heath contributed 16 points while pacing the game via seven assists. Eleven points were provided by sophomore guard Primo Spears.
Ewing's team equalized the score at 65, yet were outscored 14-5 over the game's final 6:35, a stretch in which they didn't score from the field.
Anderson was impressed with Murray, saying "we had no answer for him, even as they tied the game". He also praised Johnnie reserves, who came in and gave us some quality minutes. They "Gave us that energy that you need. That way the starters were able to finish up". His team won the bench point battle 29-13.
Senior center Joel Soriano led SJU with 18 points. Anderson admitted "We made a really concerted effort to get him the ball". 1
Four other Johnnies made double figure scoring; Freshman guard AJ Storr logged 15 points, junior wing Jones followed with 14 points, while a pair of junior guards, Alexander and Andre Curbelo, each dropped 11 points.
SJU's Jones joined senior Hoya center in high rebounding honors, each pulling down 12. From a game-wide perspective, GU lost that battle 38-35, also trailing in second in second chance poitns (10-4).
Ewing was particularly chafed with his team's turnovers, saying "Twenty turnovers. You can't win with twenty turnovers". The Johnnies coughed it up 14 times. Ewing soon thereafter added "You give them 52 points in the paint, 29 fast break points" to his hit list, as combined "it's hard to overcome that".
Anecdotally, Ewing believed his guys were never on point during the game, as "I didn't like our energy coming out the locker room...We just didn't have the energy and focus we needed to have to go against a St. John's team that tries to muck the game up with all the things that they do".
Quotable
Anderson on G'Town's Fight
"Georgetown, as they have all year long, they always fight. They're playing at home, and got back in it".
Anderson on His Team
"i want to credit our players. they had a lot of composure. For our guys, i thought they stepped up in a big way".
Blocking out New York Noise per Anderson
"You know what, this group that we have here, that's the only thing we're worried about right now. Trying to get these guys better, that's all.
"Every night they go out and give everything..they can, each and every night. So it's a lot of basketball left"
Ewing on Game Slipping Away
"We were right there. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half. We fought our way out of it to tie the game. Mistakes again. The last one, down two and then the turnover right there (Heath's alley oop attempt with 1:12 to go), that hurts".
No momentum from Butler win upsetting to Ewing?
"Yeah, i was definitely disappointed. That's one of the things we talked about before the game, getting a back to back BIG EAST win".
Ewing on Mistakes
Like I told the team, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. The mistakes we are making...We have our game plan, we go over what we want to do for the game. And sometimes when we come out there, it's like we really didn't practice anything. We're making way too many mistakes.
Whose responsible, per Ewing
Look this loss is on all of us. It's on me as the head coach. It's on all of us, the coaches and our team.
This is a game we had opportunities to win. One more time, we just didn't get it done.
Up Next
SJU, now 17-12/7-11/8th for the season, next faces UConn. Tip off is set for noon, Saturday, 2.25.23. UConn, ranked 18th or 23rd nationally is the foe, NYC's Madison Square Garden the venue.
G'Town, presently 2-36 in BIG EAST action the last two seasons, welcomes 20th/18th in America, Sunday the 26th. Start time is 1230p.
Ewing relayed his early prep plans as "So we'll figure out what we're going to do tomorrow, not going to do a whole lot, probably watch film. Start preparing for them on Friday and Saturday.
On Providence specifically, Ewing believes "They're a tough team, a physical one", now coming off a humbling home loss to UConn. "We gotta get ourselves up and get ready for that one".
