After his Georgetown (6-13 overall, 0-9 in BIG EAST) team's 90-77 take down by visiting St. John's (13-9,5-6), head coach Pat Ewing was asked to sum why the defeat occurred. Per Ewing a "lack of defense" and "lack of rebounding" were prime culprits.

Regarding the defense, his team ceded 50.7% overall shooting, 34.7%, to SJU, both exceeding their pregame marks. Eighteen of the Johnnie's point total came on the fast break. Rebounding-wise it was a 34-27 Johnnie advantage, with 17 points generated through second half shots.

Following are discussions of additional points germane to the contest, one in which gradaute guard graduate guard Don Carey logged a career best 23 points plus nine rebounds.

Pressure Positive

The Hoyas had some success at pressuring full court, resulting in several stops and points, wile also deterring the Johnnies. For example:

Clock reading 8:06 in the first half, G'Town deployed a 2-2-1 after sophomore forward Collin Holloway's (seven points) free throw. Graduate forward Kaiden Rice (20 points) stole the ball and scored via fast break, reducing the Hoyas' lead to 31-25.

Freshman center Ryan Mutombo (nine points, seven rebounds) made a charity stripe atempt, around the initial stanza's 5:33 mark. G'Town's subsequent 1-2-2 didn't result in possession or points, but caused SJU problems.

Around two minutes later on side out of bounds action, Georgetown's 1-2-2 3/4 court trapping press did snag the ball for them, as SJU was assessed backcourt.

After suffering a 10-0 SJU run to start second half festivities, G'Town's 1-2-2 diamond style press didn't stop SJU from scoring, but did slow them down.

Next possession, after Hoya free throw attempts, more diamond action jarred the Johnnies, ending up in Georgetown gaining the ball.

Subsequent to the back stanza's first TV timeout, Ewing's guys jumped the first SJU pass on full court inbounds, eventually creating a turnover.

Next sequence G'Town scored, went into that same full court man, jump the first pass look, speeding up SJU and securing possession.

Just under 13 minutes to play, the Hoyas missed a free throw, yet again went to diamond pressure, with that possession ultimately ending as a Johnnie turnover.

Not bad work, prompting many to ask why more pressing/trapping weren't seen?

"Right, that is a fair assessment" answered Ewing when asked if his ability to dial up full court pressure was hampered by his squad not making enough shots - the Hoyas made just 27-72 attempts (37.5%)".

The coach then revealed a good nugget, that "we wanted to press even in the makes and misses sometimes", the latter a rarity in college ball. "It just didn't happen".

Head Space

Having now lost 10 straight games including nine consecutive BIG EAST tilts, what's the mental/emotional position of Ewing's team?

"Can't take a toll" said the coach. "We have to keep fighting. I'm playing guys a lot of minutes, and it's unfortunate, but that's just part of the rut that we're in and guys just have to step up and get it done".

How do they push on?

As Ewing stated "We have 12 more games, 11 more games to go. We don't have time to exhale or get down on ourselves". Immediately with Providence on tap Sunday, "We have to regroup, show the film of the mistakes that we made and get ready".

Aminu was AWOL

The Hoyas' leading scorer, freshman guard Aminu Mohammed (four points, six rebounds) had a season low four points on 1-13 shooting, also a nadir for him in 2021-22. Some of his shots were contested, others just misses.

Is Ewing on alert?

No, as he shared "I'm very confident in him. He's a warrior". After conceding his widely game-planned precious player "had a bad outing tonight", one that's "part of his maturation and growth, Ewing then pivoted to next steps for Mohammed, opining "He has to learn when they have size on him what to do...sometimes make the pass, sometimes make the shot".

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