This and That: Navy
December 4, 2020 - Following are observations and anecdotes related to Georgetown’s 78-71 loss to Navy, Tuesday. See the margin for previous coverage.
Pick and Roll Struggles
Navy, particularly in second half play, used a now resurgent yet actually aged basketball concept regularly – the pick and roll. Senior guard Cam Davis was Navy’s star, accepting the screen, rejecting it, scoring and collapsing the Hoyas’ defense. His stat line of 28 points on 10-15 from the field, 5-7 on long balls is a good indicator of how Davis performed.
Just where did the Hoyas fail in guarding that scheme?
No matter what the defensive call – switching, hard hedging, zoning it – it wasn’t good enough to deter Davis. Just ask Georgetown’s coach.
“I think it’s a little big of both” responded head Hoya Pat Ewing afterward, when asked if his frontcourt guys, backcourt players or all the above were responsible for the showing. “Everyone…played a role in it, the fact we didn’t guard it properly.
“The bigs have to come up, and when they do go around them, contest shots at the end. We tried to trap it at the end…zone it. So we tried to do a couple of things….neither of them worked, was effective enough to limit those guys.
“And a few times instead of shrinking the floor and coming in on the roll, we were all guarding our own man, and they were able to get the roll man a couple of times”.
Today’s subsequent press conference confirmed pick and roll defense was a top of postgame conversation.
When asked about what he learned from Tuesday’s debacle, sophomore center Qudus Wahab noted “For me I need to move my feet better, zone in on the one guy, blocking shots better”. He’s since worked on pick and roll defense in practice in service to improving.
Grad student guard Donald Carey shared what needs to happen “From a guard’s perspective, I would say just applying more ball pressure…relieve the pressure on the big man”, which includes fighting and “taking a better route” over and around screens”.
In Davis We Trust
The man that tormented Georgetown was Davis, a 6’0”, stellar, senior lead guard. He played like a confident performer that has prepared himself for success.
“It’s definitely been a long road for me…I continually put in the work” said Davis, when asked about the leeway his coach gives him. Per him “The coaches do a great job of getting in the gym with me…just put the work in every single day That kind of where that trust come from”.
That trust from his coach, Ed DeChellis and saff manifests as a certain level of autonomy to attack, as noted earlier by rejecting/ accepting picks, re-screening and shooting – both from the perimeter and paint.
According to DeChellis, Davis has “played for us for 4 years now….I’m not real bright but I know he’s pretty good. I’m going to give him some leash to make plays”.
Resultantly, “We let Cam create. We let him shoot”, the correct move to make since “He’s a confident kid” they want to ensure stays that way. Furthermore “He’s respectful of it (the trust). Don’t get me wrong ill yank him if I don’t like something he’s doing. But he works hard, he’s in the gym all the time shooting. The game means a lot to him. He’s a pleasure to coach”.