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They're Marching In...

2/8/10

Congratulations to our Georgetown students and alumni of New Orleans and Louisiana on the Saints' historic win. For all the Gulf Coast has endured in these past five years, it was an amazing ride.

A preview of the Providence game follows Tuesday.

"Armed with boots, scarves, hats and the foolishness of youth, a pack of Georgetown students schlepped 3+ miles through a blizzard to the Verizon Center to see their Georgetown Hoyas play No. 2 Villanova.Two hours later, they went back outside to find the same blizzard still howling and three more miles of pavement between them and a warm dorm room. But this time they were walking on air."--Dana O'Neil, ESPN.com

For a season in which the #7-ranked Georgetown Hoyas relied on its "big three", it welcomed a fourth name to that list.

Jason Clark's career high 24 points led a spirited Georgetown offensive output in a 103-90 upset of the #2-ranked Villanova Wildcats in what will long be known as "the blizzard game". Before a true walk-up crowd of 10,387 who found their way to Verizon Center amidst 22" of snow, Clark and Austin Freeman led the Hoyas' largest offensive output against a Big East team in a regulation game since a 106-68 defeat of #6 Villanova in 1996.

Clark was a factor right from the start, with an early three that helped lead the Hoyas to an early 7-2 lead and an opportunity to set the tempo of the game. Georgetown picked up assists on each of its first four baskets, but when Villanova's Scottie Reynolds hit a three pointer at the 13:44 mark, Villanova took a 14-12 lead, thanks to its own hot shooting (6-8) to begin the game. Clark soon found himself shutting down Reynolds defensively (Reynolds finished the half scoreless in his next five field goal attempts) and the Hoyas took control.

Much of the second half was a mix of good defense and free throws--both teams struggled though inconsistent officiating which put players in some foul difficulty--Georgetown's Chris Wright picked up his fourth foul early in the half and was not a factor thereafter, but Clark assumed Wright's backcourt role and began to lead the Hoyas through an inspired Wildcat attack.

A Clark three with 12:32 pushed the lead to 18, 66-48, and a Greg Monroe dunk with 9:13 to play (his last basket of the game) got the lead back to 21 at 76-55. Villanova forward Corey Fisher scored the Wildcats' next six points to whittle down the lead, and Reynolds scored the next four to close to 12, 78-66.

A Jerrelle Benimon turnover and Wright's fifth foul leading by 11 gave Villanova a chance to get the lead under double digits with 5:16 to play, but Reynolds connected on only one of two free throws and the lead settled at 10. Junior forward Julian Vaughn replaced Benimon and embarked on a number of key sequences in the game that put the outcome out of risk.

After consecutive threes by Villanova's Taylor King that closed the lead to ten, 87-77, Vaughn added two foul shots and a dunk within 40 seconds to push the lead to 14, 93-79. Villanova shot 7-11 in the final 3:37 of the gamed but the Hoyas out the game away from the foul line, with a pair of Monroe free throws putting GU over the 100 point mark, the first time an opponent had done so against Villanova in six years.

Austin Freeman ended the game with scoring honors of 25 points on 8-12 shooting. Clark finished 6-7 from three and 24 points, Monroe with 19 , Vaughn 13 and freshman Hollis Thompson with 12 points. Despite allowing Villanova 17 points off turnovers and a 9-0 advantage on second chance points, Georgetown was able to get the ball up the court and convert at the foul line. GU took 37 free throws in the second half and converted on 15 of 19 in the final five minutes.

"We have good players, we have unselfish players and they've done a terrific job of helping each other and making sure the right person gets the shot out of our offense," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III.,

Thompson also took note to thank the crowd, which found its way to Verizon Center despite a closure of all Metrobus and above-ground Metrorail stops in the area.

"It was unbelievable," Thompson said. "It was, if you've been listening to all the reports, the worst storm since the Knickerbocker storm in the 1920's. For everyone to come out, it's truly appreciated. We feed off our crowd and to see the effort they made to get down here we want to thank them. We had thought can we reschedule this game because we were worried about our fans and everyone's safety, but there was no date where it would have worked. ..I hope they can get home safely, but it's truly appreciated."

Despite two signature wins on consecutive Saturdays, players are taking it in perspective, perhaps with the intervening game with South Florida in mind.

"It's just another win," said Freeman. "It's another game that we just wanted to come out, play hard and get another victory."

To those in attendance, however, it was something a lot more-- a convincing victory against the nation's #2 team, and a reminder that when the Hoyas are playing to its potential, it can successfully compete with any team in the nation.

Here's the Georgetown half of the box score.

            MIN   2FG   3FG   FT  REB  A  PF  PTS
Starters:                                 
Wright       28   1-2   1-4   2-2   3   3  5    7
Freeman      40   6-7   2-5   7-10  1   3  2   25
Clark        34   2-4   6-7   2-3   3   2  3   24
Vaughn       22   3-5   0-0   7-7   3   3  2   13
Monroe       33   4-8   0-1  11-14  8   6  2   19
Reserves:
Thompson     28   1-2   1-2   7-10  5   3  4   12
Sanford       1   0-0   0-0   0-0   0   0  0    0
Benimon      15   0-1   0-0   3-4   1   1  2    3
Sims          1   0-0   0-0   0-0   0   0  0    0
DNP: Dougherty, Stepka
Team Rebounds                       4
TOTALS      200 17-29 10-19 39-50  28  21 20  103

Additional coverage follows below.

• GUHoyas.com
• Villanova.com
• Associated Press
• ESPN.com
• ESPN.com (2)
• The HOYA
• The HOYA (2)
• New York Times
• Philadelphia Inquirer
• Philadelphia Inquirer (2)
• Washington Examiner
• Washington Post
• Washington Post (2)
• Washington Post (3)

With five weeks until the Big East tournament, here's the look at the Big East pairings if the tournament were held this week. Georgetown is currently the fourth seed based on current standings--subject to change, of course.

As always, prior stories over this past week or the last 10+ years of coverage can be found at the News Archive pages, including recaps of all prior games this season. It's a good way to keep up to date if you've visited the site less frequently.

Please take an opportunity to affirm your support for the team by becoming a donor to the Hoya Hoop Club and Hoyas Unlimited, the official support organization for Georgetown athletics. Visit GUHoyas.com for more details, or link here to make an online gift.

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AMDG