Brian P. Sheehan (1939-2021) Brian Sheehan (C'61), a three time scoring leader for Georgetown teams from 1958-1961, died last week at the age of 81.An all-Met guard from St. John's HS, the 5-9 guard known as "Puddy" averaged 20 points a game for a Georgetown freshman team that finished 19-1, a school record. On Dec. 4, 1958, Sheehan scored 30 points in his debut game on the varsity, a record that stands today.Despite being the smallest man on the court, Sheehan's combination of expert ball handling and pinpoint shooting proved largely unstoppable in his sophomore season. Scoring 25 against the likes of Connecticut, 23 against BC, and 22 against Syracuse was a matter of course--Sheehan scored 30 in three different games and 20 or more 10 times in a 17 game stretch. He ended the season averaging 18.4 points a game, breaking a single season record for average that stood for 41 years. Sheehan opened the 1960-61 averaging 21.3 points in his first six games. Partnering with fellow junior Tom Coleman, the pair led the Hoyas in 15 of 21 games. Sheehan scored 29 against St. Peter's, 27 against Niagara, and 23 against Providence, even if he was facing opponents six inches taller on both sides of the floor. Sheehan led the Hoyas with a 15.6 average and won the Daly MVP award. He collected a third straight scoring title in 1961, with double figures in 15 of 21 games and a season high 28 against Boston College. His 16.2 career points average ranks him 10th all-time in school history. Following Georgetown, Sheehan served in the U.S. Marines and pursued a business career in commercial real estate. Selected to the Georgetown University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975, he was honored among 25 former players selected to the "All-Century Team" in 2007. Qudus Wahab To Transfer The spinning wheel of NCAA transfers made its first stop at Georgetown Thursday, where various sites announced that sophomore Qudus Wahab will enter the transfer portal.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
A 6-11 center from Nigeria by way of Flint Hill School in Northern Virginia, Wahab was second on the Hoyas in scoring at 12.7 points per game in 2020-21 and led the team in rebounds with an average of 8.2. He scored a career high 20 and tied his career high with 12 rebounds in the first round NCAA loss to Colorado.Widely expected to be the top returning big man in the Big East conference, head coach Patrick Ewing (C'85) paid Wahab a high compliment when he said that Wahab could be the best center in school history by his fourth year, and a fellow Big East coach remarked that Wahab "could be the best big in the country a year from now." An official statement from Ewing was not posted to GUHoyas.com Thursday morning, but a statement from Ewing reported at Hilltop Hoops said that "Q was an important piece of our success this year and he needs to do what he feels is best for him. I want to wish him luck in his future. After an exciting post season, we are ready to focus on the 2021-22 season." Wahab will have three years eligibility remaining. He posted a statement Monday on social media:  Athletics In the COVID Era It may be the off-season for men's basketball, but the University's response to COVID-19 within athletics continues.As part of a weekly series of videos distributed by the Georgetown University's president's office, the latest installment features athletic director Lee Reed, assistant athletic director Shawn Hendi, and team physician Dr. Kori Hudson M.D.Colorado 96, Georgetown 73 Every great ride ends a little too soon, but this one braked sharply and suddenly.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
Freshman Jabari Walker had a career high 24 points as #5 seed Colorado took home 16 threes in a 96-73 win over Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 23 point margin of defeat fell one point short of the worst margin of defeat in an NCAA tournament game in school history, a 24 point loss to #1-ranked Massachusetts in 1996 and proved a startling coda to a week where Georgetown was the talk of college basketball in their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years. The two teams played even for the first three minutes of play, 7-7, when the Buffaloes (23-8) began to work Georgetown's interior defense. Consecutive passes inside to forwards Evan Battie and Jabari Waked gave Colorado an early 11-7 lead, with each of its first five baskets coming off assists. Georgetown had gone cold , missing four shots and surrendering three turnovers which provided the Buffaloes their moment to take over the game. The change agent was Walker, who had shot just 1 for 8 over his prior two games in the Pac-12 tournament and had scored just three three pointers in his last five games. Chudier Bile had trouble keeping up with the freshman, who scored on a dunk to put CU up 11-7, began to pick apart the Hoyas on the perimeter: a three at the 12:34 mark, a three with 10:18 remaining, and a third 48 second later, putting the Buffaloes up nine, 23-14. Georgetown was finding no spacing against the Colorado perimeter defense, and relied on Qudus Wahab's inside play to stay close. But Wahab's shot started to falter and Colorado did not. Wahab was contained inside and the Buffs went to the hot hand. Walked hit his fourth three in just over four minutes, 28-15. "I thought surely after the first few, they'd get a hand up," Walker said in post-game remarks. For a moment, Walker was his own worst enemy. At the 7:19 mark, Walked collared an attempted dunk by Timothy Ighoefe and was assessed a Level 1 flagrant foul, falling short of the NCAA standard which would have ejected him. The two shots and the ball did little for Georgetown: Ighoefe missed both free throws and committed a foul off the second miss. Twenty seconds later, Colorado was back on the three-line, 31-17. With Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair a combined 1 for 7, Georgetown's offensive options were increasingly limited. Baskets by Wahab and Dante Harris were Georgetown's only baskets in the last five minutes of the half as Colorado shredded what just a week ago was a robust perimeter defense. Three three point field goals in the final 1:42 blew the game wide open and Colorado roared into halftime with s 23 point lead, 47-23, tying an NCAA record with 11 three pointers in a half against just 5 for 13 from two point range. Georgetown shot 7 of 17 inside but its flagging 1 for 9 from thee point range was a a recipe for disaster. The Buffaloes opened the second half inside, with 7-0 center Dallas Walton scoring the first seven points of the period, including an unlikely three at the 17:29 mark (only his ninth of the season) which inflated the lead beyond reach, 54-27. Colorado didn't even attempt another three until the 12:37 mark, but when they did, Walker obliged, 65-38, Georgetown's biggest deficit of the season. Consecutive threes by Bile and Pickett narrowed the margin to 19 midway in the second half but no closer. Consecutive layups by floor general McKenzie Wright extended the lead to a game high 32, 84-85 with 6:17 remaining and Colorado began to empty the bench. Four threes by the Hoyas in the final 3:40 did little but get the final score just under Massachusetts' 86-62 thumping in the 1996 Eastern regional final, although the Buffs had one more there left in the quiver: freshman Nique Clifford, 1 of 5 from outside the arc this season, hit a three with 25 seconds remaining, Colorado's 16th three of the game, doubling Georgetown's eight in 24 attempts. Qudus Wahab's 20 points and 12 rebounds were a bright spot in a dark stat sheet. What could be the final collegiate games for Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair ended with a whimper--Pickett was 3 of 13 from the field, Blair 2 of 6. Georgetown was outscored 41 to 8 from the bench and allowed CU to shoot 69 percent in the second half and 60 percent for the game. Wright's 13 assists tied a Georgetown opponent record, while Walker's 24 points was the most in an NCAA tournament game against the Hoyas from a non-starter since VCU guard Brandon Rozzell, whose six threes and 26 points upset the Hoyas in 2011 first round. "It's as good as we can play," said Colorado coach Tad Boyle in post-game comments. "Defensively we can do a better job of not fouling and we can't give up 50 points in the second half. But you score 90-some points and you shoot the way we shot tonight, again, it makes up for a lot." "When we're attacking the rim and finishing at the rim like we did tonight and we're kicking out for threes and making threes, we're a really, really hard team to guard. You think about as good as we were offensively tonight and Jeriah Horne really wasn't a big part of that, and we know how good of a shooter Jeriah is and how he stretches the defense. Jabari [Walker] was feeling it tonight." "Tonight was a totally different kind of mentality [than the Pac-12 tournament] and we've got to keep that," he said. "We've got to keep being loose, but understand the game plan, and enjoying the moment, and hey, let it all hang out, pin your ears back and let's go have some fun, and when adversity hits, let's fight through it together." "We didn't bring our 'A' game", Ewing told the Associated Press. "Both offensively and defensively, things we were doing great in the Big East Tournament we didn't do well today." Georgetown ends an exciting run in the 2020-21 season to finish 13-13. This becomes Georgetown's first Big East title team not to advance to at least the regional semifinals, as each of the previous seven championship teams did so from 1980 through 2007. "It's the end of the road for Georgetown," wrote Chris Novak at Big East Coast Bias. "Despite that though, the last week for the program has been captivating. There is promise in the future as well, as a highly-ranked recruiting class is coming to D.C. this coming autumn. So while this will be tough to swallow, Hoya fans felt a swath of energy this week that was rewarding enough, and now bigger and perhaps brighter things might be ahead." The Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 35 2-6 1-6 0-0 3 2 1 7
Carey 25 1-1 2-3 9-9 3 4 1 17
Bile 32 2-3 2-5 0-0 2 2 1 10
Pickett 36 2-9 1-4 4-5 2 3 6 11
Wahab 24 7-12 0-0 6-9 12 1 0 20
Reserves:
Blair 28 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 2 1 5
Ighoefe 9 0-0 0-0 0-3 2 1 0 0
Sibley 1 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Berger 6 0-0 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 3
Holloway 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Clark 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Wilson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
DNP: Azinge, Robinson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 4
TOTALS 200 15-34 8-24 19-26 29 16 12 73
Two Covers, Same Coach The big city dailies don't often share the same photo on its back cover, but here are Sunday's New York Daily News and New York Post.Georgetown 73, Creighton 48 In one of the great games in Georgetown basketball history, a dominating first half performance elevated Georgetown to its first Big East conference title since 2007, a 73-48 win over second seeded Creighton.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
Creighton (20-8) entered the game a a step below the Big East royalty that is Villanova, playing in their third finals in eight years, the most of any school not named Villanova. The same could not be said for Georgetown (13-12), who hadn't won a single tournament game in five seasons entering this year's field of play. Picked to finish last in the 2020 Big East Media Day coaches poll, the Hoyas were a 500:1 long shot of winning the conference title by at least one online wagering firm. As late as one month ago, Georgetown was 4-10. Yet, both teams took the floor Saturday at an empty Madison Square Garden with a good chance to win if they could play their game: for Creighton, the inside-outside game; for Georgetown, defense, ball control and the hot hand. Much like the Villanova game on Thursday (and yes, that seems such a long time ago), Georgetown came out of the gates slow, missing its first four attempts from outside and trailing 6-1. Discovering the secret for the game to come, Georgetown moved inside to Qudus Wahab, 6-3, before Mitch Ballock hit a long three to put the Jays up 9-3 five minutes into the first half. Georgetown's defensive adjustments soon rendered the vaunted Creighton outside shooting inert, and no one would have imagined that the Jays would connect on just one three pointer over the next 21 minutes of play. The Hoyas found their way back with baskets by Bile and Dante Harris, still trailing, before calling to basketball's version of the MSG bullpen for their left-handed ace, Jahvon Blair. Pulled from the starting lineup seven games ago, Blair has emerged as a powerful sixth man for the Hoyas, averaging 16.2 points off the bench in his last four games, and he went to work. Blair sank a long three at the 10:25 mark to bring the Hoyas to 13-11, then waited for his moment to strike. Georgetown's defensive pressure was taking its toll early in this game. back to back baskets from Guard Marcus Zegarowski tied the score at 18 with 5:52 to halftime, but the Jays were finding nothing inside and were starting to struggle from outside. At one point in the half, Zegarowski was 4 for 4, his team was a combined 4 for 18. As Dante Harris applied the defensive pressure on Zegarowski, Blair set loose an offensive firestorm unseen in Big East finals history since 2013, when Louisville ran Syracuse out of the Garden in an epic second half. Georgetown wasn't waiting for the second half. Blair picked up a rebound from a Chudier Bile miss and connected from three at the 5:02 mark, 21-18. Christian Bishop was stuffed on a layup attempt adn Jamorko Pickett found Blair alone on the wing, 24-18. A move to rest starting center Christian Bishop for freshman reserve Ryan Kalkbrenner further hurt the Jays inside, as Kalkbrenner, generously listed at 235 pounds, was dominated inside by Wahab and Bile and was sufficiently rattled at the foul line, missing four consecutive free throws over a 59 second period when Creighton needed some points. Any points. None were forthcoming. A drive inside from Blair brought the Hoyas lead to eight, 26-18, and Bile added a basket inside to increase the lead to 10, 28-18, with 3:29 in the first half. Denzel Mahoney missed wide on a three and Blair drove the court for a basket on a fast break, and the Hoyas were now ahead by 12, 30-18. Mahoney missed again, and Dante Harris calmly stuck a foul line jumper, 32-18. With Christian Bishop back in the game, Creighton opted to go inside. Bishop's drive to the basket was swatted away by a combination of Bile and Wahab, and Harris drove the court to put the Hoyas up 16. Two missed Creighton shots later, Harris threaded the ball inside to Wahab with 15 seconds to halftime for a 36-18 lead at the break, holding the Bluejays scoreless in an 18-0 run over the final 5:52 and an astounding 1 for 16 over the final 8:39 of the half. Georgetown turned in its best first half in the Big East Tournament in a more than a decade, with five threes and a managed turnover count (six) that was a far cry from the Feb. 10 game with the Bluejays, when Georgetown gave up 27 to the Bluejays in a 25 point loss. As important, if not more so: just two turnovers in that 18-09 spurt to end the half. Creighton's numbers at the break were troubling. Zegarowski was 4 for 5 and 1 for 2 from three point range, the rest of the team was 4 for 25 and 1 for 12 from outside the arc. As Georgetown locked down Zegarowski, Creighton had no Plan B (or Plan C, or Plan D) and needed an early turnaround to open the second half. Zegarowski opened the second half with a basket, 36-20, but the Hoyas did not relent. Off a missed free throw by Creighton's Damien Jefferson, harris drove inside, then fed Bile off a Creighton turnover, 43-21. Another errant three for Mahoney, part of a career low 1 for 13 from the field for the guard, set up Wahab for a jumper, 45-24. Georgetown went inside in its next two possessions for free throws (4 for 4) and a conscience-less Bile stuck a three pointer at the 14:58 mark for a mind-numbing 31 point lead five minutes into the second half, 52-21. Creighton did not get a second field goal in the half until the 13:52 mark, 54-26, and could not stop the hoyas to make any sort of run. A Creighton turnover was buried by a Blair there, 57-28,a nd back to back baskets inside were Wahab were not matched by a Zegarowski three, 63-34, at the 9:02 mark. Time was running out on the Bluejays. Both teams struggled over the next three minutes, with only one field goal between the teams, a Mahoney three that ended a run of 12 straight misses. But the Hoyas were in no mood to give in, and a Donald Carey three with 5:42 left no doubt of the outcome. He returned to the arc for a three with 3:36 to play, 71-43, and head coach Patrick Ewing emptied the bench for the remaining scholarship players. Georgetown shot 54 percent after halftime - fewer shots, and fewer mistakes, too - with a mere two turnovers in the final eight minutes of the second half. Bile led all scorers with 19 points, followed by 18 from Blair, 11 from Wahab and 10 from Harris. Blair averaged 15.1 points voer the four games and according to the Elias Sports Bureau scored the most points off the bench during the tournament (61) than anyone in conferfence history. But it was Harris' body of work -- offensively, defensively, and the free throw line (a combined 10 for 10 over four nights) that earned him the Dave Gavitt Award as the tournament's most valuable player. Harris, once ranked just #415th nationally by one recruiting service, became the first freshman to win Big East MVP in 23 years (Khalid El-Amin, 1998) and only the second Georgetown freshman to do so, joining Victor Page, who was named MVP even as UConn won the 1996 title. Also added to the All-Tournament team: Jahvon Blair and Qudus Wahab, Marcus Zegarowski (Creighton), Adama Sanogo (Connecticut) and Jared Rhoden (Seton Hall). Creighton finished shooting 28 percent from the field, 26 percent from three, and missed seven of 12 at the free throw line. They were outreboudned 49-33 and were beaten badly on second chance points: 17 to 1. "If you don't make shots you have to dig down on the defensive end. And we didn't do that on the defensive end while not hitting shots," said Zegarowski in post-game comments, and added, "and at this level this type of game it costs you. It cost us tonight." Zegarowski, led the Bluejays with 17 points on 7 for 8 shooting. The remainder of the team shot a combined 10 for 51 (19 percent). "We just couldn't ever hit that big shot," said Creighton coach Greg McDermott, in his second game back after a one game suspension levied by Creighton University for comments made to his team last month. "I thought there were times where we ran pretty good offense and got an open shot and missed it. Then we'd have a pretty good defensive possession and they'd hit a shot the last five seconds or get an offensive rebound and stick it back in there. So to get out of those holes you need some good things to happen. And after that first 15 minutes of the game, we didn't have much good happen the rest of the way." "As I told Coach Ewing after the game, I'm just really happy for the Georgetown program, especially happy for Patrick. I think he's done a terrific job of building that program and has done it the right way. And obviously there's been a lot of adversity this year with a couple of pauses that they've had. And he found a way to get them to bounce out of that... "I really think Harris, his maturity over the course of the year has really changed the trajectory of the team in my opinion because he's really became a reliable ball handler, distributor and scorer as well. So I think he was playing at the end of the season as well as any freshman in our league." "I just think our belief in ourselves, from when we got here, I keep talking about the steps," said Ewing. "First step is to get the [Marquette] win. We did that. Second step was to get the [Villanova] win. We did that. Third step, fourth step, here we are, champions, Big East champions." "It's my first time, Jamorko's first time," said senior Jahvon Blair. "We started with him on day one. Just to see how happy he is just makes me happy...I'm just so happy for him." "We started from the bottom and now we're No. 1 in the Big East, " Ewing said. "It's not where you start, it's where you finish. That's something I've been talking and preaching to my kids from the day we came on campus and the day the [poll] came out. I can't do anything but applaud my guys. We've been through a lot. We had a [COVID] pause, we came out of the pause with flying colors and now we're on our way to the Big Dance." Georgetown is the lowest Big East seed since 2011 to win the title, and the first ever picked last in a pre-season poll. Even more remarkable: thirty percent of its wins all season came in the last four days. Or as Ewing reminded the press after the game, "Started from the bottom, now we're here." The Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 34 4-9 0-5 2-2 8 5 2 10
Carey 23 0-1 3-3 0-0 2 2 1 9
Bile 29 4-6 3-7 2-2 8 0 1 19
Pickett 31 0-1 0-2 2-3 3 3 2 2
Wahab 32 5-6 0-0 1-7 12 1 3 11
Reserves:
Blair 25 2-5 4-7 2-2 5 1 0 18
Ighoefe 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 2
Sibley 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Berger 3 0-0 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0
Holloway 8 0-1 0-1 0-2 2 0 1 0
Clark 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Wilson 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
DNP: Azinge, Robinson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 5
TOTALS 200 17-32 10-26 9-18 49 12 12 73
In Case You Missed It...Post-Game CommentsPost-Game With John Fanta
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— Christine (@saxahoya) March 13, 2021
The Four Night Stand Absent thousands of happy Georgetown fans at Madison Square Garden, the Georgetown Hoyas have become just the seventh Big East team in 42 years to play four consecutive nights at the Big East tournament, and the first in eight years.The five are as follows:
Georgetown 66, Seton Hall 58 A 9-1 run to close the game propelled the Georgetown Hoyas to its first Big East finals in 11 years, steering past Seton Hall 66-58 and await a rematch with #2-seed Creighton on Saturday.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
The game was 40 minutes of what has become a remarkably reliable playbook for Ewing: get a quick start, make fewer turnovers, escalate defensive pressure inside, and wait for the opponent to fold late. It was run like clockwork Friday evening, as a Seton Hall team playing for their NCAA lives were their own worst enemy and never dictated the flow of the game. Step one was the quick start: there three pointers in the first four minutes was the pop to send Georgetown ahead 8-2 at the first media break. The Prates closed to 11-9 on a three pointer from Big East co-Player of the Year Sandro Mamukelashvili, but it was his only three of the evening and began a run of eight straight misses to end the first half. Without Mamukelashvili, the Pirates seemed rudderless, and two early fouls on 7-2 center Ike Obiagu allowed Georgetown to work the ball inside. Seton Hall looked confused, with turnovers that sent the ball sailing into the empty stands, passes designed for players that weren't where they were supposed to be. For its part, Georgetown went to the tried and true, with baskets inside by Chudier Bile and Dante Harris and a three from Blair extended Georgetown's lead to nine midway in the first half, and as many as 11 before Jared Rhoden rallied the Hall late in the first half. Rhoden scored 10 points in the final 6:32 as the Pirates closed to two at halftime, 36-34. Neither team did much in the second half from three point range. The third and final three between the teams came with a Takai Molson three to close to 46-44 at the 12:03 mark, beginning a ten minute war of attrition where each team had opportunities to build a lead but neither did. The mistakes were considerably more visible for the Hall, where turnovers continued to hold them back and their runs to the free throw line summoned the ghosts who haunted Villanova a day earlier. After Mamukelashvili bottomed out at 1 for 12 from the field, he drove to the foul line with a tie score at the 6:20 mark, but split the two free throws that could have given the Hall a two point lead. After Qudus Wahab reciprocated at 53-all, Shavar Reynolds was at the line for two shots. An 85 percent shooter, Reynolds missed both. Baskets by Pickett and Rhoden elevated the score to 55-all with 4:44 to play, and the teams played to a draw in the next two minutes. The Pirates looked to have the momentum when it picked up consecutive offensive rebounds with under 3:00 to play, but Rhoden lost sight of a pass and the ball sailed into the backcourt for a violation at the 2:40 mark. Harris drive inside, 57-55, and Mamukelashvili drove strong to the basket and was fouled by Wahab for the basket and a foul with 1:59 to play. He missed the free throw. Twenty two seconds later, Chudier Bile returned the favor, picking up a basket and the free throw, 60-59. Rhoden was fouled going inside, and split the free throws--at this point SH had missed four free throws in the last four minutes and trailed by two. A fifth foul on Obiagu sent Wahab to the line up two, but Wahab wavered, hitting one of two, 61-58. Reynolds drove inside and was blocked by a combination of Bile and Wahab, and the Hoyas had the ball and the clock.
Seton Hall's defense held, but with less than three seconds on the shot clock, Reynolds collided with Dante Harris on a hurried three. In the last 40 days, Harris has made 20 of his last 22 attempts from the line. With three on the line to put it away again, he delivered. A pair of late free throws by Pickett closed the scoring. And if you're wondering what has changed with this Georgetown team, consider this: its last turnover in the Villanova game was with 9:50 to play. Its last turnover in this game was with 7:20 to play. Simply put, Georgetown is putting itself in a position to win, not to come back. The Hoyas trailed for just 1:11 in this game. The Hoyas may not be a great comeback team, but when you lead, of course, you don't have to come back. "I think they were a little more feisty," said Rhoden in post-game remarks. "They executed some big plays at the end, and they ultimately won the game." "We missed a lot of free throws where we could have given ourselves a one or two-point cushion," said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. "We missed a lot of free throws in the last three minutes, four minutes of the game where we ended up with empty possessions. You can't go 5-for-11 from the free throw line when they're going 18-for-25." He further stated that Seton hall is likely not to accept an NIT bid at 14-12. Georgetown shot 43 percent from the field and 50 percent from three (6-12), all but one in the first half. Outrebounded 38-34, the Hoyas gained mightily from the Pirates' woes at the free throw line, which for all intents and purposes was a plank they could not walk: 5 for 11. Jared Rhoden led the Pirates with 22 points, but just eight after halftime. Mamukelashvili, averaging 17.9 points entering the game, was held to single digits (8) for only the second time all season. The other? Dec. 23 against Georgetown. Having dropped five of six, the lights are out for Seton Hall and the NCAA's. Georgetown is an improbable 40 minutes away from taking its place. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 37 3-4 2-2 3-3 2 1 2 15
Carey 21 0-0 0-1 2-2 2 1 3 2
Bile 28 2-5 1-2 2-3 6 0 4 9
Pickett 40 3-9 2-2 7-8 6 0 1 19
Wahab 32 3-9 0-0 4-9 8 0 2 10
Reserves:
Blair 31 3-5 1-5 0-0 3 3 0 9
Ighoefe 8 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 0 1 2
Sibley 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
DNP: Azinge, Berger, Robinson, Holloway, Clark,
Wilson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 4
TOTALS 200 15-36 6-12 18-25 34 5 13 66
The Top Chef
Georgetown 72, Villanova 71 A Big East tournament and school record 23 of 23 from the foul line proved the difference as the Georgetown Hoyas upset #1 seed Villanova 72-71 in Big East quarterfinal action.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
Since the reformation of the Big East, Villanova has absolutely owned this series, winning 16 of 18 since 2013 and sweeping the regular season series. Thursday's game figured to be tighter with the loss of guard Collin Gillespie to a season ending injury, and the subsequent elevation of sophomore Chris Arcidiacono, who had not scored a field goal in two years on the Villanova bench, into the starting lineup. For his part, Arcidiacono exceeded expectations on the big stage, with four points, five rebounds, four assists and most importantly, no turnovers. For the Wildcats, this game would be won or lost up front, and it was the front court that made their presence felt early in this game.Villanova raced to a 9-0 lead to open the game, the first six coming from forward Jermaine Samuels, showing signs of his 32 point blitz against the Hoyas in early January. From its 0 for 4 start, Georgetown answered with 11 straight, and the game settled into a close affair throughout. Neither team shot well from outside in the first half, particularly Villanova. At bone point, the teams combined tp shoot 2 for 19 from three point range, with Villanova living on the inside play of Samuels and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, taking a 17-13 lead at the midway point of the half. Georgetown found a brief light from outside off back to back threes from Jahvon Blair to go up 19-17, and Villanova answered three minutes later with back to back threes from Samuels, 27-22. Jamorko Pickett hit the first of two threes down the stretch to keep the Hoyas close, including a three at the 4:16 mark that sparked a late run. With 3:43 to halftime, Robinson-Earl drove inside for a basket and Qudus Wahab's 2nd foul of the game, 35-30. But Robinson-Earl missed the ensuing free throw, and foretold a second half of struggle from the line. With that crack in the door, down five, Georgetown scored the final seven points of the half while Villanova missed nine consecutive shots to end the first half, trailing 37-35 at the break. Such was not the problem for the Wildcats to open the second half, however. Villanova went back inside and pulled ahead, hitting seven of its firs 10 shots of the half and building a 52-46 lead. Robinson-Earl went inside again to out the Cats ahead 55-48 at the 10:49 mark, and a three from Samuels put VU up 10 with 10:18 to play, 58-48. And with 8:52 to play, a Justin Moore three put Villanova up 11, 61-50. But just as they had done to end the first half, the Cats went cold down the stretch, and Georgetown methodically clawed its way back. Georgetown's response started with a Donald Carey three, 61-53. A Samuels miss was returned at the other end by a paid of Pickett free throws, 61-55. A fifth foul from Chudier Bile sent Robinson-Earl to the foul line at the 7:17 mark, but missed one of two. Free throws from Qudus Wahab closed to 62-57. Off a Robinson-Earl travel, The Hoyas went big from outside, connecting on consecutive threes from Harris and Blair to retake the lead, 63-62, a 13-2 run. The Wildcats simply couldn't take advantage when it counted, especially at the line. Arcidiacono missed the front end of a one and one at the 5:24 mark, and Robinson-Earl did the same with 4:30 left. The teams traded free throws down the stretch until a pair of threes from Samuels and Robinson gave Villanova a 70-65 lead with 1:28 to play. Was Georgetown down for the count? The Hoyas fought back again. Dante Harris, playing the best game of the season, hit two free throws to close to 70-67, whereupon Samuels missed a jumper with 57 seconds remaining, and the Cats were decidedly out of position when Blair found Wahab down low, as Cole Swider picked up the foul and Wahab picked up a three point play with :40 to play, 70-70. Wahab picked up his fifth foul 22 seconds later, fouling Robinson-Earl with 0:18 left. With the game on the line, he split the free throws once again, giving Georgetown a chance to hold for the last shot. Instead of hanging outside, Harris drove inside and was fouled. It was at this point that the Fox Sports 1 announcers noted a little bit of history: Harris stood at the line after Georgetown had made all 21 free throws of the game. The freshmen watched the first one roll around and in, and looked skyward in a moment of thanks. Harris calmly connected on the second, 72-71, and without a time out remaining the Wildcats settled for as 20 foot shot that went stage right.
"We just played together and kept fighting," Harris said in post-game quotes. "I told my guys to never give up, and we just continue to play together." "Down the stretch, we didn't execute as well as we wanted to, and we came away with a lot of empty possessions," said Villanova coach Jay Wright. While Samuels and Robinson-Earl accounted for 46 points, Wright need look no further on the stat sheet than five missed free throws in the second half for the Wildcats, four from Robinson-Earl. A little luck on any of these either grinds out the win or forces an overtime that, without Qudus Wahab, sharply tilts in the Cats' favor. Dante Harris led all Georgetown scorers with 18. Ewing noted Harris' box score, including 18 points, five assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes. "That's huge," Ewing said. "He's growing up. He was put in a position where we didn't think he was going to be our starter, and there were some growing pains, but he stepped up and has been playing magnificent for us." Georgetown will try to win a third consecutive Big East game for the first time since 2010 in a semifinal pairing versus Seton Hall. The teams split in two regular season games, most recently a 81-75 Georgetown win on Feb. 20 at McDonough Gymnasium. It's the biggest win in Ewing's coaching career. Until Friday, of course. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 37 5-8 1-3 5-5 3 5 0 18
Carey 32 1-1 2-4 1-1 2 0 1 9
Bile 21 0-1 0-3 2-2 3 1 5 2
Pickett 36 0-6 2-3 6-6 8 2 2 12
Wahab 28 5-8 0-0 7-7 6 0 5 17
Reserves:
Blair 32 0-4 4-9 2-2 2 2 1 14
Ighoefe 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 4 0 3 0
Holloway 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 1 0
DNP: Azinge, Sibley, Berger Robinson, Clark, Wilson,
Muresan
Team Rebounds 8
TOTALS 200 11-29 9-22 23-23 37 11 18 72
Ewing To MSG: Don't You Know Who I Am? Patrick Ewing may be a college basketball coach, but he's also a celebrity, and nothing irritates a celebrity than not being noticed.In post-game remarks, Ewing called out the security protocol at Madison Square Garden."I thought this was my building," Ewing said after Thursday's game. "I feel terrible that I'm getting stopped, accosted, asking for passes, everybody in this building should know who the hell I am. I'm getting stopped. I can't move around this building. I was like, What the hell? Is this Madison Square Garden? I'm going to have to call Mr. Dolan and say, is my number in the rafters or what?" In a statement to the New York Post, Garden officials noted all was resolved. "Jim [Dolan] and Patrick have a long standing relationship; they spoke this afternoon and reaffirmed that. We all know, respect and appreciate what he means to The Garden and New York. Good luck to him and his Hoyas in the Big East semi-finals." Scott R. Pilarz, S.J. (1959-2021) Off the sports pages, news of the passing of former Georgetown professor Rev. Scott Pilarz S.J., who died Wednesday in Scranton, PA from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.A 1981 graduate of the College, Pilarz earned postgraduate degrees at Fordham, the Weston School of Theology, and the City University of New York before returning to Georgetown as a Jesuit in 1996, and was a popular figure around campus for the next seven years. He brought back the first live bulldog mascot to campus since the 1970's and served in a variety of faculty roles before being chosen at the age of 43 to become president at the University of Scranton in 2003.Pilarz served as president of Scranton for eight years, then president of Marquette University for two, and three years as president of Georgetown Prep before Scranton welcomed him back for a second term as president in 2017. In 2018, he first learned of his ALS diagnosis and as his condition worsened, had planned to step down as president on May 31. "On behalf of the clergy and faithful in the Diocese of Scranton, I wish to express our deepest condolences to The University of Scranton community and the family of Rev. Scott Pilarz, SJ, upon learning of his passing," said Bishop Joseph Bambera of the Scranton diocese in a statement. In 2009, Pilarz received the John Carroll Award from the Georgetown University Alumni Association, one of just six Jesuits who were also alumni of the University so honored since 1952. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10 AM on Saturday, March 13, and will be available for viewing online at the University of Scranton web site. Georgetown 68, Marquette 49 Georgetown earned its first Big East Tournament win in five seasons with a 68-49 win over #9 seeded Marquette.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
Both teams started out slowly in this game, played before an empty Madison Square Garden. But Marquette was particularly rusty, and it followed them throughout a remarkably first half. The Warriors' last lead in the game was at 4-2, but missed its next four as the Hoyas took an early 10-4 lead. MU's fortunes dimmed early as center Dawson Garcia was hit with his second personal foul just seven minutes into the game, sending him to the bench. Marquette missed nine of its next ten while Georgetown, struggling with outside shooting of its own at 0 for 6, went inside with ease. Back to back baskets by Timothy Ighoefe put the Hoyas up 10 midway in the half, and Chudier Bile added the only Hoya three pointer of the first half for GU to lead 19-8. A 6-3 Marquette run closed its deficit to 22-14 at the 6:08 mark, but the remainder of the half was an exercise in futility unseen in recent Big East tournament play. The Warriors whiffed on 12 consecutive possessions to end the first half, missing nine attempts and committing three turnovers. Georgetown pushed its lead to 26-14 at the line then closed out the half with two baskets from Jamorko Pickett and one each from Jahvon Blair and Donald Carey. For its part, MU saw Garcia picked up a key third foul in less than two minutes back on the court, and saw Georgetown's eight point lead jump to 18 at the break, 32-14. The 14 points scored by Marquette were its fewest in a first half in six years, and narrowly missed the tournament record for the fewest points in a half in Big East tournament history. This was the fewest points allowed by Georgetown dating to a 31-15 halftime lead over Miami in the 1995 tournament. Fast forward to 2021, where Marquette shot 21 percent, missed 11 of 13 from three, and were obliterated on the boards, 30-15, including 11-2 on offensive rebounds. Even more astounding: Georgetown had 15 second chance points, Marquette none. The number 18 was not lost on Georgetown fans, however. Georgetown led Marquette by 18 on Jan. 2 and famously lost the lead, so if there was concern for a return to form, it would be tested early in the second. Following a third foul on center Qudus Wahab, Marquette closed to 11, 36-25, but a Blair jumper in the lane spurred a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to 18 at the 12:19 mark. On the next possession, Garcia picked up his fourth foul and GU returned to the offensive. Seven straight from Blair pushed the lead to 16 at the 8:39 mark and the Warriors never got any closer. There would be no comeback. "We didn't falter this time," Ewing said in post game remarks. "We kept fighting." Statistically speaking, the Hoyas shot poorly despite the 19 point margin of victory. Starters Jamorko Pickett, Chudier Bile and Dante Harris were a combined 5 for 30, but head coach Patrick Ewing saluted Bile for his interior defense that had Marquette off its mark all afternoon. Georgetown's 4 for 19 from three tied a season low set last week at UConn, but Marquette's 5 for 24 was not appreciably better. "Certainly you can go back and look, and this afternoon would be one of them, where we had disappointing performances," said Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski, whose post-season record (one NCAA in last five years) and in contract status (through 2023-24) will be a continuing source of off-season chatter among the Marquette faithful. "But I'm proud of our guys overall because they handled a difficult situation without complaining." The Warriors finished the season 13-14, its first losing season since Wojciechowski's debut in 2014-15. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 32 2-8 0-2 0-0 6 2 0 4
Carey 38 2-4 1-3 1-2 6 3 0 8
Bile 28 0-4 1-7 2-5 8 1 4 5
Pickett 33 2-7 0-2 4-4 8 1 3 8
Wahab 25 6-8 0-0 7-7 7 0 2 19
Reserves:
Blair 29 6-9 2-5 2-2 3 2 1 20
Ighoefe 15 2-2 0-0 0-2 4 0 0 4
DNP: Sibley, Berger, Azinge, Robinson, Holloway,
Clark, Wilson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 4
TOTALS 200 20-42 4-19 16-22 46 9 10 68
All-Big East Teams Jahvon Blair was named to the honorable mention All-Big East team announced Sunday.Blair was the only Georgetown selection on the news release. Ten of the 11 schools, except DePaul, had one or more players listed.A cumulative list of Georgetown's All-Big East selections through the years is found at the Georgetown Basketball History Project. The honorees are as follows: First Team: Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton, G, Jr., 6-2, 180, Hamilton, MA James Bouknight, Connecticut, G, So., 6-5, 190, Brooklyn, NY Julian Champagnie, St. John's, G-F, So., 6-8, 220, Brooklyn, NY Sandro Mamukelashvili, Seton Hall, F, Sr., 6-11, 240, Tbilisi, Georgia (unanimous selection) Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova, F, So., 6-9, 230, Kansas City, KS (unanimous selection) Collin Gillespie, Villanova, G, Sr., 6-3, 190, Huntingdon Valley, PA Second Team: Damien Jefferson, Creighton, F, Sr., 6-5, 220, East Chicago, IN David Duke, Providence, G, Jr., 6-7, 210, New York, NY Nate Watson, Providence, F, Sr., 6-10, 260, Portsmouth, VA Zach Freemantle, Xavier, F, So.,6-9, 225, Teaneck, NJ Paul Scruggs, Xavier, F, Sr., 6-4, 196, Indianapolis, IN Honorable Mention: Denzel Mahoney, Creighton, G-F, Sr., 6-5, 220, Oviedo, FL Jahvon Blair, Georgetown, G, Sr., 6-4, 190, Brampton, ON Jermaine Samuels, Villanova, F, Sr., 6-7, 230, Franklin, MA All-Freshman: Chuck Harris, Butler, G, 6-2, 190, Washington, DC (unanimous selection) Adama Sanogo, Connecticut, F, 6-9, 240, Bamako, Mali Dawson Garcia, Marquette, F, 6-11, 235, Prior Lake, MN (unanimous selection) Posh Alexander, St. John's, F, 6-0, 190, Brooklyn, NY (unanimous selection) Colby Jones, Xavier, G, 6-5, 195, Birmingham, AL Final 2021 Tournament Brackets
8 vs. 9: Here We Go Again
The early rounds of the Big East tournament used to see some familiar names every year: Miami. Rutgers. South Florida. Since the tournament was reconstituted as a ten team tournament in 2014, at least one team has returned early and often.Wednesday marks Georgetown's sixth appearance in the opening round in the last eight years, a bellwether of the program's continuing struggles since 2013. Georgetown has played in the 8 vs. 9 opener in four of the last five years.It's also the second consecutive year in the "consolation bracket" for Xavier, a third for Butler, a fourth appearance for Marquette, and the eighth straight for DePaul, a school that has won just three first round games since joining the Big East in 2006. Here is the eight year composite Big East seedings, with opening round seeds in red.
Connecticut 98, Georgetown 82
Georgetown's faint hopes for a top five finish in the 2021 Big East tournament brackets were torn up, stomped on, and shredded by the UConn Huskies, in a dominant 98-82 win in the regular season finale at Gampel Pavilion.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
The preview for the nationally broadcast game on CBS featured the two hottest teams in the conference entering the final week of the season: UConn entering the game winners of five of its last six, Georgetown four of five. But within the first three minutes of the game, Dan Hurley's Huskies made it clear who was stepping forward, and who was not. Gerogetown opened the game missing its first four shots. Connecticut made its first four and led 12-0. The Hoyas had no answers defensively and were already down 15 midway in the first half. Sophomore James Bouknight was unopposed in the early moments of this game, scoring 11 of UConn's first 19 points, but it was an unlikely source that put this game away early. Sophomore guard Jalen Gaffney, averaging just 6.0 points per game this season, hit back to back threes that sent this game careening out of control for the Hoyas. The Huskies pushed an 11 point lead to 20 at the 5:37 mark, and a basket inside by Qudus Wahab was Georgetown's last field goal of the half...but not for the Huskies, who ended the half on a 13-4 run and took a 51-24 lead into the break. The 27 point deficit was the largest for any Georgetown game since Dec. 11, 1974, when #4-ranked Maryland led GU 55-22 en route to a 104-71 win at Capital Centre. For the half, UConn shot 57 percent from the field, with seven threes, a 23-9 edge on rebounding, and a stunning 9-0 edge on offensive rebounds. Georgetown managed 30 percent from the floor, 0 for 5 from thee point range, seven fouls, and eight turnovers. "There's no way in hell we should have had one assist [at halftime]," said coach Patrick Ewing after the game. Georgetown did connect on its first three pointer of the game until the 17:16 mark of the second half, a jumper from forward Chudier Bile to narrow the score to 24, 55-31. The Hoyas fought back, hitting six of its first nine shots, but could not close within 18 after back to back threes from Bile at the 11:24 mark. Bile fouled out at the 5:35 mark, down 21, and head coach Patrick Ewing opened up the bench down the stretch. Jahvon Blair scored 18 of his game high 22 points in the second half, 14 with the game well out of hand. The eventual 16 point margin was the closest GU would be for the final 24 minutes of the game. The Hoyas scored more in the second half (58) than they did for the entire game at McDonough Gymnasium against the Huskies (57), but it was of little use against a well coached and well executed UConn game plan, where six Huskies scored in double figures, led by 21 from Bouknight and 15 from Gaffney. The GU rebounding total was especially poor. Neither Jamorko Pickett and Chudier Bile had a single rebound in the game. Overall, UConn held a 35-26 edge on the boards and doubled the assists in the game, with 22 to Georgetown's 11. Ewing spared no words with the effort and execution, calling out his team as lacking the intensity and effort needed. "[UConn] played with energy and effort," he said. "Tonight we got a royal ass kicking." "In the games that we were winning, we were playing unselfish," he said. "Tonight, we were very selfish...If you come out and you play selfishly, that's what's going to happen." The sports information office ended Ewing's comments after just three questions and four minutes overall. The loss cost Georgetown an outside chance at a seeding as high as fifth, sending then to the 8 vs. 9 game to open the tournament. Win the first game, and #1 ranked Villanova awaits. Lose, and the Hoyas are the first team out. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 36 2-7 0-4 0-0 3 6 2 4
Carey 26 1-2 0-2 0-0 2 1 1 2
Bile 27 1-3 3-3 4-5 0 0 5 15
Pickett 30 2-4 0-1 4-6 0 2 1 8
Wahab 29 7-11 0-0 2-3 7 0 3 16
Reserves:
Blair 24 2-4 4-5 6-7 1 1 1 22
Ighoefe 7 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 0 0 2
Sibley 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Berger 2 0-0 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 3
Holloway 5 3-4 0-0 1-1 2 0 2 7
Clark 3 1-4 0-1 1-1 3 1 0 3
Wilson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
DNP: Azinge, Robinson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 5
TOTALS 200 19-40 8-18 20-25 26 11 15 82
Big East Tournament: No Public TicketsWith one week remaining until the start of the Big East tournament: a sad but unsurprising announcement."The Big East Conference has announced that a limited number of tickets will be provided to each of the participating teams in the upcoming Big East Tournament," reads a statement. All tickets will be specifically designated for use by the members of each school's official travel party in order to permit families and guests of student-athletes, coaches and team staffs to attend games... There will be no public sale of tickets to this year's tournament."All attendees are subject to New York state quarantine rules. Senior Salute In normal times, the two seniors and three grad transfers would have been honored at the final home game of the season. This year is different, of course.COVID restrictions did not allow the the ability to welcome families to celebrate with their sons before the Xavier game. But for each of these players, it may -- or may not have been-- their last home game in a Georgetown uniform.The NCAA has waived the 2020-21 season as affecting student-athlete eligibility on what is known as the "five year clock". Put another way, the seniors and grad transfers retain an extra year of eligibility in 2021-22, and any or all of them could be back, or may graduate and move on, or may pursue a second grad transfer year elsewhere. During this week, career bios of the five players will be updated on the Georgetown Basketball History Project, as follows:
Georgetown 72, Xavier 66
A combined 34 points and 18 rebounds from Chudier Bile and Jamorko Pickett fought off a late Xavier rally in a 72-66 Georgetown win on Senior Night at McDonough Gymnasium.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
The win, the third in Georgetown's last four at McDonough Gymnasium, was a body blow to Xavier, whose NCAA tournament hopes were rattled with the loss. "Coming off its biggest win of the season, with a chance to clinch the five seed and a first-round bye next week in the Big East Conference Tournament, Xavier looked unprepared and unmotivated," wrote the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Had you not known better, you would have thought Georgetown was the team playing for its post season life on Tuesday." The first ten minutes of this game was a redux of Georgetown's win over DePaul last weekend. The two teams combined for four turnovers in the first 87 seconds, and Georgetown's only points of the game for almost eight minutes were three three-pointers to go against six Georgetown turnovers. From Xavier's side of the bench, things could not be going more poorly. After starting the game 3 for 5 from the field, Xavier missed 14 of its next 16 attempts, and despite shooting just 33 percent themselves, Georgetown had more than enough opportunity to build a lead. The first run was led by senior Jahvon Blair, coming off the bench after head coach Patrick Ewing sat him for the DePaul game. From a 19-14 Georgetown lead, Blair scored nine of the Hoyas' next 11 points as GU moved to a 14 point lead, 30-16, as Xavier's shooting flailed by comparison. A pair of baskets by Jamorko Pickett and a three point play with Qudus Wahab with under a minute to halftime gave Georgetown a 38-23 mark at the break, paralleling its 38-22 lead at the midpoint of the DePaul game. Georgetown owned the stat sheet at halftime, outrebounding XU 26 to 15, limiting the Musketeers to 26 percent shooting, and largely closing the door to its two leading scorers, center Zach Freemantle and guard Paul Scruggs. Freemantle, the fifth leading scorer in the Big East entering Tuesday's game, was a woeful 1 for 8 from the field and 0 for 4 inside the three point arc. No worse a statistic was relayed to the audience from the Fox Sports 1 announcers: XU had been outhustled 12-0 in second chance points in the first half. Xavier continued its slumber to open the second half. Seeing little impact from its inside play, the Musketeers looked to climb back in the game from outside, to no effect--XU missed its first nine attempts from three point range over the first six minutes of the second half. Back to back threes from forward Chudier Bile extended the Georgetown lead to 19, 53-34, with 12 minutes remaining. Xavier was staying on level with the Hoyas, but could not make inroads to the substantial lead. Another three pointer from Bile gave Georgetown a 60-44 lead with 9:19 to play and a key substitution awoke the Xavier offense. Sophomore guard KyKy Tandy had scored just eight points over his last five games, but with Scruggs in foul trouble, Tandy went to work. Having been successful against GU last year (an 18 point game on Jan. 22, 2020 was a career high), Tandy lifted the struggling Musketeers. He scored a pair of free throws at the 7:38 mark to narrow the score to 12, 60-48, connected on a three at the 6:43 mark, 60-51, and added another three 26 seconds later to rally the X-men to 61-54, the closest margin between the teams since the 6:40 mark of the first half. The game was back on. Scruggs fouled out at the 5:39 mark, followed by a pair of Blair free throws, 63-54, but Xavier picked up the pace inside, with baskets from Freemantle and Tandy to close to four, 63-59, at the 4:14 mark. If this was December, Georgetown would be in a full scale panic by now. Instead, Pickett found Bile open in the corner for a much needed three, 66-59. A pair of Xavier free throws followed, 66-61, then both teams struggled down the stretch, missing a pair of layups until Tandy drove inside for a jumper, 66-63. A close-in shot from Jahvon Blair fell short, but Pickett grabbed the rebound and kept the Hoyas afloat, 68-3. Xavier closed to 68-65 with 1:58 to play, but the Hoyas did not panic. After Dante Harris was picked off driving to the basket at the 1:28 mark, Georgetown returned the favor on the other end when Donald Carey stripped Freemantle of the ball down low. Pickett was fouled on the exchange, hitting two free throws, 70-65, with 0:57 to play. Two long range misses by the Musketeers were salvaged by offensive rebounds, but XU could do not better than splitting a pair of free throws at the line with 37 seconds remaining, 70-66. The teams traded consecutive trips to the foul line where each team missed the front half of a one and one, and Xavier's last, best hope came when Bile swatted a Tandy layup away with 22 seconds remaining. A pair of Bile free throws closed out the scoring. Georgetown had four men in double figures and the six man rotation of the five starters and Blair accounted for all but four points on the evening. Xavier started late and ran out of time. Tandy led the Musketeers with 14 points, 12 after halftime. "I didn't think our effort was there in the first half," said Xavier coach Travis Steele in post-game remarks. "We didn't make many shots in the second half either, but we played hard." "Just really disappointed in our first half effort, and obviously that's where the game was lost." In his post-game comments, Ewing reflected on the team's improved play late in the season. "[Georgetown was] the last team to come back to campus," Ewing said. "It took time for us to gel and get used to each other. I think we're peaking at the right time." As for the seniors and grad transfers, Ewing felt that "all of them did enough things to get us the win." "It means a lot for me," Pickett said in post-game remarks. "It was a lot of mixed emotions today knowing this was my last game here at Georgetown." The Hoyas end the regular season Saturday at Connecticut, with various tournament scenarios that could seed the Hoyas from fifth to ninth in next week's Big East Tournament. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
D. Harris 36 1-4 1-3 0-0 7 2 2 5
Carey 26 0-2 1-2 1-2 3 2 5 4
Bile 32 1-5 4-7 2-5 11 0 3 16
Pickett 38 4-11 2-6 4-5 7 2 2 18
Wahab 30 6-7 0-0 1-1 7 1 2 13
Reserves:
Blair 28 2-6 1-7 5-6 3 3 2 12
Ighoefe 7 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0 1 4
Sibley 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Berger 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0
DNP: Azinge, Robinson, Clark, Holloway, Wilson, Muresan
Team Rebounds 4
TOTALS 200 15-36 9-25 15-22 46 10 17 72
Sports Media Contracts Discussed
The changing world of pro and college sports broadcast and OTT rights is reviewed in this article from TV[R]EV.As to the Big East, whose contract expires in 2025, the authors note: "Given that it's basketball-specific, don't expect a major uptick for Big East rights, especially if Fox has been laying out more money for Big Ten and/or Pac-12 games. The main draw for the Big East is Villanova, at the moment, after the Wildcats won two of the last four national titles (2016, 2018) and their continued presence near the top of the sport should lift all boats in the league. In an ideal world for the Big East, it's not buried on FS1 so much."Greg Whittington's Long Journey
Eight years after the abrupt end to his college career, former Georgetown forward Greg Whittington played in his first NBA game on Saturday.It's been a long road for the 28 year old, who was seen as a future NBA prospect during a 2012-13 season that had him second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game, narrowly trailing fellow sophomore (and future NBA lottery pick) Otto Porter. Suddenly, it was over."On January 12, 2013, Whittington did not travel with the team to St. John's, where team officials called it a violation of team rules. A day later, it was reported that Whittington was ineligible for the spring semester," wrote the Georgetown Basketball History Project. "Georgetown offered no specifics, but campus chatter suggested that Whittington may have no-showed a final exam in a pass-fail course. His absence may have derailed one of John Thompson III's best teams, which won the Big East regular season title but crashed in a first round NCAA loss to Florida Gulf Coast." Whittington was injured at the start of the 2013-14 season and was rendered academically ineligible a second time at the end of the fall 2013 semester. He announced a transfer, committing to Rutgers and then not showing up for registration that spring. It began a long odyssey for the Columbia, MD native, which saw him play in the 2014-15 pre-season for the Miami Heat before being waived, then a season in the NBA G League, and then four years playing for club teams in Australia, Japan, Israel, and Turkey. In 2020, Whittington signed a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets, but suffered through knee problems and did not see action. A successful arthroscopy in January paved the way for his elevation to the club last week, where Whittington played six minutes in the Nuggets 126-96 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, finishing with no points. Short term contracts are no guarantee of sustained success in the NBA. Former Georgetown forward Marcus Derrickson played in 11 games for the Golden State Warriors in 2018-19 but was subsequently cut and now plays in South Korea. Former center Omer Yurtseven (C'20) signed a contract with the Thunder in December and was waived a day later. For Whittington, however, a long journey has landed him with an opportunity that many saw in him while in college. |