Sluggish Second Half Dooms Hoyas in Trap Game
No. 7 Georgetown Lets a 11-Point Lead Slip Away in Second Half
After a loud, intimidating atmosphere in the Verizon Center during last Saturday’s win over Duke, Georgetown fans didn’t seem to realize there was a game sandwiched in between Duke and Villanova. For much of the second half the Hoyas didn’t seem to either.
No. 7 Georgetown (16-5, 6-4), fresh off its trouncing of then-No. 8 Duke struggled from the free-throw line and the field in the second half of the 72-64 loss, taking one on the chin from an upstart South Florida (15-7, 5-5) squad in front of 12,207 fans at a half-filled Verizon Center.
“This is the best win in our school history of basketball,” South Florida Head Coach Stan Heath said. “To beat an outstanding team like Georgetown, I have no idea if they were enjoying Duke or looking ahead to Villanova but we played really well, we played really hard and we became the more aggressive team in the second half.”
Early on it was all Greg Monroe for Georgetown as the sophomore center dominated the Bulls’ man-to-man defense for 10 points in the first 12 minutes and 14 in the half. The Bulls, who rode a three-game winning streak into the nation’s capital and had upset Pittsburgh, would not go away, pulling to within three on a layup by sophomore guard Dominique Jones with 7:45 to play to edge the score to 22-19.
Jones, who came into the game averaging 22.1 points per game, started off slowly due in part to the defensive job of sophomore guard Jason Clark, who spent most of his day matched up on the Bulls’ scorer. A foul by freshman forward Hollis Thompson at the 8:25 mark sent Jones to the line where he drained both. He added a layup the next time down after grabbing an offensive rebound. Another layup and one more foul shot gave Jones seven points at the break.
“He got off to a really slow start,” Heath said. “I think finally he got to the free throw line and he started attacking a little bit more and made a couple shots, and once he got going, he was really hard to stop.”
Despite Jones’ surge, the Hoyas started to pull away, amassing an 11-point lead with 90 seconds to play. Junior guard Austin Freeman, who had a team-high 21 points, led the charge with 11 first-half points.
The Hoyas built their lead back to 11 in the second half after junior guard Chris Wright (eight points, five assists) hit layups on back-to-back possessions to make the score 39-28.
Wright’s hot start was overshadowed by two quick fouls by Monroe, who picked up his second and third fouls in under 30 seconds with 19 minutes to play. Rather than sit his star center, Head Coach John Thompson III chose to let Monroe play. Monroe, who had 21 points, managed only seven points and no rebounds in the second half, but he said the fouls didn’t affect how he played.
“I didn’t change anything. Coach kept me in and I was still playing so I didn’t change anything,” Monroe said.
Down nine, Jones and the Bulls gave an already lifeless Verizon Center even more reason to be quiet, ripping off a 15-2 run to take their first lead since the score was 10-9 in the first half.
Jones had eight points for the Bulls in the run and 22 in the second half for a game-high 29.
“I think he does a very good job of taking what you give him,” Thompson said. “He does a very good job for someone who scores as many points as he does of not forcing anything.”
The Hoyas, who had seven assists to six turnovers in the first half, got sloppy in the second half with eight turnovers to just three assists.
“Chris got that first layup, and then [South Florida] slowly stuck with it and we fell out of rhythm,” Thompson said.
The Hoyas, who shot 60 percent in the first half, could not keep it up in the second stanza, shooting just 36 percent, and 48 percent for the game. South Florida shot 49 percent for the game, and a blistering 65.2 percent in the second half.
Despite the Bulls’ comeback, the Hoyas responded. Coming out of a timeout, trailing by eight at 52-44, the Hoyas broke out with a 9-4 mini-run, but missed free throws ultimately doomed Georgetown.
The free-throw line was anything but free for the Hoyas, who went 11-of-22 from the charity stripe on the day, including a woeful 6-of-14 in the final 10:09. Monroe was 3-of-7 from the line and junior forward Julian Vaughn (five points, six rebounds) was 1-of-4.
“The things that happen during the course of a game, we take pride in controlling the things we can control, and today we didn’t control the things that we can control, being foul shots and some of those turnovers,” Thompson said.
A questionable foul on Monroe with 2:59 to play sent the sophomore to the bench and allowed junior forward Jarrid Famous to increase the USF lead to 59-56 with a free throw. A missed three by Wright the next time down was answered with a mid-range jumper from Jones to make the lead five. The Hoyas went to the line on both of the next two possessions, but only managed to go 1-for-4. Two layups by the Bulls increased the lead to eight, sealing the Hoyas’ fate.
After a stirring win on Saturday, the Hoyas are now left with plenty of questions to answer as they prepare for No. 2 Villanova.
“I don’t know what happened tonight,” Monroe said. “We definitely [weren't] looking backwards and we definitely [weren't] looking forwards. As a team, we have to be more focused to win games like this.”
The Hoyas host Villanova on Saturday at Verizon Center. Tipoff is set for noon.
Feb 03 2010 at 11:32 p.m.
Students- you should all be ashamed. The student section was empty tonight. It's the 4th week of classes. What a joke.
1) A lot of you who go to the games and sit near the front are silent. Do us a favor and sit in the back.
2) If you were going to class or doing work, you are way too dorky for this school. Consider a transfer to Carnegie Mellon or something.
Feb 04 2010 at 12:14 a.m.
"If we are going to be an elite team, we need an elite fanbase. For you (the students) to not show up to one of our last five home games is laughable."
http://www.casualhoya.com/2010/2/3/1291684/trap-game-blues-south-florida#comments
Feb 04 2010 at 1:57 a.m.
This is what happens when:
a) You miss 11 free throws, including 9 in the 2nd half
b) Chris Wright shoots 3-for-10 and becomes a ballhog late in the game
c) You get 2 points from your bench
d) You settle for jump shot after jump shot in the 2nd half
I can't understand what happened to our shooting in the 2nd half. We shot 60% in the first half, 36% in the second half.
Feb 04 2010 at 6:32 a.m.
Hoya10, Casual Hoya
Excuse me, but who is it that's getting a free ride? It's not the student fans...it's the players! Don't blame students; blame the primadonnas on the court who are financially compensated in the form of free tuition, etc., to win games. When the prez is in attendance they're chest thumping, fist pumping show offs. When it's a small unrecognized school they blow it off as though they have an entitlement to the win. Ooops! I guess South Florida didn't get the memo. You can tell how bad it's going when they sink a free throw (a rarity in this game)and act like they won the Final Four.
It's starting to look like last season where everyone was out for themselves, not the team. The only joke in this game was on the court, and it wasn't funny. You want us to show up for games with spirit, act like a team and not the circus.
Feb 04 2010 at 8:29 a.m.
The turnout by the students was a joke. There's no "Duke/Cuse/Nova" only ticket plan that I know of, yet that's what the campus sees it as. Any person who couldn't make it to the game tonight and didn't find a way to see that his or her ticket was used is ridiculous. I know multiple people who were abroad last semester and need tickets. Putting up a simple Facebook status that says "I have an extra USF ticket, who's interested?" can get more people to the game.
Furthermore, the students who were at the game were clowns. Not to excuse Dominique Jones, taunting the crowd after a win, but you have the gall to chant "NIT" back at him? He just beat top 10 team lost on its home court. You have no right to get back in his face, you just have to sit there and take it.
---
But on another note, what did Vee and Henry do so that they will never see playing time again? Instead we have the Chris Wright "jack threes and leave them short" show. Put in Vee, he's a decent perimeter shooter and might get hot. He won't get hot from the bench, and if he doesn't, well the game was lost anyway.
Feb 04 2010 at 10:53 a.m.
Dejavu, there's plenty of other spaces in which the players can be criticized. The student body need to know that last night was unacceptable. It's not the reason we lost, but it's embarrassing to our basketball program and was certainly a factor in making it a 'neutral' game.
Feb 04 2010 at 12:43 p.m.
I have been a Hoya fan for 50 years. I have the greatest respect for JT III as I did for his father. I know nothing about coaching a basketball team. That being said..........
Coach Thompson missed it! I just heard the post game interview. He stated he didn't think Monroe getting fouls 2 and 3 had any effect. I watch the entire game until the last minute and a half when I couldn't bare to watch anymore. The entire demeanor of the team changed after Greg picked up foul 3. I presume the USF coaches strategy was to take Monroe out of the game by placing him in foul trouble. He got this accomplished and I believe changed the course of the game. Coach Thompson should see this and have a counter strategy for this. Just has he should have had a solution for the Syracuse Zone in the second half of that game. Just such a strategy was suggested in an area website last week. JT III has to have game strategy adjustments if we are going to get anywhere. He may know basketball but psychology is my field and he has to understand the psychological fragility of these fine talented young men(who, as an alumni, I am very proud of)and be able to make midgame adjustment that refocus and reenergize them.
Feb 04 2010 at 3:05 p.m.
Apart from having a short bench and (maybe) a lack of focus, I don't really think you can fault Georgetown for this loss. Let's face it: USF is playing better than they have in school history. Just ask Pitt. The Big East is a tough league. Next story.
Feb 04 2010 at 3:49 p.m.
Dejavu -
So you knew that Georgetown wasn't going to play well, that's why you didn't go to the game?
That is what your post implies.
Your fellow students just came off a defining victory and you couldn't muster up the energy to support them against a Big East foe? You're a joke - you should have applied to Emory.
Feb 04 2010 at 4:08 p.m.
Dejavu
Let me get this straight, young Hoya friend...
...you didn't come because the guys blew off an unrecognized school? Did you know they blew it off before it happened? Is that why you didn't show up? I don't get it...I think we should change the figure of speech from "the Chicken and the Egg" to "the Student Section Fail and the Loss"
Or did YOU decide it was an unrecognized school when anyone with the ability to scout our competition (read: check ESPN) knew this wasn't going to be a pushover?
Also, if you were at the game, you'd know Chris Wright was calling for more noise from the fans, just like he was at the Duke game.
Feb 04 2010 at 5:36 p.m.
Dejavu: You're right, it is starting to look like last year, as in when students stopped showing up because they're fair weathered. It pains me to acknowledge this, but I go to a school with a student body full of fair weathered bandwagon fans. I do not count myself as one of them. We can sell out against Duke, but I'm worried about anybody showing up on Saturday for a conference game against the #2 team in the country. Your blaming of the players and demanding that they provide before you support only proves your fair weathered-ness. The idea of the student body as a fan base is unconditional support of the team.
As for not faulting Georgetown for losing to USF: If they lost a hard fought game, I'd chalk it up to being a Big East game. However, collapsing down the stretch, lacking any energy or drive, and the sloppy play on both ends of the court make this a frustrating loss.
As for Dominique Jones: Yes, his taunting of us in the student section lacked class, but you cannot chant "You suck!" or "NIT!" at a player who just dropped 29 points on your #7 team on their home floor. Learn a thing or two about the game of basketball, please.