Hoyas Travel to 'Cuse After Week of Rest

Having lost seven of their last eight games, the Hoyas have been busy explaining away their struggles: Jessie Sapp is dropping off, Greg Monroe is approaching the freshman wall and Head Coach John Thompson III cannot adjust — all explanations that have been thrown around. Most recently, with rival Syracuse on tap tomorrow, the focus has shifted to team chemistry — and a perceived lack of it in the Hoyas.

Thompson is not buying it.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of togetherness,” he said yesterday. “It’s just that in the course of losing, you start to — its human nature — you start to question and doubt and curious and wonder about yourself. I think just getting back to remembering [that] we’re pretty good. And we can be pretty good, and we will be pretty good. This group, and I said this in the middle of this stretch, I still have a lot of confidence in these [guys]…and now we have to get that confidence back.”

Indeed, in preparing for the rival No. 23 Orange (18-7, 6-6 Big East), the Hoyas (13-9, 4-7) say they have paid more attention to their own roster than their opponent’s. Thompson likes to say, “It’s about us.” Never has that sentiment been truer.

“Have we gone through and watched bits and pieces of [Georgetown’s 88-74 win over Syracuse on Jan. 14] game for Saturday’s game? Yes,” Thompson said. “Has there been a big speech — ‘Hey, fellas, do what you did then’? No. This was just about us. This week, we got a chance to just step back and then hopefully improve.”

Sophomore guard Chris Wright added, “This has been the first week in a long time that we haven’t had a game. It was good for us to be in practice, and really practice, and really kind of in a sense be in the lab and just work on what we want to do, and get back to the basics and the fundamentals and what we’re accustomed to doing.”

While Thompson stopped short Thursday of saying that his team lacked chemistry, he did expound on what it would take for a team to come together.

“The notion of trying to get the group to understand the individual’s sacrifices that are necessary for the group to succeed — that’s difficult within every team,” Thompson said. “I shouldn’t say difficult. It’s a process that most of the time is like an evolution in any team concept. It’s not in human nature to come in and say, ‘I’m not going to care about me, I’m just going to care about ya’ll.’ But by getting people to understand that by caring about ‘ya’ll,’ I may then get more or may succeed or may have more success.”

Last Saturday against Cincinnati, senior guard Jessie Sapp played just six minutes and spent the entire second half on the bench. Junior forward DaJuan Summers, the team’s leading scorer, had just seven points and three turnovers. If the Hoyas intend to turn this season around, they’ll need Sapp and Summers to return to form — not just statistically, but as team leaders.

Still, Thompson would not call out his two most experienced players at yesterday’s press opportunity.

“I’m not ready to say that [Sapp and Summers need to step up],” Thompson said. “When things aren’t going well and as a coach, as a reporter, as a fan you start to question everything — and you can start to drive yourself crazy. It’s a group. We have 12 players, 13 players, four coaches, a couple of managers, a trainer and all of us are in this. All of us have to figure this thing out together. It’s not just about any one or two people.”

For his part, Sapp said that while he is “not the most happy person in the world,” he has taken in stride last week’s benching — which he said took place because “Coach felt the team needed whatever unit he had out there, out there.”

“I’m going to work hard whether I’m playing in the game or I’m not,” Sapp said. “I’m going to work hard at practice to try and better myself and my teammates as well. I’m not going to give my teammates the short end of the stick because I didn’t play last weekend. Nah, we’ve worked too hard as a unit for me to even think about me. That’s just plain selfish.”

Part of what this young team needs to realize, and what Sapp alluded to, is something Thompson has said several times before: Winning isn’t always fun. Wright echoed that sentiment.

“It’s not always fun because you have to do things you don’t want to, and it’s always a constant battle of what’s best for the team instead of what’s best for yourself or best for you or some other guy,” he said. “It’s a battle, and you have to fight it. Winning is hard, and you have to make some sacrifices and we’re starting to learn that.”

The Orange come into tomorrow’s affair having lost five of their last six. ’Cuse fell to No. 1 UConn Wednesday night, 63-49. Junior forward Arinze Onuaku (six points, 11 boards on Jan. 14) has been battling a sore knee, and his team has been struggling to overcome defensive lapses, which have allowed opponents to score over 100 in two of Syracuse’s last four games.

Offensively, the Orange have averaged nearly 15 turnovers over their past six games and rank 15th in the league in turnover margin.

To make the NCAA tournament, Georgetown likely needs to win two of its four remaining games against quality opponents — at Syracuse, home against Marquette and Louisville, and at Villanova. If the Hoyas can steal a win at the hostile Carrier Dome, they will go a long way towards restoring hope on the Hilltop.

Even Thompson has thought about the “big picture” enough to realize his team is not dead yet.

“If we look at the big picture, which I don’t do, we’re still not in a bad position,” he said. “We’re not in the position we want to be in by any stretch of the imagination. If you look at strength of schedule and RPI coupled with the amount of games we have left, we’re not in a bad position relative to the world. Relative to where we want to be, we’re obviously not where we want to be. At the same time I do believe in this group.”

Georgetown and Syracuse tip off the 81st installment of their rivalry tomorrow at noon.