Jason Clark is quietly making an outside run for Big East player of the year. While the senior guard and captain leads a definitively balanced attack, highlighted by senior center Henry Sims and junior forward Hollis Thompson, he continues to take over games when Georgetown needs him most.
Against DePaul, Clark scored 31 points, on 11-of-14 shooting, including a 5-of-7 performance from beyond the arc. He added five rebounds and four steals in another solid all-around game, his only blemish coming at the free-throw line, where the 76 percent free-throw shooter went 4-of-9 from the charity stripe.
"I think it was coming through our offense," Clark said of his efficient performance. "I'd been on a stretch where I haven't been, you know, making a lot of three-pointers, but today they were falling."
That stretch encompassed much of the last month. Since a win over NJIT on Dec. 3, Clark has made just 6 of 32 attempts from behind the three-point line, an 18.8 percent mark from long range.
Many fans may discount this win — a defeat of DePaul, a perennial Big East doormat — as more of a cause for relief than celebration. However, on another night where turnovers and poor free-throw shooting nearly undid this young Blue and Gray team, Georgetown was also able to deal with the added burden of playing without starting sophomore point guard Markel Starks, out at the last minute with a stomach virus.
That left just Clark and freshman Jabril Trawick as the only two guards on the Hoyas' roster. Trawick played very well, scoring nine points in just 12 minutes, but Clark was the star of the night, repeatedly flashing impressive finishing skills in transition.
More importantly, wins against the Big East's underperforming squads — St. John's, DePaul and Providence come to mind — are as uneasy as they are necessary, and Clark knows that. As a sophomore, he started every game in a season in which the Hoyas thrashed eventual NCAA-title contenders Duke and Butler, but also lost to Rutgers and South Florida. That team ending its season with an infamous loss to Ohio in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Tuesday night's victory against DePaul was an all around good win, a testament to the talent of such a young team that was able to win two road games in three days to end a two-game losing streak. Georgetown rebounded very well and surged ahead early in the second half. DePaul was able to hang around for the first half, as most teams have done with the Hoyas this season, but fell back as the game went on.
Nevertheless, those turnovers just keep showing up.
"Wins in this league are difficult to come by. Road wins in this league are very difficult to come by. To that extent, it was a good day," Head Coach John Thompson III said. "I don't like our execution at the end. … I don't want to take anything away from their effort. … To come in here and win is good, but we have to be better."
"[DePaul's] press was pretty hard at first, but we had to go big on them and use our length on their press," Clark said at practice on Thursday.
And the free-throws — Georgetown shot 16-of-28 from the charity stripe — remain maddening for all parties involved.
"It's a mystery," Clark said of the Hoyas poor performance at the line. "Right now we're going through a stretch where we're just missing some free throws. It's crazy we're missing as a team, but everybody came in yesterday and did some extra work on free throws."
"Our good shooters are missing our foul shots, and they are good shooters and they work on it and I don't know," Thompson III said, chuckling. "As a coach, what's the right answer, do you beat them up about it, so they think about it, or do you ignore it? It would be different if your bad shooters are missing, but I don't know."
Despite the bad showing at the line, Clark's 31-point performance is just the sixth time John Thompson III has had a player score more than 30 points in a game.
And with Clark seemingly hitting his stride, the Hoyas can focus on the remainder of their daunting Big East schedule.
"During that [two-game losing] stretch, we didn't rebound and we didn't defend, so if we focus on those two things and the turnovers — let's not forget those," Thompson III said.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!