Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Win Secures First Round Bye for Hoyas

After beating a string of illnesses, the Hoyas had no trouble on the basketball court in their regular season finale.

Back at full strength, No. 19 Georgetown (20-9, 10-8 Big East) secured a first-round bye in the Big East tournament with a convincing 74-47 win over Cincinnati (16-14, 7-11). Junior guard Austin Freeman, playing in his first game since being diagnosed with diabetes, scored a game-high 24 points, and sophomore center Greg Monroe had 19 points and 15 rebounds.

“Just in general, our team is healthy and we haven’t been in a while,” said Head Coach John Thompson III, who said on Thursday that over half his players had been fighting either colds or the flu the past two weeks.

Georgetown will play at noon on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden against the winner of the game between the ninth seed and the 16th seed.

Georgetown led by three after a back-and-forth first half but quickly turned the game into a blowout in the second frame. A Freeman three-pointer keyed a 13-3 run over six minutes that put the Hoyas up 50-35.

“I think that second half may have been our best half of the year,” Thompson said. “It was one of our better halves, if not the best, just in terms of our execution at both ends of the court.”

The lead was as large as 31 in the second half with Cincinnati’s offense faltering. The Bearcats made eight shots and turned the ball over 12 times. Aside freshman Lance Stephenson, who scored 23 points, Cincinnati shot 8-of-32 from the field for the game.

“It was a tale of two halves. . Second half we got totally outplayed,” Bearcats Head Coach Mick Cronin said. “Their players put the ball in the basket. We struggled to make layups, struggled to make free throws, struggled to make open shots.”

The Bearcats have now lost five of their last six, including three straight setbacks against ranked opponents.

Freeman, who played limited minutes a week ago in a loss to Notre Dame and missed Monday’s loss to West Virginia, looked like his old self. The guard scored on drives and from beyond the arc, finding open looks with movement off the ball and with his own dribble.

“It was just good to be out there again playing with my teammates and just doing what I do,” Freeman said. “It was a lot of fun to be out there.”

The Hoyas’ leading scorer hit shots early and often. He had five of the team’s first nine points and poured in 14 second-half points.

Led by Monroe, the Hoyas held a 40-28 rebounding edge against a Bearcats team that entered the game ranked second in the league and 12th in the nation in rebounding margin (plus 6.9 rebounds per game).

“I’ve got to watch the tape. I thought [Monroe] had more than 15 rebounds,” Thompson said. “I felt like he got every rebound. He got the ones we needed.”

Fifteen offensive rebounds and seven steals gave Georgetown 11 more shot attempts than Cincinnati, and the Hoyas hit 46.7 percent of their shots.

Monroe’s 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting were nearly as many as he scored in two losses combined a year ago to Cincinnati.

“They allow [Monroe] to play on top more now that [DaJuan] Summers is gone, which is his strength because he’s a real great passer,” said Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates, who played with Monroe over the summer at the Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy. “I think the difference is that Greg has the ball more now that Summers is gone.”

Junior point guard Chris Wright added 16 points and four assists, and sophomore guard Jason Clark had 11 points and five rebounds.

Now healthy as a team, the Hoyas will look to put their 2-4 finish to the season behind them in the postseason.”

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