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

Analysis: Summers Cold From Three, Must Expand His Game

On the Hoyas’ first possession, junior forward DaJuan Summers lined up and missed a three-pointer from the right corner. Just before he fouled out, Summers missed his fourth try from beyond the arc, brining his season line from the field to 6-of-13 and 0-of-5 from long distance.

Things did not improve the second time down the floor: Summers missed a three-pointer from the opposite corner. The Baltimore native finished with 10 points and four rebounds, but fouled out with 6:27 to play.

The second half brought out a different Summers. He made two free throws less than a minute into the period and finished a fast break with a powerful dunk a few seconds after those. Three minutes in, he picked off an errant pass by Drexel senior guard Scott Rodgers, tiptoed along the sideline and started a fast break. When he could not find an open shot, he wisely pulled up and started an offensive set before turning the ball over and committing his third foul of the game.

Summer can be expected to commit more fouls this year if he plays consistently in the front court, but he picked up a couple of today’s fouls away from the paint on a would-be Drexel shooter.

Head Coach John Thompson III said that Summers has been playing as well as he has ever played, even if he does not have the stats to show for it.

“He’s playing at an extremely high level right now,” Thompson said. “Shots haven’t fallen, but I don’t think he’s been inconsistent. His maturation process has been extreme. He’s been letting it come to him, whereas in years passed he’s pressed a lot.”

The season is still young, but Summers has continued to spend significant time on the perimeter. Against Jacksonville on Monday, Summers hit all four shots he took in the paint. Today, he was 2-of-3 from inside and 0-of-4 from deep.

In his previous seasons, Summers has had some combination of the experienced Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert (COL ’08) to play the role of dominant big man. During his freshman campaign, he could afford to spend time floating near the three-point line as Green and Hibbert did the bulk of the inside dirty work.

Freshman center Greg Monroe has been the Hoyas best player so far, but the frontcourt is thin after him with freshman Henry Sims, redshirt freshman Nikita Mescheriakov and the currently injured sophomore transfer Julian Vaughn all still unknown commodities.

In both games, Monroe has been the dominant presence in the paint. He has led the team in rebounding in both games and is 13-of-19 from the field so far. Monroe’s success and the further development of freshmen Jason Clark and Sims is more important than Summers’ statistics, Thompson said.

“In previous years, my approach to the game was always trying to score. I felt like I was a scorer,” Summers told THE HOYA earlier this year. “I still am a scorer, but I felt like that was the only way I could affect the game.”

“We know DaJuan’s going to be there. . But we need to make sure that other guys get touches, learn the flow of the game,” Thompson said, “Because there hasn’t been, there’s no stress. At this point in the year, we have to make sure that everyone gets a comfort level for what we’re trying to do.”

Early home games against two mid-majors have not been major stress tests for this young Georgetown team, but they were undersized opponents from small conferences not accustomed to Big East play. Even if Summers is to shift his focus away from scoring, at 6-foot-8 and with two years of significant playing time under his belt, Summers must begin to consistently do other things as proficiently as he can, on his best days, score the basketball.

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