for those that are interested
credit to Patrick Stevens:
Georgetown was this close, and now it seems to be hanging on for dear life
By Patrick Stevens Mar 1, 2020
3
WASHINGTON — So much has changed in Georgetown’s basketball program over the course of Patrick Ewing’s third season as coach of his alma mater. And yet upon scrutiny, things have been largely static for the two-plus months of Big East play.
The Hoyas are short-handed. The Hoyas are scrappy.
Georgetown finds a way to make things interesting against nearly everyone. Georgetown ultimately falls to a conference opponent more often than not.
It is a roster with four fewer players than it began with, down two starters shelved with injuries and coming back heavens-knows-when and with an obvious vulnerability to foul trouble. It finds itself nearing the end of a run that had it flirting with an NCAA tournament bid a few weeks ago and now has it perilously close to .500 with Creighton, Villanova and the Big East tournament still to come.
March arrived Sunday, and with it, a 66-63 loss to a Xavier team far from at its best. A four-game skid at precisely the wrong time might suggest it is time to wonder if the Hoyas (15-14, 5-11) are finally so drained they have little left to give.
The latest defeat points to something more rooted in common sense and less tied to emotional and psychology: There aren’t enough options left for Georgetown to stitch together an extended run, game over game over game.
For his part, Ewing has little interest in fretting over the situation.
“I can’t worry about it,” he said. “There’s things you can worry about and that’s one of the things you can’t. These are the guys that we have, so we give them enough time. If we had our full complement of guys, we’d practice a lot more.”
There really isn’t much more he can say about the holding pattern of the past two months.
The basic structure of the Hoyas’ season was established by Christmas. Sophomores James Akinjo and Josh LeBlanc announced plans to transfer in early December. The Hoyas promptly beat Oklahoma State and Southern Methodist on the road. Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner departed after that trip. Georgetown won another four games before league play.
Then came the injuries. Sophomore guard Mac McClung has missed eight conference games and much of another. He wore a walking boot when he came to the Georgetown bench Sunday. Junior forward Omer Yurtseven sat out for the fourth time in five games Sunday, leaving the Hoyas without their best interior option.
Mix in some foul problems, and Georgetown found itself fielding a lineup with senior Jagan Mosely, junior Jahvon Blair (who was a healthy DNP in one November game), freshman Timothy Ighoefe (he of the 69 minutes in nine games entering Sunday) and walk-ons George Muresan and Jaden Robinson for a nearly four-minute stretch against Xavier (19-10, 8-8).
And in a fashion perfect for these Hoyas, those five managed to outscore Xavier 5-0 and keep Georgetown within range of the sloppy Musketeers.
“You could tell his team plays extremely hard,” said Xavier coach Travis Steele, whose team had 23 turnovers. “They play together. I think they play the right way.”
It explains how Georgetown found itself down nine in the final eight minutes, only to tie it at 61 on a Blair 3-pointer and at 63 on Ighoefe’s putback.
There just wasn’t another answer after Xavier forward Naji Marshall’s 3 with 4.5 seconds remaining.
“We fought hard,” Ewing said. “We were right there. We tied the game. He made a huge 3.”
There’s no telling precisely what the Hoyas’ players thought of Sunday’s proceedings; as is Georgetown’s custom after losses, no players were made available for postgame interviews. But it probably would not stray far from the expected: Next man up. Gotta make do with what they have. They have enough to get by.
Last month’s 73-66 victory at Butler aside, the latter part clearly is not true in a sustainable sense. The Hoyas are a manageable 3-5 without McClung because of guards like Allen and Blair, who have provided plenty of value. They are a more worrisome 1-3 without Yurtseven, an all-conference caliber big man who is not so easily replaced.
The Hoyas ran out of guys, not out of gas. Still, Ewing isn’t waiting for Yurtseven — or anyone else, for that matter — with the final days of the season soon on the horizon.
“There’s no target date,” Ewing said. “Whenever they tell me he’s ready, that’s when he’s going to step out there. I can’t worry about if he’s coming back or if Mac’s coming back. I can’t worry about that. All I can worry about is who’s ready. That’s who I coach.”
credit to Patrick Stevens:
Georgetown was this close, and now it seems to be hanging on for dear life
By Patrick Stevens Mar 1, 2020
WASHINGTON — So much has changed in Georgetown’s basketball program over the course of Patrick Ewing’s third season as coach of his alma mater. And yet upon scrutiny, things have been largely static for the two-plus months of Big East play.
The Hoyas are short-handed. The Hoyas are scrappy.
Georgetown finds a way to make things interesting against nearly everyone. Georgetown ultimately falls to a conference opponent more often than not.
It is a roster with four fewer players than it began with, down two starters shelved with injuries and coming back heavens-knows-when and with an obvious vulnerability to foul trouble. It finds itself nearing the end of a run that had it flirting with an NCAA tournament bid a few weeks ago and now has it perilously close to .500 with Creighton, Villanova and the Big East tournament still to come.
March arrived Sunday, and with it, a 66-63 loss to a Xavier team far from at its best. A four-game skid at precisely the wrong time might suggest it is time to wonder if the Hoyas (15-14, 5-11) are finally so drained they have little left to give.
The latest defeat points to something more rooted in common sense and less tied to emotional and psychology: There aren’t enough options left for Georgetown to stitch together an extended run, game over game over game.
For his part, Ewing has little interest in fretting over the situation.
“I can’t worry about it,” he said. “There’s things you can worry about and that’s one of the things you can’t. These are the guys that we have, so we give them enough time. If we had our full complement of guys, we’d practice a lot more.”
There really isn’t much more he can say about the holding pattern of the past two months.
The basic structure of the Hoyas’ season was established by Christmas. Sophomores James Akinjo and Josh LeBlanc announced plans to transfer in early December. The Hoyas promptly beat Oklahoma State and Southern Methodist on the road. Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner departed after that trip. Georgetown won another four games before league play.
Then came the injuries. Sophomore guard Mac McClung has missed eight conference games and much of another. He wore a walking boot when he came to the Georgetown bench Sunday. Junior forward Omer Yurtseven sat out for the fourth time in five games Sunday, leaving the Hoyas without their best interior option.
Mix in some foul problems, and Georgetown found itself fielding a lineup with senior Jagan Mosely, junior Jahvon Blair (who was a healthy DNP in one November game), freshman Timothy Ighoefe (he of the 69 minutes in nine games entering Sunday) and walk-ons George Muresan and Jaden Robinson for a nearly four-minute stretch against Xavier (19-10, 8-8).
And in a fashion perfect for these Hoyas, those five managed to outscore Xavier 5-0 and keep Georgetown within range of the sloppy Musketeers.
“You could tell his team plays extremely hard,” said Xavier coach Travis Steele, whose team had 23 turnovers. “They play together. I think they play the right way.”
It explains how Georgetown found itself down nine in the final eight minutes, only to tie it at 61 on a Blair 3-pointer and at 63 on Ighoefe’s putback.
There just wasn’t another answer after Xavier forward Naji Marshall’s 3 with 4.5 seconds remaining.
“We fought hard,” Ewing said. “We were right there. We tied the game. He made a huge 3.”
There’s no telling precisely what the Hoyas’ players thought of Sunday’s proceedings; as is Georgetown’s custom after losses, no players were made available for postgame interviews. But it probably would not stray far from the expected: Next man up. Gotta make do with what they have. They have enough to get by.
Last month’s 73-66 victory at Butler aside, the latter part clearly is not true in a sustainable sense. The Hoyas are a manageable 3-5 without McClung because of guards like Allen and Blair, who have provided plenty of value. They are a more worrisome 1-3 without Yurtseven, an all-conference caliber big man who is not so easily replaced.
The Hoyas ran out of guys, not out of gas. Still, Ewing isn’t waiting for Yurtseven — or anyone else, for that matter — with the final days of the season soon on the horizon.
“There’s no target date,” Ewing said. “Whenever they tell me he’s ready, that’s when he’s going to step out there. I can’t worry about if he’s coming back or if Mac’s coming back. I can’t worry about that. All I can worry about is who’s ready. That’s who I coach.”
