Georgetown Basketball: Instant reaction to the Hoyas loss versus Providence
Georgetown fails to finish in a 74-69 loss to Providence. It’s another close loss for the Hoyas.
For Georgetown today’s 74-69 loss to Providence looked eerily similar to the first game. In the February 6th game, Georgetown let a winnable game slip away allowing the Friars to close the game with a 9-0 run in the 73-69 loss. With the Friars square on the bubble (Lunardi had them as a 10 seed coming into today), Georgetown held a 40-35 lead at halftime.
But a 23-7 second half run would put the Friars run would up 11 with 7:48 left. But, as we’ve seen with this Georgetown team all year, there’s no give up. With the help of their full court pres they got back into the game as a Marcus Derrickson layup cut the Friars lead down to one with 1:11 left.
But that is as close as they would get. Providence would take advantage of a scramble situation as the shot clock was winding and got a Diallo layup and foul (he missed the free throw). Down by three, the Hoyas, Jahvon Blair was forced inside the three-point line and missed a floater forcing the Hoyas to foul. Rodney Bullock would close out the scoring with two free throws in the victory.
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A Tale of Two Halves For Govan
It was obvious Coach Ewing wanted to get the ball to Jessie Govan early and often. The junior big man was 7-8 from the field in the first half. The touches varied. There were times in the first half where he posted shallow in the paint. Other times he was at the high post where he feels very comfortable with that free throw line/elbow jump shot.
In the second half, the Friars limited his touches by pressuring Georgetown’s guards. Not only did Govan get less quality touches but when the did get the ball in the lane, the Friars doubled. This led to 1-7 shooting in the second half with the only made field goal being a three.
Ewing’s Technical Didn’t Spur the Team On
Sometimes when a coach gets a technical, the team picks up or, at the very least, gets a call or two. That didn’t happen when Ewing received a technical 3:15 into the second half. The Friars went on a 12-3 run.
Coach Ewing was upset with the refs allowing Providence defenders slide under Govan.
The Friars second half adjustments were very effective at not allowing Georgetown to get good spacing. As the space closed up in the halfcourt, Georgetown’s offense bogged down.
The Hoyas would shoot 27.6% in the last 20 minutes including Govan and Derrickson combining for 3-15 shooting.
Hoya Defense Must Force More Turnovers
Georgetown got back in the game in the second half with their press. After only forcing one turnover in the first half, the Hoya defense forced three in the second. Neither one of those numbers are going to make a coach jump out of their chair in excitement. Coming into today, Georgetown was ranked 263rd, KenPom.com in the nation in Defensive Turnover %.
In today’s game, it’s hard to win games without turning teams over, or at the very least, get easy baskets. Georgetown would finish the game with a pedestrian 10 fast break points. Since Coach Ewing has been hired, he has stressed that he wanted a quicker tempo.
The Hoyas are ranked 69th in Adjusted Tempo but it isn’t necessarily leading to enough points in transition.
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Up next for the Hoyas is Marquette. The Warriors will be coming off an upset loss to DePaul.