Georgetown Basketball: 3 keys for Hoyas against Duke in 2K Empire Classic

1) Continue defensive surge

Georgetown wasn’t anything more than an average defensive team coming into the game against Texas and had given up at least 81 points in each of the previous two games. They even let Penn State make 13 three-pointers against them.

Somehow, the Hoyas found a switch that flipped in the second half against the Longhorns. They limited Texas to just 24 points in the second half after giving up 42 in the first, and they did so by packing the paint, playing actively and aggressively, and defending the rim.

Texas is a poor perimeter shooting team but excels from the inside, so Georgetown clogged the lane and forced the Longhorns to beat them on the perimeter. The Hoyas have enough length to still challenge those perimeter shots, and Texas missed most of them. However, they also continued to try to get their points inside, and Georgetown’s defense was ready.

The good news is that Duke has the same offensive strengths and weaknesses as Texas, although they are better overall. They have some athletic slashers and a bruising big man in Vernon Carey Jr., but they really struggle to shoot the three, making just over 30 percent of their shots from deep.

Georgetown’s best chance to limit Duke’s offense and win this game is to play this aggressive, sagging man-to-man against the Blue Devils for a full 40 minutes. Expect the Hoyas to try to make them win the game from the perimeter.