Georgetown Basketball: Seton Hall Wrap Up

Georgetown was bedeviled by another uneven performance in their 78-67 to Seton Hall.

The problems were the same ones that has been there all season. There are way too many defensive breakdowns. Jamorko Pickett had another inefficient, low percentage performance on offense. Wahab missed his first six shots before picking it up. There were even times when Qudus Wahab look tentative against Ike Obiagu. He was much more effective when a player like Tyrese Samuel was on him. If you’re looking for something positive, after an 0-6 start from the field, Wahab (6-14 from the field) would finish with 16 point, 13 rebound performance.

Seton Hall was so dominated, they were up 14 points at halftime despite the Pirates’ best player, Sandro Mamukelashvili playing a scoreless first half on one shot attempt.

But the Pirates perimeter shooters more than made up for it, hitting nine three pointers.

On this cold, yucky Christmas Eve, there are some presents that I hope are under head coach Patrick’s Ewing’s Christmas tree.

Impactful Offense from Pickett

It’s hard to get a handle on Pickett. On the surface, you look at his game and it should be tailor-made for college. Long and athletic who can put the ball on the small 16 feet or so from the basket and who can also stretch. But we haven’t seen it especially in conference play. Pickett is shooting a 8-32 (25%) from the floor. What is even more damning is out of the 32 attempts, only six are three-pointers. It isn’t like he’s jacking up a bunch of long jumpers.

So what gives?

Simply put, it’s the offense. When teams go man and Wahab is out on the floor, Georgetown tends to go four out one in. This creates enough spacing for Wahab to get the ball and go to one of his pet moves. It’s also killing Pickett.

What would benefit Pickett is more screen action that would force mismatches if teams choose to switch. Part of the problem could be that Jahvon Blair isn’t a true point guard and Dante Harris is a freshman, that after his first game (22 points vs St. John’s), he’s struggled.

How about going screen and roll with Wahab, having Blair and Donald Carey in a position to become spot-up shooters. It’s certainly not something you would go to all the time but there has be a way to use Pickett’s skillset in a better way.

Freshmen Growth

Overturning a roster is bad enough but overturning a roster was a tremendous challenge with Covid-19. Ewing was faced with bringing in multiple freshmen and transfers with a small calendar made even smaller by having players come in later (by no fault of theirs) than other teams in the conference.

Right now, Harris is getting the most playing time among the freshmen, in part, because Jalen Harris (no relation) has taken a leave of absence from the program. As previously stated, Harris came out like gang-busters with a 22-point performance at home against St. John’s. It’s been a different story since then.

In the last two games, both on the road, Harris looked like a freshman point guard shooting 4-17 with eight turnovers. He’s been put in a difficult situation and his turnovers are particularly hurtful when you consider the offense isn’t asking him to make a lot of decisions. It anything, it should give more appreciation to what James Akinjo accomplished in his freshman year when he was asked to run a more diverse offense from day one.

Kobe Clark should some potential in the UMBC game grabbing 10 rebounds. Unfortunately for Clark, he got injured (ankle) in the Coppin State game. Clark returned to action last night against Seton Hall but only played four minutes. For Clark and fellow freshmen, TJ Berger and Jamari Sibley, getting the opportunity to grow via playing more minutes is essential.

Of course, Georgetown is trying to win every game but there has to be an eye on the future.

Speaking of the future…

Ewing has a top 25 recruiting class coming in. The class includes a five-star, two four-stars, and two three-stars.

Due to all the transfers, Georgetown has yet to develop continuity in Ewing’s four years. If Georgetown’s administration continues to show patience, they could be rewarded with this class.

Think about this roster next season:

Veterans
Qudus Wahab
Timothy Iguoefe
Malcolm Wilson

Returning Freshmen
Dante Harris
Jamari Sibley
TJ Berger
Kobe Clark

Incoming Freshmen
Aminu Mohammed (5-star)
Jordan Riley (4-star)
Ryan Mutombo (4-star)
Jalin Billingsley (3-star)
Tyler Beard (3-star)

The temptation would be to add a veteran from the transfer portal to this team. Ewing should resist. If this program is going to get to the next level, he will need to let this roster develop with bringing in a one-year stop gap.

Outlook

Georgetown was picked to finish last in the Big East and there’s still time for that not to happen. The roster has flexibility and, not to make excuses, Ewing is putting together nine different pieces on the fly. That’s not easy for any coach especially with a short offseason. John Calipari is having similar issues at Kentucky so this is far from being a Georgetown issue.

As always, when you’re faced with a situation like this, it requires patience from the coaching staff and the administration.

Photo credit: Porter Binks / BIG EAST Conference

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