Once again the Hoyas come back from double-digits down
There are three constants: Death. Taxes. Georgetown being down by double-digits.
For the third straight game, Georgetown found themselves down by double-digits. This time is came at the hands of DePaul. The footprint looked the same as it did against St. John’s and Seton Hall. Georgetown split those games. The opponent comes out and shoots the ball out of their minds while the Hoyas search to get in a rhythm. Once they do they make an incredible run wondering leaving you to wonder why they can’t come out that way.
In today’s Georgtown’s 76-72 win, the Hoyas again proved that this team can respond to adversity.
The Blue Demons got off to an early 16-6 lead exposing Georgetown’s man-to-man defense. The problems for the Hoyas were the usual problems. They have a tough time defending the three-pointer (last in the Big East) and teams can probe the lane for layups. Oscar Lopez Jr’s layup gave the Blue Demons a 23-12 lead. It would be the first of four times that DePaul would lead Georgetown by 11 in the first half.
But, as we’ve seen in the previous two games, the Hoyas fought back. Georgetown ended the half on a 5-0, including a three pointer by Jahvon Blair with eight seconds left, at the end of the half cut the DePaul lead go six at 38-32.
Georgetown started the second half making five of their first seven shots from the field, cutting the DePaul lead to four points despite giving up layups to DePaul on three straight possessions. The Blue Demons would push the lead back to nine when they came out of the under-16 timeout with a 7-2 run.
With the Hoyas down 55-50, injury would rear it’s ugly head as Yurtseven would go down gripping his ankle with a little over 11 minutes left. He wouldn’t return.
The Hoyas would keep fighting and take the lead after a Qudus Wahab put back and two Blair free throws. The 13-2 run gave Georgetown it’s first lead at 59-57. A Jamorko Pickett jumper would extend the lead to 66-61 with 3:56 left.
Blair’s tear-drop with two minutes pushed the lead to four points but on the ensuing possession, Pickett would pick up his fifth foul. With Yurtseven not available, head coach Patrick Ewing had to turn to George Muresan. It was the first action Muresan had seen all game. He would reward Ewing with an important defensive rebound with a little over a minute left that led to two Wahab free throws.
A DePaul layup (Weems) with 45.6 seconds left but the Hoyas lead to 70-67. Georgetown would turn the ball over on the inbounds pass but DePaul would miss the potential game tying three. That would lead to a Blair layup with 24 seconds left. But immediately after that Blair would commit a foul. DePaul’s Jaylen Butz would step up and make both free throws with 13.6 seconds cutting the lead to 72-69.
Terrell Allen would make both free throws with 12.8 seconds left giving the Hoyas a five point lead.
Muresan would seal it with two free throws with 2.2 seconds left.
