Georgetown is coming off arguably their worst performance of the season coming into today’s game with Butler.
The 63-48 loss to Creighton broke the momentum the Hoyas have had sense they came off their break for Covid. Head coach Patrick Ewing described the performance as “selfish”.
In the first meeting against the Bulldogs, Georgetown led by as much as 11 points. After taking a 55-53 lead, the Hoyas didn’t score another point in the last 4:29. “We just didn’t do everything that we needed to do down the stretch to be able to secure the win,” said Ewing.
Jahvon Blair had a rough shooting day. Butler’s Aaron Thompson harassed Blair into 4-16 shooting.
Keys:
Qudus Wahab:
What wasn’t talked about in the Creighton loss were the different ways the Bluejays attacked Wahab on the defense end. They put him in screen and roll, they attacked him when he dropped in coverage and they had their bigs step out in mid-range. Can guys like Bryce Golden be enough of a threat to make Wahab uncomfortable in space?
Wahab was 4-8 from the field in the first meeting. The Hoyas might want to see if he can get more shot attempts.
Step Up:
The Hoyas could use another perimeter scorer outside of Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair. Donald Carey and Chudier Bile shot 4-12 in the first meeting. Both players will need to be more aggressive on offense to take the pressure off Pickett and Blair.
The Hoyas are a much better team when they aren’t depending on their version of the Big Three (Pickett, Blair, Wahab) in part, because there isn’t enough variance in how they score. Carey and/or Bile performances will go a big way in determining the outcome.
Photo Credit: Rafael Suanes / Georgetown Athletics.
