At the postgame press conference after Georgetown’s 83-55 loss to UConn, Georgetown women’s interim head basketball coach, Darnell Haney, was asked about outrebounding the Huskies.
“That’s what we do,” said Haney. “That’s who we are.”
Haney’s response tells you all you need to know as to why the Hoyas (12-3, 2-2) have gotten off to such a good start.
The Hoyas have solid pieces to finish in the top half of the conference.
Kelsey Ransom is the team’s leading scorer at 15.1 ppg (10th in the Big East) and 6.1 rpg (15th in the Big East). Ransom is one of the best on-ball defenders in the Big East conference.
Graceann Bennett leads the team in rebounding at 7.7 per game. That’s good for 6th in the conference.
Brianna Scott is the Hoyas super-sub. Scott chips in 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
The two things that can prevent Georgetown from getting to where they want to go are turnovers and three-point shooting.
The Hoyas are 8th in the conference in assist/turnover ratio and turnover margin. In the UConn game, Georgetown turned the ball over 22 times.
Georgetown is 10th in the conference in three-point percentage.
The Hoyas need to push the ball to generate easy baskets, which can contribute to the turnover number. Still, if they can’t make three-pointers consistently, winning games against top teams is challenging unless there is a lower percentage of half-court possessions.
The next challenge for Haney and the Hoyas is back-to-back road games against Villanova and Providence. Both teams sit a half-game ahead of Georgetown in the Big East standings.
Winning both is undoubtedly the goal, but a split would be a success and move the team closer to Haney’s goal.
“If you want to go to the tournament, which is our ultimate goal, we have to be ready to play tournament basketball.”
