Most fans don’t want to hear about a moral victory, even in Georgetown’s 74-66 loss at Marquette.
“We didn’t with the war today, but man, we had one hell of a battle,” said head coach Ed Cooley.
There’s no rest for the weary. Up next for Georgetown is the two-time defending champ, UConn Huskies. The Huskies are coming off a 68-66 loss to Villanova.
Keys:
Turnovers:
I’ve been talking about this since the Patrick Ewing era. Georgetown’s 19 turnovers led to 20 Marquette points, and the discouraging aspect is that there were a handful of unforced turnovers.
We live in an era when players aren’t used to something as simple as post-entry passes. There are a couple of reasons for that.
The first is that there aren’t too many traditional post-up centers in high school. Most big players are acclimated to stretching out to the three-point line or pounding the offensive boards and getting sticklebacks. That means simple things like ball-faking before throwing the ball in the post are something learned in college rather than high school.
Another is that many passes that lead to paint touches happen on cuts, whether a 45 cut or a backdoor cut, rather than stationary targets. This is a different type of pass because it’s read-oriented on the move. The player posting needs the proper seal, and the passer needs to get the appropriate angle.
Post-passing impacts Georgetown because when you have a player like Thomas Sorber, you want to get him the ball in the post/lane.
Free Throws:
Despite UConn winning most statistical categories against Villanova, the one the Huskies didn’t win was free throw attempts. The Huskies only attempted four free throws, with Alex Karaban missing two with three seconds left down one point.
Marquette was able to attempt 24 free throws as Georgetown had some fouls because they were asked to guard the ball in space. UConn will do the same but in a different way.
Where Marquette spreads the defense out with individual skill, Dan Hurley’s Huskies spread the defense out with actions. That’s a different challenge.
The Huskies will screen the defense on the ball, off the ball, ball screen, off-ball screen, flat screen, etc. I could go on and on. As high schoolish as this sounds, communication on defense will be important.
Three-Point Defense
The Huskies are fifth in the Big East conference in three-point shooting. If there is something head coach Ed Cooley has stressed all season, it is not to get beat from the three-point line.
Cooley and the Hoyas have been successful. Georgetown is fifth in the conference in three-point defense. Consequently, UConn is last in three-point percentage defense. Opponents are shooting 37.8% from three against the Huskies.
If UConn picks its poison, the Huskies would be happy if Georgetown finishes with 25+ three-point field goal attempts, especially if Jayden Epps cannot go.
On defense, Georgetown will need to run UConn off the line. On offense, it is about the quality of the three-point attempt than the quantity.
