This game ended up being a thriller, but I had all the confidence in the world Hoyas would pull this game out. The first almost seemed to easy for the Hoyas. Shooting 60% he Hoyas had their biggest lead of the game (14) with 3:40 left to go in the first half, but the the Charlotte 49ers (47% fg’s) went on a 9-0 run with 41.2 to go in the first half. The score at the half was 38-31.
The Hoyas bench knocked down 25 points with forward Aaron Bowen (11 pts. 4 rebs. 1 steal, 1 assist) leading the way. It was good seeing the seniors step up today. Jabril Trawick’s smart and tough play on the ball was outstanding. Salute to Philly’s Finest on his double double today (10 pts. 10 rebs. 3 assts.).
“You can’t start getting flustered,” said Trawick, who had 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. “You’ve got to stay composed because that’s what good teams do, and we want to be a good team. We want to be able to pull games out against teams like this and bigger teams.”
Paul White and Isaac Copeland combined for 11 points. At one point White made a “in your face three pointer” on a late arriving Charlotte defender trying to defend his shot. The bench also 12 of the Hoyas 43 rebounds. There was lots of communication and point communication on offense and defense. This is a great sign at this point in the season. Center Joshua Smith (12 pts. 6 rebs. 1 ast. 1 steal 3 blks.) was solid in 21 minutes of play today. He’s calling for the ball on just about every play, so give him a simple bounce pass or throw the ball the rim and let him go and get it! BAM! That’s a DUNK! If the big fella hungry simply give him the rock.
“I think we’re at the point of the year now where all of our freshmen, we need to stop talking about them as freshmen,” Thompson said. “They’ve played significant minutes. They’ve played in big games. They’ve played in key situations.”
L. J. Peak, in attack mode, lead all scorers with (18 pts. 3 rebs. 1 asst 1 stl.). Peak was 7-7 from the free line. He knows how to get to the free throw line. Catching alley oops, Isaac Copeland and Aaron Bowen had a dunkfest which made the fans get out of their seats. Copeland caught one coming off the rim. All I could yell was “watch your head!” His dunk was like THUNDER!
Junior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (13 pts. 6 rebs. 4 asts. 1 stl.) had an outstanding game today. It was great to see DSR pushing the rock at a fast pace today. This sped things up and put lots of pressure on the 49ers defense. Good recognition! Point guard play. Freshman Tre Campbell in 8 solid minutes had two assists and one steal. This was a gut check game for the Hoyas. You these gutsy games sometimes especially against scrappy teams like the 49ers.
The Hoyas take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the Mecca on Dec. 27, 2014, in a rematch from 2012’s Legends Classic, Brooklyn New York (Barclays Center) in which the Hoyas lost in overtime 82-72 to then #1 Indiana. In this meeting I thought the fouls were lopsided. Indiana went the line 36 times, Hoyas only 10. Yeah, you heard it ONLY 10 times. Oh, and Porter fouled in OT. Geez refs! This is why I’m still fired up.
“We came here to win and we had our chances,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “So we’re extremely disappointed with how things turned out.”
He mostly shrugged off the disparity in fouls, saying: “They do a good job of that. They do a good job of drawing fouls. I’m not sure what we could have done differently.”
Good one coach. We got your back on the foul disparity thing. Indiana 36. Georgetown-10. UNSAT!
It was a great experience going up against the Hoosier fans. After watching the Hoosiers so many years I finally got a chance to challenge Hoosier fans as Hoya fan. It was like 100 to 1. I held it down for my squad especially as Otto Porter’s drive to the hoop to put his team into overtime.
I just saw a little opening and took it,” Porter said. “It’s just a learning process this early in the year. Most of our guys never had that much experience.”
Now it’s time for the rematch. Let’s go Hoyas! Beat the Hoosiers!
WE ARE GEORGETOWN
Glidehoyas 