The Van Buren Boys


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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Georgetown-South Florida Recap

Our guest contributor "The Iceman" has come through again with a stellar, top-notch recap of tonight's game against South Florida. See below for your reading enjoyment. The IPB would like to personally extend his thanks to "The Iceman" since I wound up missing the game entirely because I got stuck at work. The Iceman's recap is the only thing I've read about the game and I'm not even sure I need to look at the Post's recap tomorrow. Thanks Iceman! On another note, the IPB would like to apologize to our readers for my absence last month. January turned out to be a very bad month for me health-wise but rest assured I am back! I have several ideas for new and interesting content, so look for that soon. And now the South Florida recap....



The Hoyas dismissed an early scare from the University of South Florida Bulls with a combination of an historic performance from recently-injured DaJuan Summers and excellent team rebounding.


Georgetown looked lethargic early, but DaJuan kept them in the mix, shooting 4 for 5 to start while the team shot a dismal 1 for 11. Meanwhile, everything was dropping for USF who leapt out to an early ten-point lead. The game’s momentum shifted, however, on a charge taken by the team’s energizer, Patrick Ewing Jr. Following the foul, Georgetown scored four straight and never looked back.


USF stuck around and made it close down the stretch, but the Hoyas never appeared to be in danger during the second half. Sapp and Summers stepped up into their leadership roles and simply played better basketball than the other team. Roy Hibbert, ineffective for most of the first half, turned it on as well, blocking a number of shots and ripping rebounds off the glass at will.


High Points:

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DaJuan Summers. The Baltimore native was responsible for Georgetown’s first 11 points, including three straight threes. He finished the night with 24 points, a career high. Numbers aside, Summers looked like the star we all know he is capable of being, drawing a number comparisons to Jeff Green during the game.
*

Offensive rebounds. Usually a low point for Georgetown, the entire team was absolutely ferocious on the boards. At one point, the Hoyas were out rebounding USF by an 11-1 margin.
*

Confidence. Even when down, Georgetown simply played their game until it started working. They kept calm (with the exception of a Ewing tussle) and followed the offense in which they have been trained. It might seem easy or even self-explanatory to just “do what you know,” but after watching Memphis throw our scheme off-kilter in December, it’s nice to know the team still has it in them.


Low Points:

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Early sloppy play. Hey, it’s fine against USF to come out looking like you need a nap, but in the tournament, Georgetown will get blasted in the second round if they look that de-energized.
*

Ball handling issues. Everyone from Jon Wallace to Roy Hibbert had their fair share of problems tonight. Most of the errors came when attempting Randy Moss-like grabs. Stick to the two-handed catch, Hoyas!
*

An announcer talking about Jon Wallace being from a farm and going to Georgetown Law. A required statement in the last few televised games, and now the subject of a story in the NY Times, Wallace’s story has been everywhere. Yes, he’s impressive and no, I don’t need to hear it again.


Questions That Remain

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Are our three point attempts hurting more than helping? Typically known as a team that shot excellently from three point range, the Hoyas have been out of sync since the Pitt game, going just 4-13 in the first half of tonight’s game.
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Why can no one shoot free throws? They don’t call it the charity stripe for nothing. Vernon Macklin has yet to take advantage of the free points, shooting an embarrassing 24% on the season. Even our hero of the night, DaJuan Summers, missed a pair during the game.
*

Should JTIII be using Hibbert and Macklin as a tandem? When put together, the 7 footers were an imposing force, helping each other on blocks and scoring points at will. It’s a combination we’ve rarely seen but it seems to work well.


It was over when…

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DaJuan Summers emphatically dunked a USF turnover to take a 51-39 lead. The dunk also represented a career high in points for the 6’8” forward.


Player of the game…

*

See: High Points, #1

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with Wallace? His shooting has been off since at least the Pitt game. He seems to have lost some confidence as well. A couple of his shots have looked tentative. Fortunately Sapp has really stepped up, but if Wallace continues to struggle, this team is going to have problems in the tourney.

Jester of Magellan said...

Agreed. Wallace looks like he has no confidence. He gets the ball wide open behind the arc and automatically looks to pass. He's totally scared to shoot. This is definitely a concern for the tournament; not to mention sad. Wallace has had a great career for the Hoyas. I'd hate to see him end it on such a poor note.