Teams

Georgetown:
The Hoyas followed the same pattern that led to their only other two losses of the season. In the second half the offense vanished and the defense deteriorated. The eight-point halftime lead evaporated quickly not because the Hoyas failed to score, but because Louisville started the second half 7 for 10 from the field. If the offense or defense struggles there is still hope; if the offense and defense are poor, it will lead to a long night.

Louisville:
The Cardinals earned an excellent victory, and they did it out of their comfort zone. Louisville’s main weapons are three-point shooting, pressure defense, and transition scoring. These were not the keys to victory over the Hoyas. The Cardinals executed very well on both ends of the floor in half court sets.

Players

Georgetown:
Roy Hibbert scored 14 points (7-9 FG) for Georgetown. However, there were key stretches during the second half when he didn’t touch the ball in a position to score. Hibbert doesn’t need to take 15 shots a game, but when he touches the ball in the post good things happen. Not very many good things happened in the second half, and one main reason was that Hibbert was not as involved.

Louisville:
Jerry Smith was deadly from downtown against the Hoyas. He’s an underrated player and a very good three-point shooter. On Saturday night he scored 16 points and went 4 for 5 from beyond the arc. On a night when his big name teammates were struggling with their shooting, Smith’s terrific performance was a saving grace for the Cardinals.

Referees

Take a look at the free throw numbers from the game: GU 3-4 LOU 18-24. Some of the discrepancy has to do with the style of play. Georgetown settled for a lot of jumpers instead of attacking the basket, so the Cardinals probably deserved to have an edge in total free throw attempts. But anytime a team shoots six times as many free throws as the opponent it raises some red flags. The officiating in this came was inconsistent.

Fans

There isn’t a lot going on in Louisville, KY. There are no pro sports teams, so U of L is a big ticket. Plus, Cardinals fans had been waiting for a big-time conference home game like this for a long time. They certainly made the most of the opportunity. The “White-Out” was a huge success; everybody in the crowd wore white and Louisville got a dramatic win against a Top Ten opponent. It was the type of atmosphere that deserved to be rewarded by the home team.

Number of the Game

11.8: That is the paltry three-point percentage for all the Hoyas excluding Austin Freeman. Freeman went 2 for 5 from three-point range; his teammates went 2 for 17.