Teams

Georgetown:
Another win for Georgetown. Not an amazing performance, but a solid one. Once again they let their opponents hang around a little too long, but they showed that when the offense is clicking, they have been a very tough team to stop.

In my last PGT, I mentioned two problems: rebounding and defense. In this game, the Hoyas were definitely more aggressive on the boards. The team had 14 offensive rebounds, and ended the game with a 41-28 rebounding advantage. It’s only one game, but it’s good to see adjustments being made on the glass since this has been a weak point for many Georgetown teams in the past.

However, I feel the team still needs to work defensively to limit the number of open shots the opponents get. Again, too often were players left alone for uncontested threes. As the game wore on, the Mount players started missing their looks, but I attribute that more to fatigue than improved defensive intensity. I know it’s early in the season and that often times our defense is good, but if we leave Notre Dame or Syracuse players open, they will make us pay for it.

Mount St. Mary’s:
The Mount was outmatched today, but they fought hard until the very end. They could easily have given up after the Hoyas stretched their lead to 20 at the start of the second half, but they put together a 9-0 to make the game close for a while. Lamar Trice even stole the ball in the final seconds as the Hoyas were trying to dribble out the clock. That being said, they could not stop the Hoyas, and even though they were not a short team, Georgetown dominated them inside, both scoring and rebounding.

Players

Georgetown:
A growing trend on this team, as is perhaps a trademark of the Princeton Offense, is that different players step up at different times. This time it was Chris Wright’s turn to shine, scoring 18 points and going 4-5 from beyond the arc. He still makes silly turnovers at times, but I think he has grown as a point guard from last year, as he seems to have a better sense of when to create and when to look for his own shot.

Mount St. Mary’s:
Jean Cajou was the leading scorer for the Mount with 16 points, and he kept his team in the game in the first half. However, he also committed four turnovers over the course of the game. Perhaps Cajou’s most impressive stat of the night was that he somehow managed to foul out in a game where his team was whistled for a total of only ten fouls.

Referees

The refereeing in the game was a bit peculiar. There were a grand total of four fouls called in the first half, three of them on the Hoyas. But there were 10 fouls called in the final six minutes of the game when the result had been decided. It was as if the officials realized they hadn’t met their foul quota for the game. Very strange. They weren’t particularly bad calls, but when you don’t call a foul when the game is close, it’s odd to start calling it after the drama is gone.

Fans

The students were back from Thanksgiving break, but it was a smaller, subdued crowd for the most part. Monday night games against inferior opponents certainly can make it hard to get excited.

Number of the Game

48: Points in the paint for the Hoyas. A strong performance for the Georgetown big men. Monroe did not have one of his best games, but still ended with a season-high 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds, and Julian Vaughn added 14 points on 7-11 shooting, and pulled down eight boards. And even more impressive than the numbers was their attitude, fighting for rebounds after missing, following their own shots, and powering the ball in for scores.

Debut for Benimon

Freshman Jerrelle Benimon got his first significant minutes of the season, playing six minutes, but failing to register any stats, save one turnover. But, it was good to see him get some playing time after being hampered with an injury early on.