Teams

Georgetown:
The Hoyas had a fairly easy road opener to Big East play, as the team coasted to a 17 point victory. However, the performance was far from convincing. The offense looked stymied by the 2-3 zone, passing the ball around the perimeter and settling for long shots with the shot clock running down. Also, the team’s depth is still a question mark, playing a second game in a row with very low bench production.

On the positive side, the team’s defense was impressive, forcing the Blue Demons to shoot only 39% from the field. Georgetown did look good against the man defense, finding the open teammate for easy looks. The Hoyas also cut down on their turnovers, committing 12, three under their average. All in all, it was a passable performance from the Hoyas, not pretty at times, but enough to get the job done, and comfortably so.

DePaul:
The Blue Demons went 0-18 in the Big East last season, and they did not look much improved. They had a number of sloppy turnovers, and did not have any consistency offensively. And while the Hoyas did a good job on them defensively, DePaul was able to get offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities, but could never capitalize on them. While I would be surprised if DePaul goes winless in the conference again this year, I would be even more surprised if they were not in the bottom four at the end of the season.

Players

Georgetown:
Austin Freeman stuck out to me as the player of the game. He had 17 points, four assists and no turnovers and was 4-5 from the field in the second half with a pair of three pointers. And he has one of the smoothest mid-range jumpers in all of college basketball.

DePaul:
Will Walker came into the game averaging over 16 points a game but was held to just nine points on 3-14 shooting. That left much of the scoring burden on junior Mac Koshwal, who had missed eight games this season with a foot injury. Koshwal ended the game with 16 points and eight boards, but he was the only Blue Demon in double figures.

Referees

I thought the officiating in this game was pretty fair. The trend I have noticed this season in Big East play is that officials are letting the players play, and there have been fewer touch fouls as a result. I don’t know if this has been a concerted effort on the part of the league, or if it’s just a coincidence, but Georgetown’s short bench, the fewer foul calls the better.

Number of the Game

18: Assists for Georgetown. The Hoyas had 24 field goals, showing that even despite the stagnation at times on the offensive end, the team still knows how to share the ball.