Teams

GU:
For the first time in recent memory, the Hoyas ended the game with more 3 point attempts than 2 point attempts. This issue was addressed at half time, since Hibbert got more touches in the second period and scored 15 of his 23 in the vespers half. Also, the defense looked a little shaky at times, with the Hoyas running out at people and constantly shifting to get back in position, which resulted in some open looks for the Tribe. It will be interesting to see if Coach addresses this problem in practice this week, since John Beilein-coached teams are known for their ball movement.

WM:
This was a pretty good team. They had two good scorers, Kisielius and David Schneider, who scored more than half of the Tribe’s points. They played a solid game defensively, and I can see them causing problems for most teams in the CAA - I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up challenging for the title this season.

Players

GU:
Obviously all four returning starters had good nights offensively, but the player I was most impressed with was DaJuan Summers. I would have liked to see him play a little more, but he was unfortunately saddled with foul trouble, picking up #3 in the first half, and his fourth early in the second. But while on the floor, Summers showed he has the ability to be the all-around player people are hoping he can be. He made the first Georgetown basket of the night on a three pointer from the corner, later in the half he made a nice post move and hook shot, and he had some big rebounds. While he had no steals, Summers showed good hustle, tipping balls out of bounds, and forcing the Tribe to make difficult plays.

WM:
I was also impressed by William and Mary’s Laimis Kisielius, who scored seven of the first 10 points for the tribe, and 16 points in the first half. However, he also ended the game with 16 points, which to some degree can be attributed to the Hoyas’ defense wearing him out.

Coaches

Each of the coaches received a technical foul in the first half. One of the points of emphasis this season is keeping coaches in the Coach’s Box. At least today, the refs did emphasize it.

Referees

The refs for the game were Ed Corbett, William Bush, and Brian O’Connell. By my count, there were seven offensive fouls called on the Hoyas, and none on the Tribe. In one particular stretch to start the second half, O’Connell called two offensive fouls in a 25 second span, the second one an extraordinarily poor call, causing the home fans to boo the officials during the official timeout and beyond. I already talked about the strange technicals; there was a bizarre melee at center court that was called a jump ball 15 seconds too late that could have been a foul or a travel on either teams, and I thought maybe one of the calls that gave Hibbert a three point play opportunity could have been left uncalled. But, other than that, I thought the refs were nonfactors, as they should be. But, the officials are also working themselves into game form.

Fans

This was a fairly large crowd for a season opener, with a paid attendance of 11,364, beating last year’s season opener attendance mark by more than 1,500. The students were there early and were vocal, which always is good to see. Let’s hope we can keep the crowds like this for some of the upcoming games against weaker opponents.

Number of the Game

1.5: Time in seconds for Tyler Crawford. After Jonathan Wallace was called for an offensive foul in the last moment of the first half, Coach Thompson brought in Crawford, for what might be the Georgetown record for shortest appearance in a game (I have no way of verifying that, though). Hopefully, he will get to see a little bit more of the court as the season goes on.

New Jumbotron

The New High-Definition Jumbotron is really cool, but it had a little problem during the game. It seemed as though during the first half, the screen, which is equipped to handle NBA games as well as NHL games, was using its NBA mode instead of college mode. It would show the time remaining in the first quarter, instead of the first half, but that’s something fans can easily ignore. However, since in the NBA, the foul limit is five to get in the bonus, even after William and Mary committed their 6th and 7th fouls, the big screen only said they had five team fouls. At one point, fans were upset that the Tribe were shooting free throws when the big board said the Hoyas had only committed five fouls. In the second half, neither team committed more than five fouls, but since the bonus light stayed off, I think we can assume the problem was fixed.