Teams

Georgetown:
This wasn’t the best performance by the Hoyas, but any win on the road in this conference is impressive, and winning at Morgantown against a highly capable Mountaineers team is definitely something to be proud of. The win made sure that Georgetown remained at the top of the conference, and the Hoyas’ biggest concern moving forward is how serious that injury to DaJuan Summers’ ankle really is.

West Virginia:
West Virginia played tough for forty minutes and if it weren’t for poor freethrow shooting, you might be reading a very different Postgame Thoughts right now.

Players

Georgetown:
Jessie Sapp and Patrick Ewing had the last minute heroics, but Roy Hibbert was a key player in Morgantown, racking up his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Defensively, he was also a force, as his two blocks on West Virginia’s opening possession made the Mountaineer’s a bit more tentative. West Virginia only made five two-point baskets while Big Roy was in the game.

West Virginia:
Alex Ruoff came into the game as West Virginia’s leading scorer averaging a little over 15 points a game. He had six at the half, and started the second half quickly picking up an assist and a bunch of quick points. With 16:49 left in the game he hit a three-pointer to give the Mountaineers a ten point lead, their biggest of the game. At that point, it seemed the wheels might come off for the the Hoyas, as if Ruoff got hot, the game might quickly get out of reach. Instead, the Hoyas closed him down and he only got two more points from that point on, and instead Nichols became their key player down the stretch.

Coaches

The coaches had an unusual impact on the refereeing this game. Most people watching the game will remember Coach Huggins making the refs look at a replay to make sure that it was Wallace who was fouled - while Wallace was still at the free throw line. I’m just going to bring up another strange incident. They had just missed a clear foul on Smalligan where he shoved Hibbert to the ground while the Hoyas were trying to inbound the ball. Coach Thompson talked about the foul with referee Ed Corbett while the officials tried to settle things down on the court. Then as Georgetown was set to inbound again, Corbett decided to call a touch foul on Smalligan - his fourth. It was clearly a makeup call, and it was almost as if Coach Thompson demanded it.

Referees

The refs on Saturday were pretty bad all around, and with all the influence the coaches had on the referees’ decisions, I was surprised to see the refs not call that last play a goaltending and then head out in such a hurry. I was half expecting them to talk about it with Huggins for a few minutes, then watch a replay, and then take several more minutes before telling everybody the call.

Fans

The West Virginia University Coliseum was sold out on Saturday night, and there were yellow shirts everywhere you looked - everywhere except for Sections 76 and 78, that is. That’s where the Hoyas fans were seated, and despite being vastly outnumbered, that small area of Hoyas fans were very vocal throughout the game, even when the Hoyas were trailing. Despite being very enthusiastic, the West Virginia fans were unusually quiet when their team had the ball. There were no “Let’s Go Mountaineers” cheers, so you could clearly hear “DE-FENSE” coming from those sections in the upper deck.

Number of the Game

10: Number of second chance points Georgetown scored in the second half. For a team who has struggled on the boards this season, the Hoyas pulled down eight offensive rebounds in the second period, and made the most of those second chance opportunities.

Intestines

After the Syracuse game, Coach John Thompson III referred to Jessie Sapp as having the “intestinal fortitude” to take clutch shots late in the game. Well, after proving he had the guts yet again in Morgantown, I think he proved the West Virginia fans wrong. Instead of “SAPP IS CRAP,” the appropriate cheer would be “SAPP MAKES CRAP,” or at least his seasoned intestines do.