Georgetown 88, Syracuse 74: Once again, Syracuse came out flat in the first half, getting down by as much as 20. Georgetown never trailed in this one, as they jumped out to an early 10-2 lead. Syracuse would cut it to 16-14, but a 21-4 run by the Hoyas all but put the game away in the first half.
But it gets better than that for Hoya fans. For the second straight game, the key run was made with a number of their bench players on the floor. Last night, it was Henry Sims, Jason Clark and Nikita Mescheriakov. Mescheriakov played all of about a minute and a half in during the run, but in that span he knocked down two three's and won a loose ball for Georgetown.
Jason Clark played a great game last night off the bench, scoring 12 points and using his quickness to disrupt the Orange defensively. So did Julian Vaughn, who added 5 points and 4 assists from the power forward spot. But Henry Sims, a 6'10" freshman, might be the x-factor for the Hoyas right now, especially if he is playing defense and rebounding. He gave the Hoyas exactly what they need from him last night - about 10-12 minutes where he blocks a few shots, grabs a few boards, and doesn't make mistakes offensively. Last night in 11 minutes, Sims finished with 3 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, a steal, and a block. Nothing great, just a solid contribution across the board.
The Syracuse zone was just not effective last night. They played it the entire first half, and gave up 50 points to the Hoyas. When the score was 16-14, the Hoyas were just 2-8 from three, but they would get hot from the outside, with Mescheriakov and Freeman combining the hit five in row from deep. All told, the Hoyas finished the game hitting 10 of their last 13 from beyond the arc. For the game, Georgetown shot 59% from the floor and 57% from deep.
What that hot shooting did was force Syracuse to spread out their zone (and eventually the man-to-man they switched into), which allowed Greg Monroe (and Vaughn) to pick apart the Syracuse defense. It really is a pleasure to watch Monroe play. He almost acts as the point guard of this team because so much of what Georgetown does is run through him. It is such a luxury for JT3 to know that he can just dump the ball inside to Monroe and run a couple cutters through knowing they will get the ball if their open. And if they're not, Monroe is able to score with his back to the basket.
Any team scouting Georgetown that saw this game learned one thing at least - you cannot play the Hoyas in a zone. You just can't. They have too many shooters on the perimeter, and too many great passers on the interior. Monroe (6), Vaughn (4), Summers (3), and Sims (2), the Georgetown front line, combined for 15 of the 21 assists for the Hoyas on the game.
If you look at the Syracuse stat line, it isn't too bad. They shot 47% from the floor, got 18 offensive rebounds, and they only had 15 turnovers. All pretty good totals. But there are three things that killed the Orange. One, they couldn't get any stops. Two, they couldn't hit their free throws (10-23). Rick Jackson alone was 1-8. Three, they missed a ton of lay-ups. That was part of the reason they had so many offensive rebounds. There was one possession where the Hoyas must have missed four or five straight from two feet away only to get the offensive rebound each time.
Once again, Onuaku was essentially a non-factor on the offensive end. He is so big and so strong, but he has a tendency to be too passive during a game. There is no way that a big man of his strength and skill should have just six points against a team with two skinny freshman out there playing center. That said, Paul Harris, Onuaku, and Jackson combined to go for 38 points and 29 boards (Onuaku had just 6 points).
DaJuan Summers led the Hoyas with 21 points and 4 boards while Austin Freeman added 19. Eric Devendorf had 20 for the Orange, and Jonny Flynn chipped in with 14 and 9 dimes. Syracuse's Andy Rautins had a scary moment when Mescheriakov dove for a loose ball, buckling Rautins' left knee (the one he tore his acl in). He walked off the court under his own power, and luckily it looks like he just sprained and bruised it.
Texas A&M 84, Baylor 73: This game was chippy from the beginning (this is a pretty big rivalry, and if you don't remember what happened last year watch this, this, and this) as just two minutes into the game there was a little dust-up that resulted in one of the refs getting knocked to the court. They cooled everyone down, but that seemed to ignite the Aggies. A&M was just the better team tonight, in all facets of the game.
In the first half, Baylor couldn't score. The Aggie defense was focused on not allowing Baylor to shoots three's, and when the Bears penetrated, guys like Brian Davis and Chinemelu Elonu were there to make the shots difficult. Baylor finished the game just 5-16 from deep, and a number of those three's came late when the outcome was all but decided. In the second half, it was a different story. A&M hit two three's in the first two minutes, leaving Baylor down 16 early in the second half. But the Baylor offense came alive in the second half, as they were finally able to get to the 
basket. But they could just not get any stops down the stretch. There were a few times when Baylor got it below ten with enough time left to make a run, but every time they did, A&M had an answer.
In the second half, it was Donald Sloan and Josh Carter. Those two scored 15 points apiece and were able to get to the rim at will in the last 10 minutes. But the best player on the floor tonight was Elonu. The big fella finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds (11 of those on the offensive end), and was a huge reason why the Aggies were up 11 at the half. He had 13 points and 9 boards before intermission, but rolled his ankle late and looked like he was moving gingerly the rest of the game.
The most important stat of this game was turnovers. Baylor only turned the ball over 10 times, but the Aggies were able to turn them into 18 points. Normally an excellent team pressuring the ball, Baylor could only force six turnovers, scoring just two points off of them.
Baylor is going to be alright. A&M is much better than I anticipated, and losing on a rival's home court in conference is never too terrible of a loss. But what the Bears need to look at is their play in the paint. Texas A&M has a couple good big guys, but Davis and Elonu will get eaten up by the front lines of Texas and Oklahoma. So if Baylor can't even handle the Aggies on the interior, what does that say about their chances of making a run at the Big XII title. The biggest reason is that Kevin Rogers seems to disappear at times. The kid has so much talent, but it didn't look like he was playing with much energy last night. They are going to need him, as Mamadou Diene, Quincy Acy, and Josh Lomers, while all solid contributors, are not good enough to really be relied upon inside.
The rest of the night's top 25 action:
The rest of the games you should know about:
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday Morning Shootaround |
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