Undersized and outmanned, the AU men’s basketball team suffered its second consecutive loss when a strong second half pushed No. 16 Georgetown University to an 81-55 victory Dec. 17 at the Verizon Center
“Clearly, that was two very different halves. Georgetown came out in the second half and came right at us and obviously, we didn't respond very well,” AU Head Coach Jeff Jones said. “We didn't have an answer.”
The Eagles (8-4, 0-0 PL) were held to their lowest point total of the season, shooting 41 percent from the field and going 6-23 from the 3-point arc. AU was also without its second leading scorer, Troy Brewer, who was sidelined for the first time this season with his recurring toe injury.
“He’s one of our better players, and we would have liked to have had him out there,” Jones said. “We’re clearly better with Troy in the lineup.”
Despite only shooting 36 percent from the field in the first half, the Eagles kept the game close thanks to freshman John Schoof, who scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.
AU trailed the Hoyas (9-1, 0-0 Big East) 32-26 at the break, as Georgetown’s Markel Starks led the way with 11 first half points.
However, as Jones mentioned, the second half was a completely different story.
Georgetown’s 6-foot-10 center Henry Sims showed senior-like leadership and a point guard mentality while scoring or assisting on 14 of Georgetown’s first 16 points at the start of the second half. The Hoyas opened the second half on a 16-7 run and never looked back.
“Offensively in the first half, we were going side-to-side too much,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “We felt like at halftime, we needed to start cutting more. I think we were able to wear them down a little bit.”
Charles Hinkle, who entered Saturday as the sixth leading scorer in the country, led AU on the afternoon with 16 points, but couldn’t get into the rhythm he would have liked.
“They were just paying a lot of attention to him,” Jones said. “They were switching out on screens and not allowing him to get open looks. They weren’t going to let him beat them, and I think you saw a little bit of frustration on his part.”
For the Hoyas, it was all part of the game plan.
“[Hinkle’s] a guy that can score, so we wanted to make him drive and when he drove, we wanted him to sit on it and make him dish out to his teammates,” Georgetown’s Hollis Thompson said. “The defense did a good job of that.”
Georgetown dominated in the paint, scoring 42 of its 81 points inside while shooting 59 percent from the floor. The Hoyas also forced 10 second half AU turnovers.
Sims ended the afternoon with 17 points and six assists as the inside game, scoring and rebounding proved to be the difference maker for an Eagle team that is trying to prepare for the start of Patriot League play in January.
“I think we’re at a point where we’re still trying to ascertain exactly who we are, what are identity is,” Jones said. “Hopefully, we’ve got the leadership and accept that challenge [of] how we have to play. We’ve got good kids, but we have to accept our limitations, know our strengths and play to those strengths.”
