Another missed opportunity, but this team is competitive

The Georgetown Hoyas fell to St. John's on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, 63-58. It was a frustrating game that the Hoyas arguably should have won despite playing a better, more experienced team on their home floor and with the Hoyas battling injuries and/or foul trouble to two of their best players. It was their third straight defeat, with all of those losses coming by single digits to the top 3 teams in the Big East. Overall, there is little to be truly upset about during this three game stretch given the depths the program has been in over the past 5+ years and the quality of the three opponents, but there have been common elements in each of the three losses, and even in the win against Xavier, that leave us wanting more from this squad.

The game started... slowly. Each team struggled offensively to start with the Hoyas turning the ball over 5 times in the first 5 minutes of the game and St. John's hitting their first bucket but then missing their next 12 attempts. St. John's did not reach the 5 point mark until there were 10 minutes left in the first half. The Hoyas looked mostly good in the first half. The defense was typically excellent and the offense eventually settled down to find a bit more rhythm (meaning they turned the ball over a little less). Jayden Epps returned to the starting lineup and gave the Hoyas a boost on the offensive end and the Hoyas used good-defense-into-easier-offense, a couple of really nice plays from Curtis Willams, Jr., and an efficient 11 points from Micah Peavy to spur the attack. They weren't overly crisp on offense and there was nothing inherently special about the way they played in the first half, but they played good basketball, St. John's was awful (Niv at one point asked "Why is St. John's considered good? This has to be their worst 15 minutes in like 3 years."), and the Hoyas took a 10 point lead into halftime.

A couple of other quick first half notes:

• The Hoyas absolutely dominated the glass 26-10 which was surprising given that St. John's came in as the top rebounding team in the conference. At one point the Hoyas had 6 offensive rebounds while St. John's had 0.
• Jayden Epps subbed out after 10 minutes and didn't return. He only had 4 points and was only 1-6 from the field, but you could see how his ability to get in the lane as well as stretch the defense had a positive impact on the Hoyas' defense.
• Micah Peavy had an outstanding dunk on RJ Luis Jr. It probably should have also been an and-1, but it was a truly nasty dunk.

The second half followed an increasingly familiar pattern that has emerged over the past few games. This time, the Hoyas actually started the half 4-0 to increase the lead to 14, but it quickly came apart as the Johnnies went on a 19-2 run to take the lead and seemingly control of the game. At that point, though, the Hoyas steadied themselves and regained control and the lead for a good 5 minutes after a timeout. But, as with the game against Marquette, the Hoyas could not hold the lead and ultimately ran out of gas against a talented and experienced opponent on the road. It was an exceptionally frustrating half as the Hoyas turned the ball over, missed layups, struggled to get Sorber the ball, and fouled and fouled and fouled. St. John's definitely dialed up the defense and got hot from deep (they entered the game shooting under 30% on three point attempts), but the Hoyas made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that ultimately cost them the game.

Postgame, a lot of the chatter on the WhatsApp thread and in the broader Georgetown fandom centered on this pattern of second half runs for the Hoyas' opponent. This was the 4th straight game where the Hoyas gave up a big second half push to their opponent and it showcased many of the same issues as in previous games:

• Turnovers (19 Wednesday night!)
• Missed layups (8-18 at one point against the Johnnies!)
• Missed free throws (7-10 against St. John's, but Peavy was only 2-4 and they're at 63% in conference play)
• Rebounding regression (led 26-10 at half; only +8 for the full game)
• Generally poor offensive execution (more below)

Some regression in these second halves against good or very good opponents is to be expected as, especially in the case of Marquette, UConn, and St. John's, the opponents have been the more talented team, generally more experienced, and well coached. But to have the same issues cause the big turn in each of these games is a coaching problem and one that needs to get fixed quickly if the Hoyas are to reach the next level. This feels very achievable given the talent on this squad and how they've looked the past 6+ weeks.

The offense during these stretches has been truly awful. The Hoyas only totaled 21 points in the whole of the second half, but the 5+ minutes where they only had 2 points really crushed them. Certainly, the team misses Jayden Epps in these moments and, in this game, missed Thomas Sorber's presence due to foul trouble and a scary looking elbow injury. The bench rotation has gotten much shorter in the conference season as well. This is all leaving the Hoyas gassed and a little out of sorts late in games without their true offensive outlet. However, the game plan has to adjust to the added pressure. As the team feels this pressure and the game turns and the opponent dials up the defense, the Hoyas revert to last year's offense, which is more accurately "not an offense." There are a few coaching things we'd like to see:

• Getting guys rest earlier. This is an Uncle Dad Greatest Hit. Micah Peavy played all 40 minutes. Malik Mack played 37. Again, some of this is necessary with Epps on the shelf, but Coach Cooley has to find ways to give these guys some blow. They get to the late stages of the game and they are totally gassed.
• Budget a timeout for early in the half. The timeouts in these stretches are often coming a tad late. I get giving your guys a leash and needing them to figure it out, but the pattern has started the same in the last few games and each time the Hoyas have taken a timeout, they've come out of it with a much better approach to playing smooth and slower and under control. There were moments Wednesday night where St. John's obviously sped them up, but the Hoyas are good enough to still play under control in those moments and not give up obvious live ball turnovers. Slow it down, play in control, draw contact.
• As Matty said:

"There are also plays he can call that get the team back in a mindset of running good offense. Like a “calm the fuck down” type play. Maybe a series of down and back screens that could result in a lay up or elbow jumper. In other words, RUN THE DAMN FLEX."

• Change the approach to getting the ball to Thomas Sorber. Sorber was non-existent in the second half last night and the Hoyas struggled to get him the ball all game. St. John's defended him very well and the Hoya backcourt has not been all that good at entry passes all season. But the entire approach to getting him the ball isn't good enough. Sorber is outstanding, especially for a freshman, but he also isn't Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid. He's not nearly big enough to park in the post and just "be open." The problem in getting him the ball at this point isn't simply the guards making bad passes or not making passes at all. The approach offensively to even having those passes available is very pickup-ish and not good enough against good competition.

To his credit, Ed Cooley acknowledged as much in his post game press conference. He was clearly pissed off, even calling himself "Angry Ed" but did fairly good job expressing his displeasure while taking ownership of the loss. He seemed (appropriately) particularly frustrated with their inability to get Sorber involved. He said several times “this is on me.” Saying the team did a bad job while essentially taking ownership for not putting them in position to do a good job is exactly the needle he needed to thread and he did that. The big thing from here is actually making improvement in these spots of the game. Teams are going to make pushes in games, especially good teams. But being able to turn 17-2 runs into 15-10 runs can be a monumental change for this team. They've shown they aren't far off from being one of the top 4 teams in the conference and it seems like the jump they need to get to that level is within reach and their control. Now they just have to do it.

The good news here, as Niv called out postgame last night, is that this whole concept of being a competitive basketball program is so much better than the last 5 years.

This is, I think, normal stuff. We are super young. We are good but facing like, the 3 best teams in the Big East back-to-back-to-back. We couldn’t get over the hump against any of them but we played two of them pretty close. This is just the growing pains of a program. Going 9-23 to 20-12 is just not a thing teams easily do. I started coming to games in Ewing’s first [coaching] year so this is the first year I’ve really seen a team that can be competitive since 2017 and maybe the 2nd time ever. Frustrating was knowing before the game starts that we’re not going to be competitive. This is much, much better.

Niv is, of course, entirely correct here. As Uncle Dad and Hainsey pointed out, the frustration of the moments is higher when the team is competitive, particularly when so many of the issues are self-inflicted and "brain-farts from coaches and players alike when the games are close." But this is unquestionably better and the Hoyas still have a chance to finish well within the top half of the conference and seem likely to remain competitive with almost every team in the conference moving forward this season. That's a far cry from where we were a year ago and that feels good.

A few more scattered notes and thoughts on the game:

• Caleb Williams had a rough night and he played a lot in the second half. Curtis Williams gave them some really nice run in the first half and barely played in the latter part of the second. Curtis definitely had some rough plays during St. John's' big run, but he sat for a long time in the second even as the Hoyas lacked spark on the offensive end.
• Overall, the rotations are a little more inconsistent than you'd like to see and the boys would be very interested in more (and more predictable) minutes for Curtis Williams and Jordan Burks and even some brief cameos from Kayvaun Mulready and Drew McKenna scattered in to give them run and give guys some rest, especially until Epps is fully healthy.
• Thomas Sorber's 4th foul was on an offensive foul that was a truly abysmal call. The defender was still moving to his left, had both feet in the air when making contact, and started to fall well before the contact. The charge call has long been a travesty in college basketball, but to make this the 4th foul on the Hoyas' most important player is outrageous. The officiating was inconsistent at best all night, but this call was truly awful.
• Sorber also appeared to hurt his elbow pretty badly in the second half. He did come back wearing a sleeve on it, but was clearly favoring it when he did return. This is something to monitor because if he's hurt, this team is in trouble.
• Drew Fielder has definitely struggled with consistency on offense but he's emerged as a very nice role player on this team. He isn't a perfect defender but competes well, he plays with a lot of energy and attitude, and he does some nice dirty work on the boards (12 against St. John's, who again, came in as the best rebounding team in the conference).

DePaul is next. This is a game the Hoyas need to have against a still bad but much-improved Blue Demons team that will be hungry for their first conference win of the season (and since beating Seton Hall in the 2023 Big East Tournament).