Best game of the year? Hoyas dismantle Providence

The Georgetown Hoyas soundly defeated the Providence Friars 93-73 Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. It was almost certainly the best game the Hoyas have played all season, especially given that Thomas Sorber was absent with the Turf Toe he suffered during the loss to Butler and Caleb Williams was out with a concussion suffered in the same game. The Hoyas had to lengthen their rotation, rely on their defense, and get a balanced offensive attack in order to stay connected to a team that had previously beaten them by double digits. They got all of that and more in a largely dominant win in front of a surprisingly raucous (very cold) Wednesday night crowd.

One could be forgiven for thinking the Hoyas had little chance to beat Providence on Wednesday night despite the predictive metrics (namely Kenpom) giving the Hoyas the edge. After Sorber went down, the Hoya defense was an absolute mess; so much so that Patrick uncovered a stat that the Hoyas were one of the worst defensive teams in the country without him in the lineup. Plus the Hoyas, with Sorber in the lineup, lost by 10 to Providence last month and hadn't beaten the Friars in their last 8 tries. A tempered expectation going into this one seemed obvious. (By "one" in that first sentence, I'm referring here to the several of the Section 104 boys who picked PC in our season long pool, including your dear author.)

Jayden Epps returned to the starting lineup in place of Williams and Jordan Burks got his first start in place of Sorber alongside the rest of the usual starting lineup. The first 10 or so minutes of the game were largely back and forth with neither team building more than a 5 point lead. The Hoyas were paced early by Drew Fielder and Micah Peavy as they combined for 13 of the Hoyas first 15 points. Providence was led by Bensley Joseph, who hit three 3-pointers in a row at one point and looked destined to ruin Georgetown's night. Two Ryan Mela free throws gave Providence a 20-15 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half, but the Hoyas quickly went on a 10-0 run to grab a 5-point lead of their own and though Providence stayed connected for the next 5 minutes or so, Georgetown closed the half on a 19-3 run to take a 17-point lead into the break. The last minute of the half really boosted the Hoyas as they got a very nifty Curtis Williams layup followed by a Jordan Burks layup and one followed by a Jordan Burks three pointer for a quick 8 points that Providence never really recovered from.

The second half was an exercise in the Hoyas continuing to keep the Friars at arm's length. They played strong defense, made shots, and limited turnovers. After opening the half on a 9-3 run (which, if you're keeping track, means the run they started in the first half was a 28-6 run!), Providence battled to keep the Hoyas from cruising too easily. The Friars dialed up the pressure and forced the Hoyas into longer possessions in the half court and got the game within 13 points at one point late in the half, but the Hoyas had an answer each time and never let Providence go on that decisive second-half run that has been an unfortunate hallmark of this Georgetown season. That is a huge growth point for the team, even as it comes late in the season, especially since they were able to do it without Thomas Sorber.

Georgetown had a strong, balanced effort in this game as all 7 guys who played scored and 4 were in double digits. But the Hoyas were unquestionably led by Micah Peavy in this game. He was simply outstanding in this one with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 6 steals. As Uncle Dad put it after the game, "that's a vintage LeBron stat line." And no, he was not, nor are any of us saying Micah Peavy is LeBron James, but the stat line was outstanding. He played his typical strong defense, perhaps even more so as he often guarded guys bigger than him given Sorber's absence. He also shot it very well, going 11-22 from the field, including 4-6 from deep. When Peavy has it cooking like this and the Hoyas are getting scoring from other places, they can hang with just about anyone.

On defense, the Hoyas played their typically outstanding defense, which is particularly poignant give, again, Sorber's absence as the anchor (and, as mentioned, how terrible they have been to this point without him). They mixed looks between man-to-man, two zone variations, and a (mostly token) press for a few possessions as well. Providence shot the ball poorly, but Georgetown forced a lot of tough looks with their defense and Providence hit some pretty difficult shots throughout, especially in the first half. The Friars weren't simply clanging wide open looks. The Hoyas forced them out of their attack plan and into late shot-clock tough looks and forced 14 Friar turnovers on top of that. It was a very strong effort for the Hoyas on the defensive end.

The Hoyas played arguably their most complete game of the season down two rotation regulars (in a rotation that, as has been noted many times in this space, is quite short), including their best overall player in Thomas Sorber. That is a real testament to the guys that did play and a testament to the energy and effort they brought. Wednesday was a win against a fairly middling opponent who has been playing without their best player most of the season. As Niv pointed out during the second half, "I'm getting more mad that we lost to this team by 10 earlier this season." But it was also a complete team effort and a really solid win under tough injury circumstances.

Other game notes:

• Drew Fielder was very good in this game. He had 17 points and 9 rebounds and played good defense down low on two very big Providence big men. We'd still love to see him make more of his three point attempts as he was 2-7 in this one (and some of us would like to see him shoot less of them), but this was a great performance for him when the Hoyas needed it from him. He also plays with an edge that is befitting his coach and important for him to bring each and every night, but in particular when Sorber isn't able to play.
• Our collective "Play Jordan Burks" rallying cry got a huge boost in this one. Burks was everywhere. In extended minutes, Burks put up an efficient 12 points, was a pest on defense, especially in the press and zone looks, and did it all without committing too many fouls or making his typical 2-3 dumb mistakes. It's clear that the extended run gave him added confidence on the floor and allowed him to make a bigger impact on the game. His vibes and energy also remain exceptionally high. As Niv put it watching him bound off the court smiling and whooping, "that dude must be exhausting to be around." He's always ON, especially when he gets extended minutes and can get cooking like he did last night.
• The point about confidence and comfort-level growing throughout the game can be applied to Drew McKenna as well, who got his first extended run in months. Coach was obviously forced into giving McKenna more (any?) minutes because of the injuries, but the kid acquitted himself really well and, as with Burks, got more comfortable in the game the more he played. He held up well on defense, rebounded the ball well, and settled into the offensive flow nicely as the game went on. 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 22 minutes from a freshman in a conference game after he hasn't played meaningful minutes in a game since the loss to DePaul (and he only played 4 in that game) is a really strong game.
• Micah Peavy still played 40 minutes in this game, Curtis Williams only played 12, and the rotation was still only 7 guys deep, but it was great to see Burks and McKenna get the extended run against Providence and we hope the takeaway is that Cooley needs to play these guys more. They're contributors, playing time gives them confidence, and a longer bench gives the big guns more rest throughout games. When Sorber and Caleb Williams return to the lineup, this would give coach 9 guys (10 if you include 5ish minutes a game from Kayvaun Mulready as well) that can contribute with consistent in-game run. This should give the Hoyas a boost down the stretch if Coach can be convinced to run those guys out there. Uncle Dad pointed out in the second half that we started the season praising Coach Cooley for his rotations and sub patterns and then grew increasingly frustrated with how much guys were and weren't playing and now, because of injuries, he was forced into giving extended run to guys that usually don't play or get pulled quickly and they performed really well. This space could get VERY frustrated if sub patterns revert to pre-injury levels.
• Attack the rim! Cut to the hoop! These are novel concepts that this space has harped on throughout the season that the Hoyas did really well last night to great success. The Hoyas were able to convert on a number of layups off of guys attacking the hoop off the dribble and saw some nifty passes to cutters for layups throughout the game as well. When they were unable to convert (and in a few cases even when they did convert the layups), the Hoyas drew contact and got to the line, going 23-28 from the line. The Hoyas have been one of the worst teams in the country at drawing fouls this season. They have a 25.4% free throw rate (free throws per field goal attempts), good for 350th in Division 1 (out of 364). Last night, they were up to 47.5%, almost doubling their output on the season and the 28 attempts were their most attempts all season. This is a direct result of putting pressure on the defense by attacking the rim and cutting to the hoop and played a big role in separating the Hoyas on Wednesday night. Side note here that in most of their other games with 20+ FTA, Thomas Sorber had at least 10 of those attempts himself; no one had more than 7 in this game.
• The student crowd was not as big as for the games against UConn or Butler, but the students that did show up really brought it. Good energy from the student section on a cold Wednesday night with the team kinda mired in a stretch of uninspiring play. Going to need that energy (and more) for the final two home games of the season against Marquette and Villanova.