"I'm mad about this one:" Hoyas drop one against Providence

The Georgetown Hoyas lost 78-68 to the Providence Friars Saturday afternoon at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence. The Hoyas came in healthy and well rested after 5 full days off following their thrilling win on Monday at Villanova, but could not match the Friars' energy throughout the game and left Providence with their 8th straight loss in the series between the two schools.

The Hoyas jumped out of the gate, scoring the game's first 5 points, all from Thomas Sorber, and ultimately jumping out to a 25-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of the game. During this early part of the game, Sorber was outstanding with 12 early points, 6 or 7 rebounds, and two blocks. Micah Peavy added 8 early points of his own and the Hoyas were clicking on both ends of the floor. They looked refreshed and somewhat possessed, with Sorber earning a callout early from Hainesy:

Sorber kinda has the look like he wants to win it for Ed. He’s got a little extra in his look right now.

Providence slowly started to wake up and chip into the lead, cutting it to 8 at the under 12 timeout (which came at 9 minutes remaining) and 5 at the under 8, but the Hoyas held a 31-25 advantage with 6 minutes remaining in the first half. It was pretty much downhill from here for the Hoyas. The offense bogged down, the defense was not as sharp as it has been, and the Friars dominated the glass, especially the offensive glass. Providence ended the half on a 13-2 run and went into the half with a 38-33 lead.

This was a game that the Hoyas dominated for the majority of the first half — including huge halves from both Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy — but because of some lackluster play for a key stretch they faced a deficit at the break. The last 6 minutes of the half were flat out some of the worst effort we've seen from these Hoyas (to this point in the game!) so far this season. After looking so locked in and fresh early, the Hoyas looked stuck in the mud.

The second half saw a lot of the same. After some early back and forth, Providence stretched their lead to 7 before the Hoyas actually put together an 8-0 run of their own to take the lead at 45-44. During this stretch, as with the run early in the first half, the Hoyas' talent advantage was evident. Consistent effort and smart basketball should have been enough to allow the Hoyas to build on this advantage and take control of this game. But they just couldn't main the effort or the intelligence throughout the rest of the game.

Providence answered with an 11-4 run to retake the lead and push it to 6, and later 10 with around 4 minutes remaining. The Hoyas did once again battle to cut the lead to 3 with 2:30 to play, but a missed free throw, a bad double team leading to an open corner three, another Providence offensive rebound, and a foul on a three point shooter pushed the Providence lead to 7 again and that was all she wrote.

Micah Peavy had 27 points on 12 of 19 shooting, Thomas Sorber had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and the rest of the team combined for 16 points. The Hoyas simply did not get enough up and down the roster or from the sideline to win this game. Especially given the way the Hoyas started this game, this is a game they should have won. The effort simply wasn't good enough, the game plan simply wasn't good enough, and the coaching simply wasn't good enough.

Some assorted notes on the game:

• As mentioned above, Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy were outstanding. They carried the Hoyas on offense and were, as usual, very good on the defensive end as well. They were clearly the best two players on the floor and it's disappointing to get such performances from them without getting the win.
• The Hoyas offensive game plan was, in a word, bad. Early on, the ball moved and there was good flow. As has been the case in previous Big East games, when Providence upped their pressure and effort, the Hoyas offense ground to a halt. They were obviously trying to get the ball to Sorber, but, as has been mentioned a time or two before in this space, their entry passes weren't good and when that plan failed they offense totally stalled. It was disappointing to see so little adjustment from the sidelines as it was increasingly clear that the offense was stuck.
• A chief culprit of the offensive struggles in this game was Jayden Epps. Epps was only 3-14 from the field, including 0-3 from three, and routinely made bad decisions throughout the game. The ball got stuck in his hands, he attacked slowly, and his shot selection was poor. It was kind of like watching a bad Jayden Epps game from last season. There was no trust in the offense, no secondary action, and lousy shots that didn't go in. After being a real catalyst in the comeback against Villanova, Epps really had a bad game against the Friars.
• This is clearly an offense that wants to work the ball inside whether getting to the rim or, primarily, getting the ball to their best player, Sorber. But there is just not enough spacing at times in this offense. The Friars obviously wanted to take away the three point line for the Hoyas but the Hoyas only shot 4-13 from three point range and inside the arc was often over-crowded as a result. They have to find a way to create more space and stretch the floor as the season goes on as a way of a) creating easier looks at the rim and b) punishing defenses when they pressure too much. The Hoyas continue to struggle against high pressure defenses and cannot find ways to consistently punish that approach.
• The Hoyas did manage to grab 40% of their own misses, but yielded at 47% offensive rebounding rate on the other end, which consistently led to Providence points. The Hoyas would play good defense and give up back breaking offensive rebounds leading to easy second chance points for the Friars. There were a handful of tough bounces on long rebounds, but this was largely being out-hustled and in bad position. Providence is a good rebounding team, coming in ranked 2nd in the Big East in rebounds per game and rebound rate, but the effort on the glass from the Hoyas (especially those not named Thomas Sorber) wasn't good enough.
• There were effort and execution problems for the Hoyas on Saturday afternoon, but they did not get enough help from Ed Cooley and the coaching staff. The rotations were bad, even nonexistent, and there were no adjustments made throughout the game. With Epps struggling as much as he was, there needed to be an adjustment to get the ball out of his hands or to get him out of the game for longer stretches. The Hoyas got no points from bench players, but outside of a lengthy second half run for Caleb Williams, the bench saw no consistent action.
• Further exploring the rotations, this has been one of Uncle Dad's biggest talking points throughout the season and it gets more glaring as the season goes on. The rotations are inconsistent, the bench is too short, the leashes for certain bench players are too short, and none of the bench guys can get any consistency. Coach refusing to play his bench in a normal way is incredibly frustrating when they are so clearly leaking oil for long stretches of games. Part of the problem seems to be that Cooley will make a change (like going to Caleb Williams in the 2nd half today) and then sorta forget to make other subs. Caleb started his run out really bad but came up with some nice plays later on. Imagine if Cooley was rotating other fresh guys in at the same time. And then he goes and takes Caleb out like two possessions too late and still hasn’t subbed anyone else. Meanwhile Jordan Burks makes a mistake and we don’t see him the rest of the game. The bench won’t get better if they don’t play and the starters will continue to get gassed late in games and/or get hurt (e.g. the DePaul game), leaving the Hoyas in a more perilous position.
• Let's toss it to Matty for some thoughts on Drew Fielder:

I've been on a "Curtis > Fielder" kick recently. It honestly started as something of a bit but man this game really flipped a switch for me. After giving myself an hour or so to digest that loss, I shared with the boys:

I’m still mad about Fielder. It’s really an effort and awareness thing for me. More often than not, he looks completely lost out there. There was an instance in the first half where he had an easy rebound, and he let a Providence player basically come from behind him to take it away, just because of a lack of effort. Curtis will give you effort.

I’m feeling like I did when we went to Chicago and saw DePaul beat us. Ewing kept playing Yurtseven over Wahab. And that was the game where my “high on Wahab” thing went from something of a bit to my rallying cry.

Curtis just gives you more on the floor. He plays harder, he looks more physical despite being 30 pounds lighter than Drew, and he's far more of a threat behind the arc. And yes, I know that both logged the same amount of time yesterday (16 minutes) but Curtis needs to get more run in big moments that Fielder.

• Vinci was our man on the ground at the AMP and his biggest takeaway was how unbelievable the continued hate for Ed Cooley is. They had a 7 point lead with 3 minutes to go, about to pick up a big conference win, and all any of the students could yell was "Fuck Ed Cooley." Frankly, that's lame. Matty's family text thread (which includes some PC folks) was later complaining about Cooley's lack of loyalty. As he put it, "a lot of conservative capitalists bitching about a guy taking DOUBLE his salary for a new job." This will all dissipate over time, but until it does, this part of the Providence-Georgetown matchup is just super played out. Get over it.

Overall, this is simply a game that the Hoyas have to win. They had a clear talent advantage, got outstanding games from two of their stars, and dominated the first 10 minutes of the game. From there, they got outscored 65-43. That just can't happen. This Hoyas team is not a true contender for the at the top of the conference, but they are too good to let a game like this get that out of hand when they stake themselves to such a big lead early. They need another gear, they need more help from the sidelines, they need to find more depth. And they need to do it quick. St. John's comes to town on Tuesday night.