The beers were cold: Georgetown falls flat against Notre Dame

Section 104

Section 104

— 3 min read
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There was not a lot of good to take away from Georgetown's disappointing loss to Notre Dame on Saturday and it's already Tuesday and the Hoyas' next game fast approaches so we're going rapid-recap style for this gamer.

  • Big East legend John Fanta was on the call on NBC proper, the first time NBC aired a men's college basketball game since 1998(!).
  • The arena had pretty strong atmosphere. It certainly wasn't full, but the students showed up and the crowd was strong, despite not having a lot to get up for throughout the game.
  • The Hoyas actually started the game fairly well, getting the ball deep and hanging with the Irish for the first few minutes.
  • Things spiraled from there and despite a strong stretch midway through the first half that cut the Notre Dame lead to 4, this game was largely over by halftime.
  • The shooting numbers for both teams tell most of the story. The Hoyas shot 31% (22-70!) from the field, including just 25% (8-32) from three. Uncle Dad pointed out that 31% is actually better than it felt. The Hoyas missed almost as many shots as the Irish took. Notre Dame on the other hand shot 59% from the field and 43% from three. The Hoyas missed more shots than the Irish took.
  • It was a story of shooting and the Hoyas missed some open looks and the Irish buried some tough shots, but overall, the Georgetown offense wasn't crisp, the movement was sluggish and lacked purpose, and really labored to generate shots.
  • On the other end, the Hoyas probably played better defense than the Irish shooting numbers really give them credit for, but the defense wasn't "good" either. Even when the Hoyas played good defense, the rebounding wasn't great and Notre Dame had some back breaking second chance points.
  • The Hoyas zone defense was particularly bad. Seemingly every time they went with the zone wrinkle, Notre Dame generated a very clean look from three. It was really ugly. Going to zone against Notre Dame was a big coaching mistake.
  • Player notes:
    • Thomas Sorber was mostly good in this game, but missed a bunch of open jumpers and needs to use his size better against major-conference opponents. He'll need some more strength in conference play.
    • Malik Mack was also mostly good. He had some good plays off the bounce and had stretches as the only passable option for the Hoyas on offense. He shot 4-8 from three, accounting for half the Hoyas three point makes.
    • Jayden Epps had a 5 minute stretch in the second half where he looked sharp and hit some shots, but overall was pretty bad in this game. Some periods of rock pounding and bad shots.
    • Drew McKenna looked good in his late minutes. He should probably play more and play before the game is out of hand.
    • Micah Peavy was a no-show until he got aggressive late. He dealt with some foul trouble, but kind of floated through most of the game. The Hoyas need him to be more aggressive.
    • Julius Halaifonua had his worst game of the season so far. He definitely looked overmatched for most of his minutes.
    • Most of the rest of the team just didn't play all that well. Sloppy and unconnected on defense and a step slow on offense.

Overall, this team needs to find an identity. They just don't have one yet, which can be somewhat expected early in the season with an almost entirely new roster, but is definitely a concern given that Ed Cooley is a coach with a historical identity and absolutely did not find it last year either. It needs to get fixed soon before it becomes a pattern for Cooley's tenure. The offense doesn't really have a system and the defense hasn't been consistently strong. This leaves the Hoyas lacking fluidity and struggling to find any consistency. They have some very winnable games throughout the rest of the month to build those things, but it better happen fast or this season can turn into another lost season.

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