"The offense should just look better than this by now:" Hoyas drop a close one to Xavier

The Georgetown Hoyas lost to the Xavier Musketeers 74-69 on Tuesday night at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati. The game was close throughout, but Xavier was largely in control in the latter part of the second half and the Hoyas never had the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead in the last 7 minutes of the game. The Hoyas played strong defense throughout the game and the overall effort was very good, but the offense could not score enough points to get the Hoyas over the hump. It's become a familiar and frustrating feeling — watching the Hoyas shine defensively, failing to generate consistent offense, and subsequently losing a winnable game against a good opponent.

Jayden Epps missed his second straight game with illness (though he was on the bench for this one so presumably he'll be back for the Seton Hall game) and Caleb Williams got the start in his absence. The Hoyas actually jumped on the Musketeers early, building a 24-16 lead on the backs of (who else?) Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy. The Hoyas got Sorber involved all over the court and Xavier had no answer for the big man. Peavy added 8 points and 3 assists during this stretch, including two big three pointers. The Hoyas defense was suffocating the Musketeers, forcing contested shots and sloppy turnovers. Xavier likes to play up tempo, but the Hoyas had them looking rushed in the early part of the game.

Xavier closed the half on a 14-2 run; however, and went into the locker room with a 30-26 lead. This was the moment where the Hoyas' offense ground to a halt. They committed a bunch of silly turnovers and Xavier was able to get a flow of their own going on the other end was a result. Georgetown gave up 14 points in just over 6 minutes, but the bigger problem is that they couldn't find six-to-eight more points of their own during this stretch. There was no go-to action to create a set look for Sorber. There was no setup to have Peavy go straight to the hoop either to convert a layup, draw contact, or kick out. There was generally no support from the non-Sorber, non-Peavy parts of the lineup. Drew Fielder had 3 points at half and Curtis Williams had 2. And that was the extent of scoring from players not named Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy.

After the half, Xavier looked primed to take full control of the game early, but the Hoyas battled back. Malik Mack finally got going a little bit, contributing 5 early second half points (he had 13 total in the second half for a nice bounce back, of sorts) and couple of assists. The Hoyas continued their strong defensive effort. After a Caleb Williams three brought the Hoyas to within one and a Xavier turnover on the ensuing possession, Mack actually had a chance to give the Hoyas a lead with a three-pointer, but it rimmed out. And though the Hoyas got it back to a one point game a minute later and showed fight throughout the half, they couldn't get that one more bucket to take the lead or tie the game at any point. They did fight right up to the end of the game, pressuring the Musketeers and not backing down at all, but Xavier made their free throws and when the Hoyas did finally force a turnover with 7 seconds left, Curtis Williams three pointer to cut the lead to two went down and out. That was the ballgame.

Overall, this was a strong effort for the Hoyas against a better team in a tough road environment. They played outstanding defense for much of the game and their effort was all-out until the final whistle. There is plenty to build on for the rest of this season and beyond. But, this was also a frustrating game because we're now 23 games into this season and they cannot find enough of an offensive identity or flow to get over the hump. They've battled injuries and lineup inconsistency and they are a young team overall, but there is enough offensive talent on this team that it just feels like they should be better on offense. The defense has traveled well pretty much all season and will continue to do so. The effort has largely been there all season and it's fair to expect that will stay high as well. They have to find some answers on offense in order to make any sort of late push for the top half of the conference and an easier path in the Big East Tournament.

Some assorted game thoughts:

• Basketball, particularly college basketball, is certainly a "game of runs." Teams that make it to the tournament are usually those who can withstand their opponent's momentum and take advantage of their own opportunities. Those who make it to the second weekend of the tourney are usually adept at "stopping the run." And that typically happens at the offensive end with defined action that gives them a good look. Nothing stops an opponent's momentum like a good play that a team can pull out of its back pocket at anytime, even more so than a transition 3. Frankly, it's more psychological than anything else. "Your 8-0 run was nice there, but we can go to this scheme anytime." Unfortunately, this does not describe your Georgetown Hoyas.
  
  Giving up big runs has been a major problem throughout the season for the Hoyas and it gets more glaring with every "double digit to zero run over X minutes" graphic Fox Sports has to put up in these games. What's even more frustrating is that our defense is so good that stretches like the 14-2 run at the end of the first half in this one are 6+ minutes long! We need a "run stopping" play that we can go to for some good open looks instead of playing panicked basketball.
• The thought that this team was better off without Jayden Epps that creeped in after the Butler game? That feels pretty untrue after this one. They still have to find a way to unblock his involvement in the offense, but they need a more reliable third scorer than what Malik Mack or Caleb Williams or Curtis Williams or Drew Fielder are capable of being right now. Epps has to be that guy when he comes back.
• Malik Mack really struggled in this one. He finished with 13 points, all in the second half, and did add 8 assists, but he was 4-15 from the field, including a brutal 1-8 from three point range. It looked at times that he knew he had put up 26 against this team in the last game and thought he could single-handedly repeat that performance, but he never got it going. He's playing up in competition from last year and he's having to work really hard on defense (where he acquitted himself generally well on Tuesday night), but there also has to be an element of fatigue setting in at this point in the season. He plays basically the whole game, usually against someone much bigger than him and it's got to be affecting his shot-making.
• The depth and rotation continue to be confounding. Jordan Burks played 6 minutes in the first half with Drew Fielder in foul trouble. He didn't play at all in the second half. His first half minutes coincided with Xavier's big 14-2 run so there is a compelling argument that he should have been sitting, but Fielder barely played in the second half too. And Burks looks more lost than ever when he does hit the floor because he's not getting any chance to build rhythm. He's tentative on offense and appears afraid to make mistakes on defense rather than showing the aggression and activity on that end that we saw early in the season. Late in the game, after Caleb Williams fouled out, little used Austin Montgomery replaced him rather than Burks or Drew Fielder. To some degree, playing matchups makes sense and Montgomery is a more like-for-like sub in that scenario, but he is a walk-on who has barely played (7 GP, 1.6 minutes/game) and the game was in the balance. One thought was that he was in there to foul, but based on all the time they let run off in that last minute, maybe not. Fielder may not make sense in that situation as you're trying to play high pressure uptempo defense (and it was clear in the second half that Cooley did not like the matchup with Fielder), but Burks definitely fits that bill. We're really harping on the substitution patterns and rotations here and not covering a ton of new ground, but it's obvious that fatigue is playing a role in these games and it also really seems to impact anyone's ability to get in a rhythm, particularly on offense.
• We have three point shooters. We really do. Drew Fielder is finding a little rhythm from beyond the arc, shooting much closer to last season's average from deep in conference play than his brutal start from deep. Curtis Williams showed flashes of excellent shooting touch at points throughout the Big East season. Caleb Williams is only shooting 33% from deep on the season but he's hit some big ones (including one in this game) and has a nice looking stroke. Malik Mack really struggled in this game but has shown ability to hit from deep. The offense really needs to work over the next few games to get some mix of these guys consistent looks from deep. There just isn't enough space for Sorber and Peavy to operate without any consistent threat of an outside shot and the Hoyas become predictable and easy to defend without it. Even the looks they do get are often off the bounce or easy to defend because the creators don't have space to get the ball to open shooters. We know Cooley wants to play through the post and get the ball to the hoop, especially with Sorber and Peavy leading the attack, but they have got to figure out how to get these guys more consistent looks from deep in order to make the offense less predictable. More shots have to fall, of course, but there have been enough flashes to think they will if there is more opportunity.