"We should stop playing these games:" Georgetown beats St. Francis (PA)

The St. Francis (PA) Red Flash came into Capital One Arena Saturday ranked 340th in KenPom. Despite an early 19-4 deficit, the Red Flash battled back to make it a 1 point game at halftime and actually briefly led the game deep into the second half. Most of the details of this game don't really matter. Georgetown ultimately flexed their talent advantage and pulled away to win 82-65 and even flirted with covering the 20.5 point spread at one point. But it was ugly and unconvincing against one of the worst teams in the country and Georgetown should stop playing these games as much as possible (all scheduling caveats aside). Nothing good really comes from them. Case in point: Thomas Sorber leaving the game for a stretch in the second half after getting hit in the head. Losing him for any amount of time because of a game against a team like St. Francis would be devastating.

The gang had some deeper thoughts on the team bubble up during this one, but before we get to them, a few quick thoughts on the game itself:

• Micah Peavy and Jayden Epps led the offense, both eclipsing the 20 point mark. Peavy was particularly efficient going 10-20 from the field and 4-7 from three. He even added 6 assists as well. Epps was a little less efficient, but played aggressive and hit some really big three pointers to keep the Hoyas' momentum.
• Thomas Sorber had a relatively quiet game on offense but looked really good defensively. He moved his feet really well and caused a lot of problems for the St. Francis attack.
• Jayden Epps also played really good defense. That end of the floor has not always been his strong suit but he looked active and engaged and had three steals and a block to go along with just generally solid perimeter defense.
• Drew Fielder had his best game of the season. He was active on defense and a solid contributor on offense. Would like to see more of this Drew.
• Still no Drew McKenna. It seems odd not to give this kid run, especially in games like this where answers are fleeting at times. Give him a chance and see what he can do. He's looked good in his limited minutes so far.

Other than that, it was a mostly sleepy game in a mostly sleepy arena that the Hoyas should have won more comfortably to give this group any confidence in their ceiling. The main difference between this year and last year is that last year that Hoyas team would have seriously flirted with losing the game when St. Francis took the lead with about 8 minutes left. This year, they of course still let it get to that point, but the result was never really in doubt after Epps hit a three on the next possession. The Hoyas did ultimately close the game well and that's a step up from last season.

At one point, Hainesy (from the arena) posed a question to the thread:

I haven't watched Cooley closely enough during these games. For the dudes at home, does it seem like he's, like, uh, coaching during the game?

To which Matty offered a response:

I was just in the middle of a lengthy take on that topic:Everything that we’ve seen on the court so far this year doesn’t seem to be an effort issue or a talent issue (if I remember correctly we were pretty highly ranked based on talent alone, right? I thought I saw someone share that in this thread). We just look nervous. We look like we have no confidence out there. We look like we can’t adjust when a team isn’t playing at our pace or running slow sets. It’s as if the team gets bored and tries to force the issue and we either foul or turn the ball over.

All of this is a coaching issue.

It was here that Uncle Dad interjected with: "(Could've been written at any point in the last 7 years.) (Ducks.)"

There are definitely sets that Cooley ran at Providence that I haven’t seen yet either. He used to run that set for the big guys with multiple pin down screens in quick succession in the paint. Haven’t seen that play once so far. Maybe he doesn’t trust the team.

And that's why I'm probably more pissed now than I was during those 7 years. I know this guy can coach. But the product on the floor is identical to Ewing's. Sure the sets may be different but the discipline isn't. It's still a team that play with a sense of panic.

Patrick added at this point that this is one of the downsides to an entirely new lineup every year, which goes back to an earlier recap: this is still a team that lacks an identity. That is not something I think any of us expected when Cooley was hired. He may have had his flaws and his ceiling may not have been what we hoped for, but I don't think anyone thought his teams would play without an identity and yet here we are. Hopefully, the team can build one moving forward this season and they can find some roster continuity moving forward to better establish that at the program level.