We still shouldn't play these games anymore but that was fun: Georgetown dominates Wagner

Let's get this out of the way: the point from the St. Francis recap stands: we should stop playing these games. Wagner came in ranked 294th in KenPom (spoiler: they're over 300 now!) and there just are so few things that can go right when you play against an opponent that poorly ranked, let alone 8 opponents that poorly ranked like the Hoyas have on their schedule this season.

The other thing to get out of the way right off the top is that Wagner played every bit as lousy as their 294 KenPom ranking would suggest (and then some). The Seahawks are simply not a very good team and they played exceptionally badly against the Hoyas on Tuesday night at McDonough. The Hoyas get some credit for that which we'll get into below, but Wagner just isn't very good.

That said, this game was the platonic ideal of one of these games: the Hoyas won, no one got seriously hurt, they got tested a little bit early, they tried some stuff, and they ultimately blew the doors off their overmatched opponent.

The first half was pretty grim. Offensively, the Hoyas could get very little going. They weren't getting the ball deep to Thomas Sorber, Micah Peavy was looking to be aggressive but had only limited success, Malik Mack was similarly looking to score and be aggressive but couldn't get much to fall, and Jayden Epps looked mostly lost on the offensive end. The Hoyas very much looked like a team in search of...something, anything, anything at all on offense. Defensively, they were...fine. Again, Wagner is very bad so a lot of their shots just didn't go in, but the Hoyas only gave up 20 points in the first half so the defense was adequate at worst. It still felt very clear in the gym that the Hoyas just weren't comfortable and did not have the confidence to really take it to Wagner.

There was an especially good stretch on defense late in the half when Curtis Williams, Jr. and Jordan Burks were on the floor together. They hounded Wagner and gave the Hoyas a chance to really widen their lead, which they didn't quite do during that stretch, but did push the lead to 8 at halftime. It was here that Niv posited:

If these jabronis (presumably the coaching staff) don't go into whatever locker room they have in this gym at halftime and tell every one of our players that Wagner athletes are not on their level, I'm going to be mad. We should win the second half 44-0.

The Hoyas proceeded to give him a run for his money as they scored the first 18 points of the half and held Wagner scoreless for the first 8 minutes of the half.

Simply put, the second half was some of the best basketball the Georgetown Hoyas have played in...quite some time. All the caveats about the opponent stand, but it was really solid all around. The defense was exceptional with incredible effort from all 5 guys on the floor. They held Wagner scoreless for over 11 minutes of game time (including the last 3:19 of the first half) and there was an even longer stretch of the second half where Wagner had more shot clock violations than made baskets. They Hoyas took away everything on that end of the floor. It wasn't exactly a quick 23-0 run, but it was a suffocating one. And importantly during this stretch, the vibes were outstanding. The bench was up and into every single turnover and missed shot. The team came flying into timeouts. They were joking in the huddle. Every guy found ways to contribute even if they weren't scoring. It was completely dominant in a way that it should have been.

The Hoyas have to carry this type of effort forward. They have to show consistency in their effort against bad opponents and they have to build confidence going into games against West Virginia and Syracuse and into conference season. But Tuesday against Wagner, especially in the second half, was a step in the right direction. They found an identity and leaned on it. Now they have to stick to it.

As usual, a couple of game notes:

• Thomas Sorber didn't have a huge scoring game, but he was really impactful in other areas. His defense was really sharp for the second straight game and his playmaking was really, really good.
• Jayden Epps also had a good night without doing a lot of lifting on the offensive end. He played really good on-ball defense, especially in the second half, and had a really great screen deep in the post to get Sorber a clean layup.
• Micah Peavy again led the way on offense and, in particular, shot the ball from deep really effectively. If he can be consistent from three and drive the game on offense, this team can be pretty good.
• Drew Fielder had a really nice game. It's good to see him rounding into form.
• Jordan Burks and Curtis Williams, as mentioned earlier, really helped set the tone defensively. If they can get any sort of offense from these guys, they can cause a lot of problems because they can absolutely get after it defensively.
• Malik Mack had a nice offensive game. He needs to be a little more efficient, but he clearly belongs and when he has games where the shot is falling, this team is going to roll.
• The Hoyas have to figure out how to make more shots from outside. Outside of Epps and Peavy and (sometimes Mack) they just don't stretch the defense enough. That is going to be an area they need to improve to match up in-conference.
• Lastly, with 2:03 remaining in the game, Wagner's Zavier Fitch went to the free throw line. As he went to release his first shot, Miller Lite Mike dropped a perfectly executed "MISS IT, FITCH" that sounded exactly how you're thinking it did. Fitch made the free throw, but it was outstanding work.