There was never really any moment in Georgetown's 62-55 victory over Rutgers last night when the young Hoyas seemed to panic: not during a dismal first-half performance, not when they trailed by 10 with about 12 minutes left in the game. Instead, they methodically worked their way back into the game and came out with a stirring comeback win in front of 6,905 at MCI Center.
"I think sometimes you come into a timeout and your guys have a glassy-eyed look to them," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said. "I think in spite of the score, first half, second half, I think we felt we could get what we wanted, we just had to get stops . . .
Ashanti Cook is a step ahead of Rutgers's Byron Joynes. Hoyas improved to 10-4, 2-1 in the Big East.
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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"We've been in a couple of positions, a couple of situations where we could've packed it in. This group continues to fight, to try to figure out how to fix whatever rut we're in. This group just doesn't quit."
If nothing else, the Hoyas have proved to be resilient so far this season. They dug themselves an early hole by making poor decisions, then pulled themselves back into the game by making big plays at both ends of the floor. They shot a season-low 22.7 percent from three-point range (5 for 22) -- something that they normally do well -- but they did a great job rebounding (42-26 advantage) -- something that they don't always do well. The Hoyas did almost everything better in the second half than they did in the first half, from shooting (51.9 percent to 33.3 percent) to rebounding (26 rebounds to 16).
As a result, the Hoyas (10-4, 2-1 Big East) are already halfway to last season's conference win total. Rutgers fell to 6-6 overall and 0-2 in the Big East, and lost their 30th conference road game in four seasons. Coach Gary Waters yelled at his team in its locker room for over 90 minutes after the game.
Freshman Jeff Green (Northwestern) scored 16 points and added 10 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 4 assists, and was once again the Hoya who made big plays in the second half. Senior Darrel Owens had 14 points (12 in the second half), and freshman Jonathan Wallace and junior Brandon Bowman each scored 11. Senior Juel Wiggan had a game-high 23 for Rutgers.
Green and Wallace led the Hoyas on a 10-2 spurt midway through the second half that brought them to within two, 40-38, with 9 minutes 29 seconds left in the game. Georgetown drew even with the Scarlet Knights for the first time when Ashanti Cook made a pull-up jumper on the arc with 5:40 left; the Hoyas took their first lead, 50-47, on an Owens three-pointer with 3:10 on the clock.
Over the final five minutes of the game, Georgetown held Rutgers to one field goal; the Hoyas, meantime, scored as many points (18) as they did in the entire first half. Green made a three-pointer from the top of the key as the shot clock wound down to put the Hoyas up 55-47 with 1:24 to go; Owens somehow converted a layup as he was being dragged to the floor by Byron Joynes, who was called for a flagrant foul.
"Pretty, ugly, kinda cute -- I'll take a win any way it comes," Thompson said. "I think that's what conference play is about. Nothing is going to be pretty; it's going to be difficult because people have a feel for what you're trying to do."
Of course, Georgetown would not have been in position to make such a comeback if had played better in the first half. The Hoyas trailed by eight at the break, 26-18, and they were lucky that the deficit wasn't larger. Georgetown did not take good shots, and the Hoyas missed all nine attempts they took from beyond the three-point arc. Georgetown also did not take care of the ball, committing 10 first-half turnovers.
Thompson used two timeouts in the first 13 minutes of the game to try to get the Hoyas on track. He tried different lineups; at one point, Georgetown had four freshmen (Green, Wallace, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Crawford) and one sophomore (Ray Reed) on the court. Nothing worked.
"That's a credit to [Rutgers]," Thompson said. "They controlled the flow of the game. We were able to hang around and put ourselves in position to make some plays."
Hoyas Note: Senior RaMell Ross (Lake Braddock) missed last night's game; his mother, Gisele, died over the weekend. Thompson said that he does not know when Ross will return to the team; the Hoyas are going to give him all the time he needs.
