The new coach of the Georgetown men's basketball team was greeted with chants of "JT3!" as he stepped onto MCI Center's court before the Hoyas' season opener against Temple last night. John Thompson III has brought a certain amount of excitement and interest to a team that ended last season with a nine-game losing streak, and he hopes to bring some victories as well.
The Hoyas will have to wait a little longer for the first win. A young Georgetown team played well at times but ultimately fell to Temple, 75-57.
New coach John Thompson III received a warm welcome from a small crowd at MCI Center, but Hoyas fell behind by 13 at the half.
(Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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The Hoyas didn't shoot well and they didn't take care of the ball, two things that Temple (1-1) did do well. The Owls shot 45 percent, were 9 of 15 from beyond the three-point arc and scored 15 points off Georgetown turnovers. Junior guard Mardy Collins scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 5 for 5 from three-point range.
"The effort was fine. I think it can get better," Thompson said. "We have a lot of guys that need to learn -- and will learn with experience -- what it takes to succeed here. We have a young group. We have a couple of guys that do have experience but are learning and will quickly learn what I expect. They're going to grow up. That will happen."
The Hoyas started two freshmen -- forward Jeff Green (Northwestern High) and walk-on guard Jonathan Wallace -- alongside their three most experienced players: junior guard Ashanti Cook, junior forward Brandon Bowman and senior guard Darrel Owens. Thompson said that he thought that was the lineup that would make the most shots against the Owls' zone.
But the three veterans combined to make only 5 of 24 shots, and they scored a total of 27 points. The Hoyas shot only 36 percent, and they especially struggled in the first half (31 percent). Georgetown committed 17 turnovers to Temple's six.
"Their defense is pretty tough," Bowman said. "You've got to be pretty much on fire to shoot them out of it. Shots we've been hitting weren't falling tonight. . . . I'm sure we'll bounce back. But it's a bad feeling because it carries over from last year, another loss. But it'll pass."
The Georgetown freshmen performed well in their first game. Green had 9 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. Roy Hibbert, a 7-foot-2 center from Georgetown Prep, was the first player off the bench (much to the delight of the student section), and he made his first shot -- a sky hook. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Georgetown led early in the game, but Temple soon took control. The Hoyas made a run late in the first half behind Hibbert and Green. Hibbert scored on a one-handed dunk off of a nice spin and dribble to bring the Hoyas within 27-22. Two minutes later, Green made the defensive play of the night, streaking over and rising high to block Mark Tyndale, who was going in for a dunk. Tyndale fell hard, but the block was clean. At the other end, Bowman sank a three-pointer to pull Georgetown within 27-25 with 2 minutes 48 seconds left in the half.
But the Owls closed with 11 straight points, the last coming on a banked three-pointer from Dion Dacons at the buzzer. Temple led 38-25 at the break and extended its lead to 25 points in the second half.
"I think that something that this group has to learn and grow from is that when teams make a run, we've got to relax and respond to that, instead of letting the hole get deeper and deeper," Thompson said. "We have to find a way collectively to bounce back and work our way out of it."
Two lower sections behind one of the baskets were filled with Georgetown students, nearly all of whom were wearing gray T-shirts with "We are Georgetown" on the front and "Some have forgotten, we will remind them" on the back. A large roman numeral III was also screened across the back in honor of Thompson, who expressed those sentiments during his introductory news conference in April.
John Thompson Jr., the current coach's father and the man who built Georgetown into a national power, wasn't among the crowd of 6,320 at MCI Center; he was out of town.
"I think [Thompson III is] going to be fine. He's already a great coach," said Temple Coach John Chaney, who faced Thompson Jr. four times. "Give him a year or two and he'll get some more talent on the floor. But I thought his kids played extremely well, and it's a situation where they only have a couple of guys that can string shots."
