The chants from the Villanova fans who were scattered throughout MCI Center began with less than a minute to play in the Wildcats' 67-56 victory over Georgetown yesterday afternoon, and they had a sharp edge to them: "NIT! NIT!"
The Hoyas, who a year ago would have been happy to be eligible to play in the National Invitation Tournament, are battling to stay out of it this season. They are fighting to earn their first NCAA tournament bid since 2001, but the road became tougher with their third loss in a row.
Hoyas freshman Jeff Green, right, gets stuffed by Villanova defender Jason Fraser. Green scored a season-low five points.
(John McDonnell - The Washington Post)
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_____ Monday Morning_____
A look back at the weekend and a look ahead at the coming week's action with a fresh new edge.
• Norman Chad's Couch Slouch
• Starting Lineup
• The Chat: George Gray, host of ESPN reality show "I'd Do Anything"
• 7 Days
• The Review: "Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius 'Hook' Mitchell"
_____ The Quote _____
"If we're normally in the dugout at the time they plan to do this, we're not going to not be in the dugout. We're not going to arrange, or rearrange, our routine to either be there or not be there."
-- Manager Joe Torre, making it perfectly clear where the Yankees will be when the Red Sox hand out their World Series rings before their home opener against New York.
_____ The Monday Morning Poll _____
Note: This is an unscientific survey of washingtonpost.com readers.
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Georgetown is 16-9 overall and 8-6 in the Big East, tied for fifth place with Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. Eighteen wins would give the Hoyas a strong case; they travel to No. 17 Connecticut on Wednesday before returning home to host Providence, perhaps one of the most dangerous 2-12 Big East teams ever, on Saturday night.
"It's extremely disappointing," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said of the loss. "We've been fortunate to put ourselves in a position where at this time of year, games are important. It's not over. The Connecticut game is important. The Providence game is important. The [Big East] tournament is important. We're fighting here. We're scrapping. We're still in the mix."
The Hoyas were upset about the loss, but they didn't seem to be quite as down as they were following their costly 76-67 loss at St. John's last Sunday. They played better this week, in front of 11,770, and against a team that has been playing as well as almost any team in the country lately.
Georgetown won the first meeting between the teams on a last-second play in mid-January, but the Wildcats (19-6) are a very different team now. Villanova, which moved into fourth place in the conference at 9-5, was coming off back-to-back wins over No. 18 Pittsburgh and Connecticut.
"I think they've got a ton of confidence building after beating a couple of ranked teams," Georgetown junior Brandon Bowman said. "When you play with confidence and everything's going your way, things that normally don't happen start to happen. . . . They played a great game today."
The Wildcats are one of the Big East's most explosive offensive teams. Guard Allan Ray and forward Curtis Sumpter are among the top six scorers in the league, and they combined for 29 points. Two role players stepped up for the Wildcats; sophomore forward Will Sheridan scored a season-high 14 points (10 more than his average) and grabbed nine rebounds (seven offensive), and freshman point guard Kyle Lowry had 12 points, 7 assists and 1 turnover in his second career start.
Georgetown has made a habit of getting off to slow starts. Senior swingman Darrel Owens started in place of 7-foot-2 freshman Roy Hibbert in an attempt to get the Hoyas off on the right foot, but it didn't really matter. Georgetown missed eight of its first nine shots and committed four early turnovers. The Hoyas trailed at halftime for the ninth time in conference play, this time 29-17.
"What's frustrating with today's slow start, we came out and got one or two layups that didn't go in," Thompson said. "We got some outside shots that didn't go in. Trying to feed the post and throw it in, we had some dropped balls and turnovers. . . . We got what we wanted but had some bad luck."
The Hoyas tried to get the ball inside to forward Jeff Green on their first two possessions, but the first pass went out of bounds, and the second one was stolen by Sheridan. That set the tone for the game; the Wildcats didn't let Green get the ball, and when he did, he was double- or triple-teamed almost immediately. Green attempted one shot in the first half, a layup off of a nice entry pass from Jonathan Wallace.
The freshman was never really a factor in the game, a testament to the defensive efforts of Sheridan, Jason Fraser and Sumpter, a trio of long, athletic forwards. Green finished with just five points on 1-of-5 shooting. Bowman was the only Hoya to score in double figures; he had 22 on 8-of-15 shooting, including 4 of 5 from three-point range.
"This team decided not to let Jeff touch the ball," Thompson said. "They made a concerted effort. They did not want him to get it."
