Georgetown Redeems Itself Against the Irish

Georgetown 84, Notre Dame 65

DaJuan Summers had four days to sit and stew over the way he and his Georgetown teammates played in a disappointing loss at Pittsburgh on Monday night. So when the sophomore forward took the floor yesterday afternoon against Notre Dame, he was ready to attack. He went flying after rebounds in the fifth-ranked Hoyas' 84-65 victory in front of 19,286 at Verizon Center, scored 17 points, and was part of a terrific defensive effort against one of the Big East's most prolific offensive teams.

This past week "was kind of frustrating," said Summers, who added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. "Just trying to get up out of that -- playing harder is the only way to fix it. I guess that's the remedy for tough nights, coming out and playing harder the next game."

The Hoyas (14-2, 4-1), as a team, seemed to take that to heart against the Irish (13-4, 3-2). Senior center Roy Hibbert was dominant inside, particularly early in the game, and scored 21 points and made 7 of 11 shots. Georgetown's man-to-man defense was stifling. And the Hoyas made the hustle plays, which they didn't do at Pittsburgh.

Senior guard Jonathan Wallace flew out of bounds to save the opening tip-off, tumbling by the media table; Summers ran hard after a long rebound that was headed out; and the 7-foot-2 Hibbert dove on the floor after a loose ball, tying up 5-11 guard Tory Jackson -- all within the first 10 minutes.

Said Coach John Thompson III, "That intensity and that energy level set the tone for the game right there."

The Hoyas needed that kind of intensity against a Notre Dame team that scored 64 points in the second half of a win over Cincinnati on Tuesday. Georgetown gave the Irish very few open looks at the basket and held them to a season-low 32.8 percent shooting. The Hoyas held them without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch in the first half that broke the game open.

Sophomore forward Luke Harangody, who came in as the Big East's leading scorer (24.3 points) and rebounder (11.8) in conference games, missed 10 of 13 shots and scored 13 points before fouling out. Junior guard Kyle McAlarney, one of the top three-point shooters in the league, was 2 of 8 from beyond the arc and finished with 10 points.

"Really, the only looks we were getting were in transition, when they were scrambled a little bit," said Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey, whose team has now been blown out in its only two road games. "It was hard for us to get into our rhythm -- establishing Harangody down low, that's how we play -- it was hard to get that done. So your offensive rhythm is not going, and there is some frustration. That's a credit to their defense."

The 6-8, 251-pound Harangody was clearly frustrated against Hibbert, who dominated him at both ends of the court. At times, Harangody was reluctant to take the ball right at the taller player, preferring to shoot fallaway jumpers, a couple of which failed to hit the rim.

Meantime, Hibbert, whom Brey described as a "more cruel competitor" this season, was aggressive when he got the ball with Harangody on his back, either going to the basket or passing off to his cutting teammates, such as freshman Austin Freeman (16 points). During one three-minute stretch in the first half, Hibbert scored nine straight points -- the final two coming on a little hook shot over Harangody -- and Georgetown outscored Notre Dame, 24-4, in the lane in the first 20 minutes.

"You can see that look on his face, and you try to take advantage of that or abuse that," Hibbert said. "When he's getting down on himself, or his teammates are getting down on him, we feed off of that, I feed off of that, and you keep pounding it in there."

Summers feeds off rebounding, and often his aggressiveness on the glass spreads into other areas of his game. He struggled in his first four conference games, averaging just seven points, and he missed all seven shots he took against Pittsburgh. Yesterday, he scored after scooping up loose balls or fighting for rebounds, and he made two three-pointers.

"DaJuan is a cerebral player, he's a thinker. The last couple of games he's been trying to think through too many situations," Thompson said. "Today he just came out and played hard. It's amazing how good things happen, how the chips fall in place when you just play hard."