Georgetown Has Pressing Engagement

Louisville Expected To Try Hoyas' Patience

Louisville junior Terrence Williams realized Wednesday just how much excitement tonight's game against sixth-ranked Georgetown was causing on campus. He was in class, in the midst of taking a test, when a female classmate passed by his desk and whispered, "Good luck on Saturday."

"You can tell the atmosphere is different," Williams said. A sellout crowd is expected at Freedom Hall, and fans have been asked to wear white. "Everybody asks me, 'Where can I get a white T-shirt from?' Man, just go to Wal-Mart and get a regular white Hanes T-shirt! You go to the mall, and everybody's asking, 'How bad are you going to beat Georgetown?' I think it's going to be a good game."

This is the first of two regular season meetings between the preseason co-favorites to win the Big East. The Hoyas (19-2, 9-1) sit atop the league standings, with Louisville (17-6, 7-3) tied for third.

The two teams are similar in some respects -- both have depth and experience, a smart-passing big man and a Final Four coach -- but they look very different. That's apparent in the way they play defense. Both are very good; Georgetown leads the country in field goal percentage defense (.355) and Louisville is sixth (.374).

"Louisville tries to make you take more chances. Georgetown stays more solid," said St. John's Coach Norm Roberts, whose team lost back-to-back games to the Cardinals and Hoyas last month. "Georgetown may take chances early in the shot clock, and then they stay solid and say, 'Shoot it over [7-foot-2 Roy] Hibbert, shoot it over [6-8 DaJuan] Summers, shoot it over Jessie Sapp, who's very strong and is pressuring you.' Louisville tries to pressure you full court and take you out of what you want to do."

The Cardinals use a 2-3 zone that sometimes morphs into man-to-man, and they like to press. Georgetown Coach John Thompson III says that the Cardinals are well-schooled, and that they "aren't just crazy all over the place with their pressure."

When Georgetown's players talk about defense, they use words like "discipline" and "fundamentals" and "patience." The Hoyas rarely press, though they'll occasionally trap in the half court. They rarely gamble, which is one reason why they're so tough, according to Louisville Coach Rick Pitino.

Said Pitino, "Georgetown puts a premium on defending the paint and not letting you get to the basket, which over the long haul will allow you to not only be successful defensively, but it will limit the number of second shots you give up."

"You look at Duke, and they're known for their intense defense, overplaying and going for steals. That's a part of their program and why they have success," said Hibbert, who averages 2.1 blocked shots per game. "With us, it's patience: wearing teams down on offense and then on defense, they want to score so quickly because we use up so much of the shot clock. Hopefully they're going to take bad shots and we can get rebounds. I think that's a key to our winning."

Pitino places an emphasis on the importance of not taking contested shots. In last year's 73-65 loss to the Hoyas, Louisville committed just one turnover, but Pitino says that's a sign the Cardinals didn't pass the ball very much and settled for quick shots.

"I chart it both at the NBA and collegiate level, and if you take challenged shots over the course of the season, you're going to shoot at the collegiate level, 28 percent or less, and at the pro level, 38 percent or less," Pitino said. "That's held true for a long time. Certain teams can make challenged shots; we're not one of those teams. We've got to take open shots and move the basketball around."

The Cardinals didn't take smart shots in their most recent loss, a 69-67 defeat at Connecticut on Jan. 28. They shot 40 percent , but more than half of their 60 shots were three-point attempts.

To make matters worse, they didn't have the right players taking those shots; 20 of the 33 attempts came from Williams, senior Juan Palacios and sophomore Earl Clark -- none of whom are shooting better than 30 percent from beyond the arc.

On the flight home, Pitino harped on the importance of taking good shots; he even pulled aside players and showed them the rushed and contested shots they took against the Huskies. The message seemed to get through. In the two games since -- blowout wins over Rutgers and No. 16 Marquette -- the Cardinals shot 49.5 percent.

"Before, some guys were on own their pages," Williams said. "Now we're really listening to Coach P: We're trying not to take challenged shots, and we're holding teams to low shooting percentages. Having our veterans back on the floor, they help us out and lead us. We're running more smoothly. It's like putting oil into your car."