Analysis: A Tale of 2 Halves (Sweet 16 edition)

Much like the 2nd round game against Boston College, Georgetown played a brilliant 2nd half on offense to make up for a lousy 1st half. The difference this time was that Vanderbilt played better in the 2nd half themselves, which made it such a close game.

Here are the numbers (from this box score):

Stat	1st	2nd	Full
Pace	29	28	57
OEff	83.5	150.3	116.4
eFG%	37.5%	62.5%	51.8%
TO%	24.3%	14.3%	19.4%
OR%	41.2%	56.3%	48.5%
FTM/FGA	25.0%	6.3%	14.3%
DEff	111.3	118.1	114.6
eFG%	57.7%	42.0%	50.0%
TO%	10.4%	7.1%	8.8%
OR%	13.3%	44.4%	29.4%
FTA/FGA	15.4%	64.0%	39.2%

The difference between halves for Georgetown is incredible; significant improvement in the first 3 factors lead to an 80% increase in offensive efficiency. JTIII's ability to make adjustments at halftime is what is keeping the Hoyas alive in the tournament.

Vanderbilt played smart, valuing the ball in a slow-paced game (5 TOs for the whole game!). Vanderbilt's shooting cooled in the 2nd half, but the team did a great job on the offensive glass to keep in the contest (also note the lopsided foul-shooting in the 2nd half - I wonder, if Green had missed that final shot, how many commentators would have pointed out the one-sided officiating favoring Vanderbilt?).

Individual player notes:

• After playing only 4 minutes in the 2nd half against BC, Dajuan Summers played the entire 2nd half last night, hitting 3 of 4 3-pt. attempts.
• Jeff Green (PPWS = 1.31) and Roy Hibbert (1.35) were their typical efficient selves; but Jon Wallace (1st half = 0.00, 2nd = 1.33) and Jessie Sapp (0.17, 0.91) cannot repeat their 1st half performances if G'town is to have a chance against UNC.
• Hats off to Dan Cage (1.32) and Ross Neltner (1.65) of Vandy for stepping up when Derrick Byars (0.83, 1.43) had a quiet 1st half and Shan Foster (1.29, 0.67) had a quiet 2nd half.

See also Jon Solomon's nice bit about the history of the last play.