News: Georgetown advances to Big East finals

Georgetown was able to overcome a torrid shooting performance by Notre Dame and pull out a 84-82 win in the Big East semi-finals, after trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half. Despite Notre Dame's amazing shooting display early, making 10 of their first 16 3-pointers, in the end it was Georgetown's shooting (eFG = 56.8%) that proved the difference (N.D.U. eFG% = 47.1%).

Using the Big Ten Wonk's Point per Weighted Shot (PPWS), Georgetown performed at 1.23, while Notre Dame was 1.05; the Hoyas' high efficiency and the Fighting Irish's obscene OR % (= 55.8%) lead to the high score totals despite a pace of 63, only 3 possessions faster than average for G'town and 8 possessions slower than average for Notre Dame.


Georgetown will play Pittsburgh in the Big East Tournament finals, after the Panthers staged a comeback of their own in best Lousiville, 65-59.

Here's the box score:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      Notre Dame         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            32        31        63
 
Points          44        40        84          46        36        82   

Effic.        138.8     128.7     133.9       145.1     115.8     130.7  
 
eFG%           55.2      58.3      56.8        58.8      35.3      47.1  
TO%            15.8      16.1      15.9        12.6      12.9      12.8  
OR%            53.3      46.7      50.0        50.0      60.0      55.8  
FTA/FGA        44.8      23.3      33.9        17.6      47.1      32.4  

Assist Rate    40.0      68.8      54.8        43.8      45.5      44.4  
Block Rate     25.0      13.6      19.0         5.0       4.2       4.5  
Steal Rate      9.5       9.7       9.6        12.6      12.9      12.8  
 
2FG%           65.0      54.2      59.1        40.0      40.9      40.5  
3FG%           22.2      50.0      33.3        57.1      16.7      38.5  
FT%            92.3      71.4      85.0       100.0      75.0      81.8 

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Wallace, Jonathan      58   11.4  167.5   11.1      57   122.4   14.0      +0.1  
Summers, DaJuan        50   24.3  149.5   18.2      50   133.9   13.4      +3.3  
Sapp, Jessie           45   13.2  117.7    7.0      45   116.5   10.5      -1.7  
Green, Jeff            63   34.3  135.5   29.2      64   114.8   14.7      +9.5  
Hibbert, Roy           34   15.4  127.4    6.7      34   121.1    8.2      -0.6  
Rivers, Jeremiah       24    5.0   38.1    0.5      23    99.3    4.6      -2.4  
Crawford, Tyler         7    0.0    -      0.0       8   123.8    2.0      -2.0  
Ewing, Patrick         44   29.2  115.1   14.8      44   126.9   11.2      +1.1  
TOTALS                 65         133.3   87.4      65   120.7   78.5      +8.6  

Notre Dame            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
JACKSON, Tory          65   23.3  140.5   21.2      65   121.5   15.8      +4.2  
FALLS, Colin           61   14.4  119.7   10.5      61   127.7   15.6      -2.9  
KURZ, Rob              44   21.8  130.4   12.5      42   109.2    9.2      +2.7  
CARTER, Russell        62   23.0  130.0   18.6      63   118.5   14.9      +2.6  
HARANGODY, Luke        37   31.8   97.3   11.4      37   155.2   11.5      -3.4  
HILLESLAND, Zach       21   12.1  132.4    3.4      21   122.2    5.1      -0.8  
ZELLER, Luke           28   11.1  166.1    5.2      30   108.8    6.5      +0.2  
AYERS, Ryan             7   14.3    0.0    0.0       6   106.7    1.3      -1.2  
TOTALS                 65         125.1   82.8      65   122.9   79.9      +2.1 

HD BOX SCORE

Notre Dame vs Georgetown
3/9/07 7:00 p.m. at New York, N.Y. @ Madison Square Garden
Final score: Georgetown 84, Notre Dame 82

Notre Dame              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
JACKSON, Tory          40:00  - 2  20/82  8-14  0- 0  4- 5 14/67  6/19  1/65  3/65  0/43  4/41  5/29   2
FALLS, Colin           37:33  - 6  14/74  0- 1  4- 9  2- 2 10/63  1/20  1/61  2/61  0/42  0/40  1/28   2
KURZ, Rob              25:44  - 1   9/51  2- 4  0- 1  5- 5  5/47  1/14  2/42  1/44  0/26  6/31  2/18   3
CARTER, Russell        38:32  - 3  21/79  2- 9  5-13  2- 4 22/66  1/19  2/63  0/62  0/41  3/41  5/28   0
HARANGODY, Luke        23:20  - 9  11/46  3- 8  0- 0  5- 6  8/41  3/13  0/37  3/37  2/24  3/27  1/14   5
HILLESLAND, Zach       12:40  + 4   2/31  1- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/19  0/ 9  1/21  1/21  0/16  2/10  0/11   1
ZELLER, Luke           18:15  + 2   5/36  1- 2  1- 4  0- 0  6/27  0/10  1/30  0/28  0/20  1/14  0/15   4
AYERS, Ryan            03:56  + 5   0/11  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 5  0/ 4  0/ 6  1/ 7  0/ 3  0/ 1  1/ 2   0
TOTALS                 40:00       82    17-40 10-27 18-22    67 12/27  8/65 11/65  2/43 22/41 17/29  17
.                                        0.425 0.370 0.818       0.444 0.123 0.169 0.047 0.537 0.586    

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Wallace, Jonathan      34:58  + 1  10/75  2- 2  2- 6  0- 0  8/52  5/24  2/57  1/58  0/34  0/26  1/32   2
Summers, DaJuan        29:30  + 1  18/66  4- 4  2- 5  4- 4  9/47  3/18  0/50  2/50  0/32  2/25  1/30   4
Sapp, Jessie           28:12  + 0   5/56  1- 2  1- 2  0- 0  4/41  3/20  1/45  2/45  0/27  1/19  3/28   2
Green, Jeff            39:21  + 2  30/84  9-19  0- 1 12-14 20/57  1/22  2/64  2/63  2/40  3/28  6/41   2
Hibbert, Roy           22:34  + 3   6/44  3- 4  0- 0  0- 0  4/26  1/13  0/34  1/34  5/20  1/10  2/28   5
Rivers, Jeremiah       14:09  + 6   0/29  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/20  1/ 9  1/23  1/24  0/16  0/13  0/18   1
Crawford, Tyler        04:32  + 0   0/11  0- 0  0- 1  0- 0  1/ 6  0/ 4  0/ 8  0/ 7  0/ 5  0/ 2  1/ 6   0
Ewing, Patrick         26:44  - 3  15/55  7-12  0- 0  1- 2 12/41  0/14  1/44  1/44  0/26  3/22  1/22   3
TOTALS                 40:00       84    26-43  5-15 17-20    58 14/31  7/65 11/65  7/40 12/29 19/41  19
.                                        0.605 0.333 0.850       0.452 0.108 0.169 0.175 0.414 0.463    

Efficiency: Georgetown 1.292, Notre Dame 1.262
eFG%: Georgetown 0.578, Notre Dame 0.478
Substitutions: Georgetown 28, Notre Dame 23

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 5-6, Notre Dame 0-0
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 10-14, Notre Dame 13-27
Jumpers: Georgetown 11-23, Notre Dame 4-13

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 8 (11.9), Notre Dame 6 (9.4)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 11 (157.1), Notre Dame 14 (175.0)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 20.4, Notre Dame 16.6

Post-game stories:
WashPost - Hoyas Get Green Light
WashTimes - Green machine; Hoyas Report
NYTimes - Hoyas Muscle into Final in Seesaw Battle
NY Newsday - Green lifts Hoyas in a big way
NY Daily News - Green and Hoyas give Irish the hook
Newark Star-Ledger
Chicago Tribune
South Bend Tribune
Princeton Basketball News (Jon Solomon)
ND ObserverOnline
BlueandGold.com
IrishEyes.com (2)
The Sports Network
Covers.com

In other news, the NY Times reported today that it is still possible for an oddly dressed bearded man to walk into a major event at Madison Square Garden with a long rifle and not be questioned or searched.

Bonus: Highlights from the game (higher res. version here)

Extra bonus: The final seconds, Chvotkin-style: