Analysis: Georgetown 72, West Virginia 55

Ho-hum, another day, another Hoya win in the BET against a team they were "lucky" to beat in the regular season.

The numbers:

                        Offense                            Defense
         1st Half  2nd Half   Total         1st Half  2nd Half   Total
  Pace      27        31        57

  Eff.    124.3     127.0     125.8           79.1     110.7      96.1

  eFG%     61.5      57.4      59.2           41.3      55.8      49.0
   TO%     26.4       9.8      17.5           26.4      16.3      21.0
   OR%     61.5      47.4      53.1           31.3      14.3      23.3
FTA/FGA    11.5      11.8      11.7           17.4      23.1      20.4
FTM/FGA     3.8       0.0       1.7            8.7      19.2      14.3

Assist Rate  64.3     44.4      53.1           37.5      50.0      45.0
Block Rate   12.5      7.4       9.3            6.7      14.3      10.3
Steal Rate   15.1      3.3       8.7           15.1       9.8      12.2

  2FG%     62.5      55.6      58.1           33.3      50.0      41.4
  3FG%     40.0      42.9      41.2           37.5      41.7      40.0
   FT%     33.3       0.0      14.3           50.0      83.3      70.0

Comments:

• I believe it was at halftime that Bobby Knight said one thing the Hoyas were doing was trying to do was force West Virginia to react quickly to force them to run around. I thought it was a reasonable comment, but it's not reflected in the pace at all. The projection was 59, and the actual was 58.

• See those offensive rebounding numbers? See WVU's low rebound numbers? See Hibbert play? I think it's fair to say Villanova qualifies as an aberration that can safely be forgotten. 78% eFG for the big guy isn't a bad day at all.

• Hibbert lead the Hoyas in scoring in both the first and second halves. That's the first time the same player did that since Hibbert did it in Providence last month.

• Joe Alexander eFG. BET First Round: 64.7%. BET Quarters: 77.2%. BET Semis: 37.5%. Enough said.

• Alexander lock-down aside, WVU's offensive efficiency was about what it was expected to be (97.7). The Hoya offense was what really exceeded the pregame prediction of 102.3.

• Looking at the previous game, the key improvements in offensive performance for Georgetown were first half offensive rebounding and second half three-point shooting.

• One encouraging sign: the Hoyas stopped turning the ball over so much in the second half, and finished with a TO Pct below 20%. That was a trend that started in the BET last year and through the East Regional Final. It ended in Atlanta, and so did the Hoyas' season. Hopefully this is the start of a trend. [Note: one game is not a trend.]

Tomorrow: finish off "beat every team in the Big East," against Pitt, who topped Marquette, 68-61. Early KenPom-based prediction: Hoyas, 65-60, in 60 possessions, 29% chance of upset per log5 method. I'll see if I can't update the season stats before then.
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UPDATE (3/15, 0028 CT): Individual split stats are currently screwed up, and will be until I fix them after the Pitt game. Summary of known errors: ugly formatting, today's West Virginia game not included in Last 5 or Last 10, KompoZer annoying. Team season stats not yet updated; will also be done after Pitt game.