Monday, January 5, 2009

Recap: Notre Dame 73, Georgetown 67

Perspective. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

Eight days ago, Georgetown was about to start league play with three games against Top 15 opponents, with two of those games on the road.

Seven days ago, Georgetown won convincingly on the road against then #2 UConn, and HoyaTalk exploded with visions of a third consecutive Big East title.

Two days ago, Georgetown was physically dominated at home by then #3 Pitt, and HoyaTalk exploded with the questioning of players' manhood and demands for sweatbands.

Tonight, Georgetown lost at #13 Notre Dame by 6 points. I have no idea what the mood is over at the psychiatric wing tonight, but I hope it's at least modestly upbeat. Why?

Let's run the numbers.

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE

. Visitor Home
. GU Notre Dame
. 1st Half 2nd Half Total 1st Half 2nd Half Total
Pace 29 32 62

Effic. 94.0 118.8 107.0 130.9 103.6 116.5

eFG% 43.3 46.7 45.0 51.6 52.0 51.8
TO% 16.8 12.2 14.4 13.4 15.2 14.4
OR% 36.8 45.0 41.0 47.1 20.0 34.4
FT Rate 13.3 60.0 36.7 22.6 36.0 28.6

Assist Rate 50.0 69.2 60.0 71.4 45.5 60.0
Block Rate 10.0 6.7 8.6 10.0 4.5 7.1
Steal Rate 6.7 9.1 8.0 6.7 0.0 3.2

2FG% 50.0 50.0 50.0 50.0 46.7 48.6
3FG% 20.0 25.0 22.2 36.4 40.0 38.1
FT% 50.0 61.1 59.1 100.0 88.9 93.8

Tonight's game was played at a relatively plodding pace, slower than either team has averaged so far this season. I suspect that Coach Thompson has decided to rein in his team due to the obscene number of offensive rebounds they've been allowing; you can't run if you don't rebound the ball.

In the first half, Notre Dame was better than the Hoyas in each of the four factors:
  • they shot better from 3FG and from the line
  • they had one fewer turnover (4 vs. 5) in one extra possession (30 vs. 29)
  • they were stronger on the offensive glass, getting 8 of 17 own missed shots while allowing 7 of 19 available offensive rebounds to Georgetown (NDU earned 7 points for their effort, compared to G'town's 11)
  • they were 7/7 on FTs for the half, to the Hoyas' 2/4.
This resulted in an 11-point halftime lead, and much groaning around here that Georgetown was in for another long night. I decided to take out my frustrations by folding laundry - hey, you do what you have to.

But a funny thing happened in the 2nd half - rather than wearing down and rolling over, the Hoyas kept at it, and some good things happened. Georgetown was able to take better care of the ball (GU: 4 TOs in 33 poss, NDU: 5/32), and did a much better job rebounding (GU: 9 OR in 20 available, NDU: 3/15). Georgetown even managed to get to the FT line twice as much as Notre Dame (18 to 9). In fact, the Hoyas played well enough that they ended the game ahead in three of four factors (TO %, OR %, FT Rate).

Unfortunately, G'town couldn't win the most important factor of all, eFG%. Notre Dame ended the game at 51.8%, slightly below their season average (53.4%). But Georgetown struggled shooting all night, and ended the game at 45%, well below their own season average (54.5%).

The Hoyas' shot selection doesn't appear to be the problem. Here's the attempts breakout for the game:
Shot            GU       NDU
Dunk 3 1
Layup/tip 24 11
2-pt jumper 15 23
3-pt jumper 18 21
Free throw 22 16
That is a textbook example of G'town's typically better shot selection - unfortunately, the Irish made a high percentage of each of their shots, while the Hoyas did not. In fact, if each team had just shot it's season average FT% tonight, the swing of seven points [GU: 13/22 (59%) to 16/22 (73%), NDU: 15/16 (94%) to 11/16 (69%)] would have covered the difference in the game.

Now to be clear, this is not to say that tonight was some sort of preternatural event where the opponent can't miss (e.g. the Tennessee game). Rather, the FT shooting for Notre Dame was very good, while the 3FG and FT shooting for Georgetown was poor. Since the game was played at the Joyce Center, I'd not call that unexpected.

To overcome this, Georgetown gave good effort to win the other three factors in the game, but unfortunately did not do enough to make up the difference.


INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

GU Off Poss Individ Def Individ
Player Poss Used ORtg Pts Prod Poss DRtg Pts Allow Net Pts
Summers, DaJuan 39 7.8 108.1 8.5 34 111.8 7.6 +0.9
Monroe, Greg 59 16.3 135.1 22.0 58 109.7 12.7 +9.2
Wright, Chris 48 13.0 86.3 11.2 45 111.2 10.0 +1.2
Freeman, Austin 47 7.2 78.4 5.7 47 126.6 11.9 -6.2
Sapp, Jessie 52 6.0 108.7 6.5 51 108.3 11.0 -4.6
Clark, Jason 35 5.4 104.2 5.6 38 123.2 9.4 -3.8
Vaughn, Julian 3 0.0 - 0.0 4 -28.6 -0.2 +0.2
Sims, Henry 19 1.1 208.3 2.4 22 102.8 4.5 -2.1
Wattad, Omar 8 2.6 71.4 1.9 11 141.3 3.1 -1.2
TOTALS 62 59.4 107.1 63.6 62 113.0 70.0 -6.4

Notre Dame Off Poss Individ Def Individ
Player Poss Used ORtg Pts Prod Poss DRtg Pts Allow Net Pts
HILLESLAND, Zach 44 5.4 112.5 6.1 44 115.5 10.2 -4.1
HARANGODY, Luke 53 19.6 120.7 23.7 49 83.4 8.2 +15.5
JACKSON, Tory 56 10.0 127.5 12.8 55 97.1 10.7 +2.1
MCALARNEY, Kyle 62 14.1 98.3 13.8 62 107.3 13.3 +0.5
AYERS, Ryan 48 4.1 140.3 5.7 49 125.0 12.2 -6.6
NASH, Tyrone 0 0.0 - 0.0 1 0.0 0.0 +0.0
PEOPLES, Jonathan 13 1.4 73.5 1.0 14 89.4 2.5 -1.5
ZELLER, Luke 34 5.1 102.4 5.2 36 92.5 6.7 -1.4
TOTALS 62 59.7 114.4 68.3 62 102.8 63.7 +4.6

D. Summers picked up early 2nd, 3rd and 4th fouls, and was forced to sit more than usual tonight. He wasn't particularly aggressive when he did play (7.8 poss. used / 39 poss. played = 20% Poss. Used), appropriate for his efficiency level tonight. Summers did seem a bit more vocal about his foul calls, which I'd guess was pent up frustration from Saturday.

With Summers sitting, Coach Thompson turned to H. Sims for 19 possessions today. Sims responded with good defense and a singular offensive play (a Summers-like monster put-back slam, resulting in a Raftery "Send it in!"). Watching the game, Sims still looks timid on offense, although I don't know if this is because he is still trying to pick up the offense or if he just is afraid to make mistake(s) that will result in a hook.

J. Sapp showed a few signs of a spark tonight, making two 3FGs in a game for the first time since Savannah St. Sapp continued to defer on offense (6.0 / 52 = 11.5% Poss. Used), which has been a puzzling trend all season. He also played a strong defensive game.

The other 2/3 of the 3-guard set - C. Wright and A. Freeman - struggled, putting up similar ORtg numbers to the Pitt game. Perhaps expectations were raised too high after their great game against UConn, but the fact remains that the composition of this team requires good performances from all 5 starters for it to win against top-flight competition. Freeman's defense was a particular problem tonight, and Coach Thompson swapped him in for offense and out for defense in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, O. Wattad served as his switching partner, and he struggled even more defensively. Wright just took too many contested shots.

J. Clark played near-starter possessions tonight, and chipped in solidly on offense. His defense was a bit sub-par, but this is part of the learning process of most freshmen.

Most freshmen, that is, except tonight's Player of the Game . . . Greg Monroe. With his teammates struggling to make shots, Monroe used 27% of his possessions played and scored with a number of spins and hookers near the basket, while gathering 7 offensive rebounds. Unfortunately, it was asking too much for him to carry the team to the win. Monroe also made only 3/7 FTs.

And an H.P. tip-of-the-cap to L. Harangody, who was truly the star of the game (31 pts, 11 reb., 1 post-game with Jay Bilas). He uses an extraordinarily high percentage of possessions (19.6/53 = 37%), but it's hard to argue with the results.

HD BOX SCORE

GU vs Notre Dame
1-5-09 7:00 p.m. at Joyce Center, Notre Dame, IN
Final score: Notre Dame 73, GU 67

GU Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
Summers, DaJuan 22:23 + 7 11/47 3- 5 0- 2 5- 5 7/36 0/13 1/34 2/39 1/13 1/23 4/13 4
Monroe, Greg 37:00 - 2 21/67 9-17 0- 0 3- 7 17/58 3/16 2/58 2/59 0/28 7/37 3/26 3
Wright, Chris 29:59 + 2 13/53 4- 8 1- 6 2- 4 14/47 4/15 0/45 3/48 0/27 1/31 4/24 4
Freeman, Austin 30:22 -14 5/44 2- 4 0- 2 1- 2 6/45 3/16 0/47 0/47 0/29 1/29 2/23 2
Sapp, Jessie 32:45 + 6 7/63 0- 2 2- 5 1- 2 7/50 2/21 1/51 0/52 0/22 1/30 1/23 0
Clark, Jason 24:09 -11 5/35 2- 4 0- 1 1- 2 5/34 3/10 0/38 0/35 2/25 1/25 3/23 1
Vaughn, Julian 03:00 - 4 0/ 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 2 0/ 0 0/ 4 0/ 3 0/ 7 0/ 2 2/ 6 0
Sims, Henry 14:06 - 7 2/18 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 2/22 0/ 7 1/22 0/19 0/19 1/15 1/16 0
Wattad, Omar 06:16 - 7 3/ 8 0- 0 1- 2 0- 0 2/ 6 0/ 2 0/11 1/ 8 0/ 5 0/ 3 0/ 6 1
TOTALS 40:00 67 21-42 4-18 13-22 60 15/25 5/62 9/62 3/35 16/39 21/32 15
. 0.500 0.222 0.591 0.600 0.081 0.145 0.086 0.410 0.656

Notre Dame Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
HILLESLAND, Zach 27:24 + 6 2/55 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 2/40 1/17 0/44 2/44 1/31 4/23 1/26 1
HARANGODY, Luke 33:08 + 7 31/60 11-19 0- 0 9- 9 19/47 1/ 9 1/49 3/53 0/35 1/28 10/34 4
JACKSON, Tory 35:24 + 7 10/66 3- 7 0- 1 4- 4 8/50 7/19 1/55 2/56 1/36 1/29 4/34 4
MCALARNEY, Kyle 40:00 + 6 17/73 0- 3 5-11 2- 3 14/56 3/20 0/62 2/62 1/42 0/32 5/39 1
AYERS, Ryan 30:54 -10 8/50 1- 1 2- 4 0- 0 5/41 1/14 0/49 0/48 0/34 0/25 0/29 2
NASH, Tyrone 00:11 + 0 0/ 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 0 0/ 0 0/ 1 0/ 0 0/ 0 0/ 0 0/ 0 0
PEOPLES, Jonathan 08:22 + 3 0/15 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 1/12 0/ 6 0/14 0/13 0/11 1/ 6 0/11 0
ZELLER, Luke 24:37 +11 5/46 1- 2 1- 5 0- 0 7/34 2/15 0/36 0/34 0/21 0/17 1/22 5
TOTALS 40:00 73 17-35 8-21 15-16 56 15/25 2/62 9/62 3/42 11/32 23/39 17
. 0.486 0.381 0.938 0.600 0.032 0.145 0.071 0.344 0.590

Efficiency: Notre Dame 1.177, GU 1.081
eFG%: Notre Dame 0.518, GU 0.450
Substitutions: Notre Dame 24, GU 38

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Notre Dame 1-1, GU 3-3
Layups/Tips: Notre Dame 6-11, GU 12-24
Jumpers: Notre Dame 10-23, GU 6-15

Fast break pts: Notre Dame 4 (0.069), GU 2 (0.037)
Seconds per off. poss: Notre Dame 18.7, GU 20.0

1 comment:

  1. Great, you guys have now lost two in a row and will be looking for absolute blood at home on Saturday against us. I must say, I'm pretty terrified to see PC play GTown right now.

    Friarblog
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