Recap: Old Dominion 61, Georgetown 57

In a raging blizzard, Georgetown staged their traditional McDonough Gym loss to the Old Dominion Monarchs, 61-57.  The Hoyas fell behind by as many as 18 points in the 2nd half, and simply ran out of time in a desperate effort to close the deficit, getting as close as 59-57 before the game ended.

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      Old Dominion         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            33        29        62

Effic.         63.5     124.2      92.4        96.7     100.0      98.9  
 
eFG%           35.0      60.4      48.9        51.6      51.9      51.8  
TO%            33.3      24.1      29.2        21.2      24.1      22.7  
OR%            13.3      60.0      36.7        33.3      43.8      38.2  
FT Rate        45.0      54.2      50.0         6.5      11.5       8.8  

Assist Rate    83.3      69.2      73.7        78.6      66.7      73.1  
Block Rate     20.0       9.5      14.6        15.4       0.0       7.4  
Steal Rate      9.1      13.8      11.4        15.1      10.3      13.0  
 
2FG%           30.8      71.4      51.9        50.0      42.9      46.3  
3FG%           28.6      30.0      29.4        36.4      60.0      43.8  
FT%            77.8      53.8      63.6         0.0      66.7      40.0

After two consecutive games with blistering 70+ possession tempo, the Hoyas returned to some normalcy with a leisurely 61 possession affair.  The pace slowed considerably in the 2nd half as ODU tried to shorten the game, as can be seen by the large disparity in seconds per possession (ODU = 22.2, GU = 16.3).  In fact, the Monarchs ran off more than 24 seconds per possession in the 2nd half.

The simple explanation for the loss is turnovers.  One in three possessions in the 1st half ended with a turnover, and the Hoyas gave the ball away 18 of 62 possessions overall.

But the loss is really attributable to a complete failure of the offense in the 1st half, and not just from turnovers.  The Hoyas managed to gather only 2/15 (13%) of their own missed shots, and missed 8 of 11 layups in the half.  Those were equal opportunity misses:  Wright (3), Monroe (2), Freeman (1), Vaughn (1) and Sims (1) all kicked in.

Georgetown came out of the the locker room with a much more efficient offense, thanks to aggressive offensive rebounding and a tolerable turnover rate, but in turn weren't able to clamp down on the Monarchs' offense.  The Hoyas couldn't string together consecutive defensive stops until ODU was ahead 47-29, and despite a 28-14 run to close out the game were never able to get themselves out of that enormous hole.

Georgetown missed 6 of 13 FTA in the Vesper half, including the front end of two 1-and-1s by Julian Vaughn; overall the Hoyas out-shot the Monarchs 22 to 5 on free throws.  While a few more made FTs would certainly have helped, ODU did themselves no favors by making only 2 of their attempts, and I find the FT shooting to be only a small part in the loss.

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Wright, Chris          56   18.2   67.4    6.9      58    84.1    9.8      -2.3  
Monroe, Greg           61   21.7  100.4   13.3      60    92.0   11.0      +1.7  
Freeman, Austin        58   21.0   91.1   11.1      59   101.5   12.0      -1.1  
Clark, Jason           59    7.9   98.5    4.6      60    92.7   11.1      -3.1  
Vaughn, Julian         38   38.9   82.9   12.3      40   102.6    8.2      +0.6  
Thompson, Hollis       24   13.2  141.6    4.5      24    67.3    3.2      +1.8  
Mescheriakov, Nikita    1    0.0    -      0.0       2     0.0    0.0      +0.0  
Benimon, Jerrelle       6    0.0    -      0.0       5    64.0    0.6      -0.6  
Sims, Henry             7   57.1   50.0    2.0       7   115.7    1.6      -1.1  
TOTALS                 62          87.7   54.5      63    91.4   57.6      -2.7  

Old Dominion          Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
James, Darius          45   22.9   73.8    7.6      46    88.4    8.1      -1.0  
Lee, Gerald            38   18.0   86.1    5.9      40   104.3    8.3      -1.8  
Hassell, Frank         45   18.3  103.8    8.5      46    69.3    6.4      +2.5  
Bazemore, Kent         42   24.1   85.1    8.6      41    83.8    6.9      +0.9  
Finney, Ben            50   16.5  156.2   12.9      51    81.5    8.3      +5.4  
Iliadis, Trian         32    7.9  166.7    4.2      30    89.2    5.4      +0.4  
Cooper, Chris           8   52.1   10.0    0.4       8    94.2    1.5      -2.3  
De Lancey,Marquel      18    3.2  237.5    1.4      16    74.9    2.4      -0.1  
Carter, Keyon          37   26.4   56.7    5.5      32    97.3    6.2      -2.3  
TOTALS                 63          90.6   55.1      62    86.3   53.5      +2.1

For consecutive games, Greg Monroe used less than 25% of possessions while on the court, but he was one of only two Hoyas to create more than a point per possession used.  His defense numbers look average, but as Mark Tillmon noted several times during the 2nd half, his gambling for steals occasionally left his teammates scrambling to cover for him.  At other times he simply looked better than anyone else on the court (e.g. leading a fast break or making a corner 3FG).

Hollis Thompson played less than half of the game tonight, but was easily the most efficient player on the court for Georgetown.  He scored only 4 points in the game, but contributed two assists and an offensive rebound - along with only 1 turnover.

Julian Vaughn used up a lot of possessions tonight with turnovers (5 in 38 off. possessions played), and this somewhat outweighed his yeoman's work on the offensive glass in the 2nd half.  Austin Freeman quietly played well - his 1/6 shooting from behind the arc is somewhat skewed by two desperation 3FGAs in the last 15 seconds of the game.  Unfortunately, neither played especially well on defense.

Chris Wright and Jason Clark had poor games tonight, albeit in different ways.  Wright struggled shooting in all facets [2/5 2FG, 0/3 3FG, 0/1 FT] and contributed three turnovers.  He did manage seven assists in the game and played the most credible defense of the starters.  Clark was efficient enough at both ends, but simply not active enough in the offense - both of his 2nd half 3FG excited both the crowd and his team, but little else of his play was memorable.

Jerrelle Benimon and Henry Sims both saw some playing time in the 1st half as JTIII looked for a spark, but neither could contribute much - Sims committed 2 turnovers in 7 offensive possessions.  Nikita Mescheriakov played just long enough to commit a foul.


Looking at the Monarchs' side, the difference was clearly Ben Finney.  Scuffling a bit after respectable freshman and sophomore seasons, Finney made 3/4 3FG (he came in 6/25 from 3FG) and didn't commit a turnover despite leading ODU in minutes played.  Frank Hassell had a nice defensive game, as well.

HD BOX SCORE

Old Dominion vs Georgetown
12/19/09 7:00 at McDonough Arena
Final score: Old Dominion 61, Georgetown 57

Old Dominion            Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
James, Darius          29:32  + 0   7/42  2- 3  1- 4  0- 1  7/40  5/15  1/46  4/45  0/18  0/24  2/21   2
Lee, Gerald            25:13  - 1   6/37  3- 6  0- 0  0- 0  6/37  3/14  0/40  3/38  0/15  1/21  0/15   5
Hassell, Frank         28:00  + 5  10/45  4- 9  0- 0  2- 2  9/39  0/15  3/46  0/45  0/18  1/21  6/23   2
Bazemore, Kent         26:31  + 1   6/35  3- 6  0- 2  0- 0  8/36  4/12  0/41  2/42  1/16  3/23  4/24   4
Finney, Ben            31:21  + 4  13/54  2- 5  3- 4  0- 0  9/46  5/18  3/51  0/50  1/21  2/25  4/20   2
Iliadis, Trian         20:31  + 5  11/31  1- 1  3- 4  0- 0  5/29  0/ 9  0/30  0/32  0/15  0/16  2/17   3
Cooper, Chris          05:09  - 3   0/ 5  0- 0  0- 0  0- 2  0/ 7  0/ 2  0/ 8  3/ 8  0/ 5  1/ 6  0/ 3   2
De Lancey,Marquel      10:32  + 4   0/19  0- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/17  2/ 8  1/16  0/18  0/ 9  0/ 9  1/10   0
Carter, Keyon          23:11  + 5   8/37  4- 9  0- 2  0- 0 11/34  0/11  0/32  3/37  0/18  0/20  1/22   2
TOTALS                 40:00       61    19-41  7-16  2- 5    57 19/26  8/62 15/63  2/27 12/33 20/31  22
.                                        0.463 0.438 0.400       0.731 0.129 0.238 0.074 0.364 0.645    

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Wright, Chris          36:33  - 1   4/53  2- 5  0- 3  0- 1  8/42  7/16  1/58  3/56  0/38  0/30  4/31   2
Monroe, Greg           38:34  - 4  15/57  2- 7  2- 2  5- 9  9/42  4/15  2/60  2/61  1/40  1/29  6/32   1
Freeman, Austin        37:42  - 4  13/53  4- 5  1- 6  2- 2 11/43  0/13  0/59  3/58  1/39  2/30  4/32   2
Clark, Jason           37:29  - 4   6/55  0- 0  2- 6  0- 1  6/42  0/16  2/60  2/59  0/39  1/30  2/31   1
Vaughn, Julian         25:22  - 9  13/34  5- 8  0- 0  3- 5  8/29  1/ 8  1/40  5/38  4/30  4/21  3/20   2
Thompson, Hollis       15:31  + 2   4/22  1- 1  0- 0  2- 2  1/15  2/ 6  1/24  1/24  0/13  1/10  1/13   2
Mescheriakov, Nikita   01:09  + 3   0/ 3  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 2  0/ 1  0/ 2  0/ 1  0/ 1  0/ 1  0/ 1   1
Benimon, Jerrelle      03:34  + 2   0/ 4  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 3  0/ 1  0/ 5  0/ 6  0/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 3   0
Sims, Henry            04:06  - 5   2/ 4  0- 1  0- 0  2- 2  1/ 2  0/ 0  0/ 7  2/ 7  0/ 3  0/ 2  1/ 2   1
TOTALS                 40:00       57    14-27  5-17 14-22    44 14/19  7/63 18/62  6/41 11/31 21/33  12
.                                        0.519 0.294 0.636       0.737 0.111 0.290 0.146 0.355 0.636    

Efficiency: Old Dominion 0.968, Georgetown 0.919
eFG%: Old Dominion 0.518, Georgetown 0.489
Substitutions: Old Dominion 45, Georgetown 19

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Old Dominion 1-1, Georgetown 0-0
Layups/Tips: Old Dominion 12-22, Georgetown 11-21
Jumpers: Old Dominion 6-18, Georgetown 3-6

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Old Dominion 6 (10.2), Georgetown 4 (9.3)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Old Dominion 10 (125.0), Georgetown 10 (142.9)
Seconds per poss: Old Dominion 22.2, Georgetown 16.3

For tonight's game I've added an extra feature to the possession tracker graph - yellow triangles indicate where each turnover took place for the offense.  In the 1st half, the Hoyas had three consecutive possessions, and 9 of their first 21, end in a turnover.

Stats pages will be updated tomorrow.