Recap: Georgetown 72, Connecticut 69

After sleeping walking through a great part of the 1st half, Austin Freeman and the Georgetown Hoyas managed to erase a 19-point deficit on the way to a three point win at the Verizon Center.

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      Connecticut         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            37        33        70
 
Effic.         67.1     142.0     102.2       107.4      87.6      97.9  
 
eFG%           33.3      56.6      46.9        55.9      44.0      50.8  
TO%            21.5       6.0      14.2        16.1      27.2      21.3  
OR%            10.0      52.6      30.8        33.3      31.2      32.4  
FT Rate        33.3      15.8      23.1        20.6      40.0      28.8  

Assist Rate    50.0      52.6      51.9        70.6      27.3      53.6  
Block Rate      7.7      14.3      10.6        11.8      17.9      15.6  
Steal Rate     10.7      18.1      14.2        10.7       3.0       7.1  
 
2FG%           35.3      50.0      44.4        50.0      52.4      51.1  
3FG%           20.0      50.0      35.0        50.0       0.0      33.3  
FT%            77.8      66.7      73.3        28.6      70.0      52.9

I'm posting up the stats now along with some quick comments, and will flush out the recap tonight.  If I have time tonight - and everyone behaves - I'll try to cobble together some highlights as well.

A few bullet points from the tempo-free box:

• The first half deficit (15 points at the half, 19 points with a minute left) was due mostly to inept offense, not bad defense.  Sure, you'd like to see UConn's off. efficiency to be under 100, but the Hoyas were scoring only about 2/3 of a point per possession in the half.
• During the tip-off half, Georgetown scored 2 points in a 16 possession stretch, on 2 FTs by Greg Monroe.  Surprisingly, the Hoyas had only 3 turnovers during those 16 possessions - that means 12 possessions ended without a score even though Georgetown got off a shot or got fouled.
• The blinking number there is the shockingly low turnover rate in the 2nd half - only 2 TOs on 33 possessions.  From my eye, and from the box score below, it appears that the Huskies are incredibly dependent upon fast-break points, and their inability to turn the Hoyas over in the 2nd half was a real problem.
• The Vesper half comeback was built on good defense and great offense.  Georgetown still gave up too many fastbreak FGs (4), but Austin Freeman's shooting (7/11 2FG, 4/6 3FG) was exceptional.
• Georgetown shot under 45% of 2FGs; that's likely thanks in part to the high block rate that UConn always strives for.
  

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Wright, Chris          66   28.1   68.8   12.8      66    99.7   13.2      -3.1  
Monroe, Greg           64   17.5  119.8   13.4      63    85.0   10.7      +3.3  
Freeman, Austin        64   31.2  127.5   25.4      65    83.7   10.9     +11.6  
Clark, Jason           46   10.5   37.9    1.8      44   104.1    9.2      -5.3  
Vaughn, Julian         53   17.8   99.2    9.4      54    92.1    9.9      +0.1  
Thompson, Hollis       40    9.9  102.5    4.0      41    85.9    7.0      -1.2  
Benimon, Jerrelle      22   10.4  109.1    2.5      22    81.8    3.6      -0.2  
TOTALS                 71          98.8   69.4      71    90.9   64.5      +5.2  

Connecticut           Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
MAJOK, Ater            14    7.1    0.0    0.0      15   114.9    3.4      -2.3  
DYSON, Jerome          47   31.8   80.5   12.0      45    92.8    8.3      +0.9  
WALKER, Kemba          64   20.2   86.4   11.2      64   104.0   13.3      -2.2  
ROBINSON, Stanley      67   25.9   82.0   14.2      68    97.9   13.3      -0.9  
ORIAKHI, Alex          58   15.3  142.1   12.6      56    95.5   10.7      +3.0  
COOMBS-McDANIEL, J     35   13.7  117.2    5.6      36    91.3    6.6      +0.1  
EDWARDS, Gavin         49   17.3   83.0    7.0      47   102.7    9.7      -2.1  
OKWANDU, Charles       21    7.8  204.3    3.4      24    96.8    4.6      +0.2  
TOTALS                 71          94.4   66.0      71    98.6   70.0      -3.5

While shooting out the lights, Austin Freeman used 31% of the possessions he played - that may be a record for him.  He also played solid defense in the game.

Greg Monroe also had a solid game, albeit with far fewer possessions used.  He had some real defensive issues in the 1st half (not shown), although to be fair all the starters put up poor defensive stats in the 1st half except Freeman.

Chris Wright had a poor game today, shooting only 3/11 on 2FGs.  He had four of those shots blocked, as he tested the strength of UConn's defense and lost.  The main point here, I think, is that the Hoyas can win against upper-level Big East teams with only two of the Big Three playing well, but will need all three to be on their game consistently to become an elite team in the league.

Julian Vaughn had a nice workman-like effort.  His key offensive rebound and tip-in with 0:52 left turned out to be the shot to put Georgetown up for good (yeah, I'm giving him credit for it, even if he didn't get much of it).

Jason Clark struggled again today.  After a great start to the season, Clark's offensive game has mostly been absent since the game against Butler.  His defense wasn't too hot today either - mostly cheap fouls, I suspect.

The bench (Thompson, Benimon) contributed with low-usage, efficient offense and solid defense.  Would have liked to see a bit of Henry Sims, but oh well.

Connecticut vs Georgetown
01/09/10 12:00 at Verizon Center
Final score: Georgetown 72, Connecticut 69

Connecticut             Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
MAJOK, Ater            07:57  - 7   0/ 9  0- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/10  0/ 4  0/15  0/14  0/ 8  0/ 8  0/10   2
DYSON, Jerome          27:18  - 1  12/44  6-11  0- 0  0- 0 11/36  4/12  1/45  5/47  1/31  0/19  4/28   4
WALKER, Kemba          35:29  - 9   9/59  2- 6  0- 1  5- 8  7/55  6/22  1/63  5/63  0/39  1/35  2/33   2
ROBINSON, Stanley      38:04  - 8  16/64  5-10  2- 8  0- 0 18/56  3/19  2/67  3/66  3/43  1/34  7/37   0
ORIAKHI, Alex          32:03  - 6  11/52  4- 6  0- 0  3- 7  6/50  0/17  1/55  0/57  0/34  5/33  5/31   3
COOMBS-McDANIEL, J     19:09  + 9  11/40  2- 2  2- 3  1- 2  5/30  1/12  0/35  1/34  0/22  0/17  1/19   0
EDWARDS, Gavin         26:21  + 5   8/54  4- 9  0- 0  0- 0  9/39  1/17  0/46  1/48  2/30  1/20  7/22   3
OKWANDU, Charles       13:39  + 2   2/23  1- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/19  0/ 9  0/24  0/21  1/18  2/ 9  0/15   1
TOTALS                 40:00       69    24-47  4-12  9-17    59 15/28  5/70 15/70  7/45 11/35 27/39  15
.                                        0.511 0.333 0.529       0.536 0.071 0.214 0.156 0.314 0.692    

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Wright, Chris          36:44  - 4  14/65  3-11  2- 5  2- 2 16/57  4/19  2/65  3/65  0/44  0/34  1/31   4
Monroe, Greg           35:25  - 4  15/63  6-12  0- 1  3- 7 13/56  2/17  3/62  3/63  1/43  1/35  9/31   3
Freeman, Austin        36:31  + 8  33/69  7-11  5- 9  4- 4 20/61  2/14  3/64  3/63  0/42  2/35  5/33   0
Clark, Jason           25:59  + 8   0/51  0- 1  0- 4  0- 0  5/47  0/19  0/44  0/46  0/32  2/29  1/23   4
Vaughn, Julian         30:40  +15   6/62  3- 7  0- 0  0- 0  7/54  3/22  0/54  1/53  4/35  3/29  4/27   1
Thompson, Hollis       22:40  - 4   2/34  0- 2  0- 0  2- 2  2/32  3/13  2/40  0/39  0/24  1/20  0/18   2
Benimon, Jerrelle      12:01  - 4   2/16  1- 1  0- 1  0- 0  2/18  0/ 4  0/21  0/21  0/15  1/13  3/12   2
TOTALS                 40:00       72    20-45  7-20 11-15    65 14/27 10/70 10/70  5/47 12/39 24/35  16
.                                        0.444 0.350 0.733       0.519 0.143 0.143 0.106 0.308 0.686    

Efficiency: Georgetown 1.029, Connecticut 0.986
eFG%: Georgetown 0.469, Connecticut 0.508
Substitutions: Georgetown 22, Connecticut 24

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 1-1, Connecticut 6-6
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 12-23, Connecticut 15-24
Jumpers: Georgetown 7-21, Connecticut 3-17

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 10 (16.4), Connecticut 18 (30.0)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 14 (140.0), Connecticut 7 (140.0)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 18.1, Connecticut 16.0

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Stats pages will get updated tonight or tomorrow.