Saturday, March 6, 2010

Recap: Georgetown 74, Cincinnati 47

Apparently, Austin Freeman has already adjusted to his diagnosis of diabetes, as he and the Hoyas enjoyed a tremendous defensive second half on the way to a 27-point win today at the Verizon Center.

I'm not sure what happened in the respective locker rooms at half time, but Cincinnati came out completely flat and the Hoyas were willing to take advantage of that.  For a long stretch of the Vesper half, if Lance Stephenson didn't score the Bearcats didn't:  Georgetown went on a 32-8 run where Born Ready scored all of his team's points.

And with that, the regular season is over.  The Hoyas head off to Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament (warning: pdf), playing the winner of the DePaul-South Florida first round game at noon on Wednesday.


Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      Cincinnati         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            28        35        63
 
Effic.        102.5     128.5     116.5        91.9      60.0      74.0  
 
eFG%           45.0      58.3      51.7        38.3      44.7      40.8  
TO%            21.2      17.1      18.9        14.1      34.3      25.2  
OR%            50.0      40.0      45.5        35.0      20.0      28.6  
FTA/FGA         6.7      40.0      23.3        16.7      63.2      34.7  

Assist Rate    50.0      56.2      53.6        63.6      62.5      63.2  
Block Rate      0.0      14.3       5.1        15.8      15.8      15.8  
Steal Rate      7.1      14.3      11.0        17.7       5.7      11.0  
 
2FG%           47.4      68.4      57.9        40.0      50.0      43.6  
3FG%           27.3      27.3      27.3        20.0      20.0      20.0  
FT%           100.0      83.3      85.7        60.0      33.3      41.2


The most striking aspect of this game was the rebounding.  Much like the game at Louisville, Georgetown was able to neutralize the glass and take away their opponent's greatest offensive strength.  The Bearcats came into the game as the 25th best offensive rebounding team in the nation (gathering 38% of their own missed shots), and it's really the only aspect of offense in which they excel.

The game started with Cinci gathering 6 offensive rebounds in their first 10 possessions (on 9 missed shots), and I thought it was going to be another game where the Hoyas just got out-toughed inside.  Instead, Greg Monroe and friends were able to control the boards the rest of the way - there were 26 more available misses for Cincinnati in the game, and they only grabbed four of them [4/26 = 15%].  Nice.

The second half was an offensive showcase for Greg Monroe, as he and the Hoyas shot 12/16 on dunks, layups and tip-ins.  Ibrahima Thomas picked up two quick fouls after halftime and had to sit, and the Hoyas recognized and took advantage of that.


INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Wright, Chris          57   24.0   95.6   13.1      59    70.9    8.4      +4.0  
Monroe, Greg           54   20.3  177.2   19.5      54    67.4    7.3     +12.1  
Freeman, Austin        49   30.7  126.1   19.0      50    60.1    6.0     +11.4  
Clark, Jason           51   22.6  106.0   12.2      53    76.4    8.1      +3.8  
Vaughn, Julian         42   16.5   60.1    4.2      44    72.2    6.3      -1.5  
Thompson, Hollis       33   10.9   92.2    3.3      31    39.2    2.4      +1.4  
Sanford, Vee           16    3.3  208.7    1.1      16    70.0    2.2      -0.2  
Dougherty, Ryan         2    0.0    -      0.0       2    60.0    0.2      -0.2  
Benimon, Jerrelle       8    0.0    -      0.0       9    71.7    1.3      -1.3  
STEPKA, Stephen         1    0.0    -      0.0       1   100.0    0.2      -0.2  
Sims, Henry             7    0.0    -      0.0       6    45.0    0.5      -0.5  
TOTALS                 64         116.1   72.3      65    66.2   43.0     +30.8  

Cincinnati            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
VAUGHN, Deonta         40   14.6   64.2    3.7      38   109.7    8.3      -3.6  
BISHOP, Rashad         54    9.0   77.5    3.8      54   119.1   12.9      -5.6  
THOMAS, Ibrahima       40   25.7   36.1    3.7      36    70.0    5.0      -2.4  
STEPHENSON, Lance      58   33.7  101.4   19.8      56   118.8   13.3      +1.6  
GATES, Yancy           45   21.6   67.6    6.6      46   114.8   10.6      -4.3  
WRIGHT, Cashmere       21   15.3  126.9    4.1      21   140.8    5.9      -1.1  
DAVIS, Larry           21   25.4   50.2    2.7      21   141.2    5.9      -4.1  
WILKS, Darnell          3    0.0    -      0.0       4   128.3    1.0      -1.0  
TOYLOY, Steve          21    7.9   78.8    1.3      22    99.1    4.4      -1.7  
PARKER, Jaquon         22   14.7   14.6    0.5      22    79.6    3.5      -2.6  
TOTALS                 65          72.5   46.2      64   110.7   70.8     -24.5

Greg Monroe had as nice a game as I can remember - by my estimation, likely his best game since the first game against Rutgers.  Efficient shooting [8/11 2FG, 3/4 FT], only 1 turnover and a completely dominant effort on the glass.

Austin Freeman played as if there hadn't been much going on in his life over the past two weeks.  He was a bit more aggressive today than we're used to seeing [31% poss. used] but made his shots at the normal clip while playing his best defensive game in a while (all year?).  A couple of weeks ago, I wondered if anyone realized what an offensive weapon he really is, but I think the past two games show what happens to the Hoyas when he is out or suffering.

Chris Wright facilitated and scored.  He would have had an even better game if a couple of his layup attempts would have gone in.

Jason Clark continues to struggle with his outside shot [now 8/31 in his last 7 games] and turnovers, but contributed in other areas (including the unenviable task of being the primary cover on Stephenson).  His game today showed a nice example of how to fight through a tough shooting game to remain a positive for his team.

Julian Vaughn also had tough time with turnovers.  He's now run off six straight games with a negative net points stat, as I fear the Big East grind has caught up to him.


HD BOX SCORE

Cincinnati vs Georgetown
03/06/10 12:00 at Verizon Center
Final score: Georgetown 74, Cincinnati 47

Cincinnati              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
VAUGHN, Deonta         23:11  -10   2/31  0- 1  0- 2  2- 2  3/27  4/12  0/38  3/40  0/20  0/18  2/19   3
BISHOP, Rashad         31:53  -19   4/41  1- 3  0- 1  2- 4  4/39  1/15  0/54  0/54  1/29  0/27  2/24   1
THOMAS, Ibrahima       24:42  - 4   5/33  2- 5  0- 1  1- 4  6/32  0/12  4/36  3/40  3/23  0/21  4/23   4
STEPHENSON, Lance      35:40  -26  23/41 10-16  1- 1  0- 1 17/43  1/ 5  0/56  5/58  0/33  4/32  3/29   2
GATES, Yancy           27:57  -28   7/30  3- 7  0- 0  1- 2  7/32  0/ 9  1/46  4/45  1/29  3/22  3/25   2
WRIGHT, Cashmere       13:11  -14   4/15  0- 1  1- 2  1- 2  3/16  3/ 5  0/21  1/21  0/14  0/12  0/ 7   3
DAVIS, Larry           15:15  -12   0/16  0- 2  0- 1  0- 0  3/18  3/ 8  0/21  2/21  0/16  2/11  0/15   0
WILKS, Darnell         01:54  - 7   0/ 0  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 2  0/ 0  0/ 4  0/ 3  1/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 1   0
TOYLOY, Steve          12:18  - 7   2/16  1- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/17  0/ 5  1/22  0/21  0/11  0/15  0/12   0
PARKER, Jaquon         13:59  - 8   0/12  0- 2  0- 2  0- 2  4/19  0/ 5  1/22  0/22  0/13  1/15  2/15   0
TOTALS                 40:00       47    17-39  2-10  7-17    49 12/19  7/64 18/65  6/38 10/35 18/33  15
.                                        0.436 0.200 0.412       0.632 0.109 0.277 0.158 0.286 0.545    

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Wright, Chris          35:54  +26  16/72  6-11  1- 4  1- 2 15/54  4/21  2/59  2/57  0/38  0/28  1/32   1
Monroe, Greg           34:02  +25  19/66  8-11  0- 1  3- 4 12/53  2/16  0/54  1/54  0/34  5/31 10/30   0
Freeman, Austin        29:44  +24  24/59  4- 8  4- 7  4- 4 15/44  3/14  2/50  2/49  0/30  0/23  2/28   3
Clark, Jason           33:03  +27  11/67  3- 4  1- 6  2- 2 10/50  1/21  1/53  4/51  0/34  4/27  1/30   0
Vaughn, Julian         23:48  +13   2/45  1- 1  0- 1  0- 0  2/34  2/16  0/44  4/42  0/27  2/18  3/23   3
Thompson, Hollis       20:51  +20   2/39  0- 3  0- 2  2- 2  5/34  2/14  2/31  0/33  2/17  1/22  3/16   2
Sanford, Vee           08:50  + 3   0/13  0- 0  0- 1  0- 0  1/12  1/ 6  0/16  0/16  0/ 6  1/ 6  2/ 7   1
Dougherty, Ryan        01:12  - 1   0/ 0  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 1  0/ 1  0/ 1   0
Benimon, Jerrelle      07:40  - 2   0/ 5  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/13  0/ 2  0/ 9  0/ 8  0/ 5  0/11  1/ 4   1
STEPKA, Stephen        00:41  - 1   0/ 0  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 0  0/ 0  0/ 1  0/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 0  0/ 0   0
Sims, Henry            04:15  + 1   0/ 4  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 5  0/ 2  0/ 6  0/ 7  0/ 3  0/ 3  1/ 4   0
TOTALS                 40:00       74    22-38  6-22 12-14    60 15/28  7/65 14/64  2/39 15/33 25/35  11
.                                        0.579 0.273 0.857       0.536 0.108 0.219 0.051 0.455 0.714    

Efficiency: Georgetown 1.156, Cincinnati 0.723
eFG%: Georgetown 0.517, Cincinnati 0.408
Substitutions: Georgetown 29, Cincinnati 32

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 1-1, Cincinnati 1-1
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 16-26, Cincinnati 11-20
Jumpers: Georgetown 5-11, Cincinnati 5-18

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 6 (9.7), Cincinnati 0 (0.0)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 8 (114.3), Cincinnati 6 (85.7)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 20.3, Cincinnati 17.2



2 comments:

  1. Thanks for all the work you do with this great blog.

    I have a quick pet theory that I wanted to see if you folks would be interested in testing. Here goes:

    We seem, to my untrained eye, to often play much better defense (and offense, although that is incidental to my question) in the second half. I wonder whether this is because JT3 consciously tells the team to play less aggressive defense in the first half, to protect our shallow benched team against foul trouble. Call it the anti-Villanova plan.

    It also seems that if our frontcourt reaches the second half out of serious foul trouble, we ratchet up the defensive intensity, and become much more willing to risk fouls.

    So I guess I have two questions:
    1. Do we actually tend to play better defense in the second half?
    2. Does this explanation sound legit to you?

    No worries if you don't have time to answer this, just thought it may be an interesting question. Sorry if you have answered this already and I missed it, I don't read as regularly as I should.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous, that's actually an easy one to answer, thanks to Brian's splits here:

    http://hoyaprospectus.blogspot.com/p/georgetown-season-statistics-team.html

    The explanation you propose is both logical and intriguing, but unfortunately, the Hoyas don't play better D in the second half.

    They actually play substantially worse D -- 95 to 101 Defensive Efficiency.

    The Hoyas are a second half team, but it is usually the offense -- 104 to 113.

    ReplyDelete