(h/t: Casual Hoya)
Just going to post some off-the-cuff thoughts here as I wait for the stats to post.
- Scotch. I'm not much of a drinker, but games like this are much more survivable with a little something to take the edge off. Most times, I'm looking for a nice small batch bourbon, but tonight called for some stronger stuff: scotch.
- Dan Hanner probably didn't get to watch much of this game, what with UNC v. Illinois on the mothership - too bad if so, but glad for his sake that the Illini won going away.
- Missouri fans are going to point to two plays as travesties of justice that stole away the game from them.
- Should Austin Freeman's 3FG after the shot clock buzzer have counted? Of course not. Now whether those extra three points were the difference is another matter entirely, as Doug Gottleib correctly pointed out at the start of overtime. You can't know how the second half unfolds if that shot is waved off.
- Did Jason Clark foul after the ball was in-bounded with 0.3 sec left? From the mid-court camera, it certainly looked like it (and Digger Phelps made sure to bring it up on Sportcenter after the game), but from the baseline camera, it is clear (to this wildly biased observer) that he never actually was able to make contact. Reminiscent of Chris Wright versus West Virginia, and inexcusable for trying.
- Speaking of Doug Gottlieb, I thought he was actually quite good tonight calling the game. I suspect this may partly have been because he was balancing the Mizzou alum (Dan McLaughlin) doing the play-by-play, but I've noticed this with other games he's called. I think it's because he forgets about the provocative schtick he uses in the studio during the game, and ends up playing it straight.
- I'm guessing the lunatic asylums are going nuts right now. This game reminds me of a more exciting version of the game vs. Washington in Anaheim last year - Mizzou looks to be a notch better than the Huskies were last year, but I'd put in on that level right now. Nice win, but it's only November, folks.
Much improved stats are now posted. Full game stats are now after the jump.
Let's run the numbers:
. Georgetown Missouri . 1st Half 2nd Half Total 1st Half 2nd Half Total Pace 40 34 74 Eff. 134.6 133.3 134.1 117.1 128.6 123.3 eFG % 85.7 54.9 67.4 64.8 59.5 61.7 TO % 24.9 18.7 21.8 22.4 7.0 14.5 OR % 14.3 50.0 41.4 23.1 26.3 25.0 FTA/FGA 21.4 29.3 26.1 59.3 40.5 48.4 Assist Rate 65.0 52.6 59.0 53.3 42.9 47.2 Block Rate 10.5 3.7 6.5 0.0 8.3 5.4 Steal Rate 10.0 4.7 7.3 19.9 14.0 16.9 2FG % 92.3 50.0 64.9 52.6 70.4 63.0 3FG % 53.3 41.2 46.9 62.5 20.0 38.9 FT % 100.0 100.0 100.0 75.0 73.3 74.2 Attempts/Poss. 2FG 0.32 0.70 0.50 0.47 0.79 0.63 3FG 0.37 0.50 0.44 0.20 0.29 0.24 FT 0.15 0.35 0.24 0.40 0.44 0.42
Judging by the score, you'd expect that this was a track meet, but it was much more about two teams unable to stop each other from scoring, somewhat similar to the Duke game last year (although then the Hoyas really had the upper hand). In fact, the second half and overtime were actually run at a pace very comfortable to Georgetown. Possessions were more frequent in the Lift-Off half, but I think this was when Georgetown was willing to run with the Tigers as they jumped out to an early 35-17 lead.
Georgetown built that big lead with unconscious shooting, but not from where you think. Sure, the Hoyas made a bunch of outside shots [8/15 3FG] thank largely to Austin Freeman [5/8 3FG]. However, the secret was actually scoring inside the arc: the Hoyas managed to go 12/13 on 2FG in the half, as the Tigers struggled to adjust to the Princeton offensive sets.
While Coach Thompson will surely be displeased with the number of fastbreak scores his team allowed, I'd expect Coach Mike Anderson to be generally livid about what happened to his team. To put the Hoyas' scoring efficiency [1.35 points per possession] into context, that's the highest efficiency the Tigers have allowed since a loss at Texas A&M in 2005.
A storyline sure to be pushed is the number of turnovers (and steals) that Mizzou forced - but the end result (22% TO Rate) is actually in line with what the Hoyas have been doing all season. Where turnovers were the story was in the Vesper half, as the Tigers were forced into only three - this, more than anything else, was the biggest driver in their comeback to take the lead. They were always able to get a shot off against Georgetown, and if they got the ball inside, they generally made the shot.
Georgetown was able to hang on to the lead for most of the second half by crashing the offensive glass, gathering 11 offensive rebounds on 22 opportunities. What that did was lead to a lot of shot attempts: the Hoyas were able to muster 1.2 field goal attempts per possession in the second half, and you just can't allow a team that shoots as well as Georgetown that many tries.
INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS Georgetown Off % Pts Def Pts Player Poss Poss O.Rtg Prod Poss D.Rtg Allow Net Pts Thompson, Hollis 32 7.2 141.4 3.3 34 93.4 6.4 -1.0 Vaughn, Julian 22 22.7 127.8 6.4 20 94.6 3.8 +2.1 Wright, Chris 74 26.6 126.9 25.0 74 122.7 18.2 +3.8 Freeman, Austin 75 23.0 136.8 23.6 78 119.3 18.6 +4.0 Clark, Jason 67 27.2 119.3 21.7 68 109.1 14.8 +4.4 Starks, Markel 14 16.8 122.7 2.9 15 141.5 4.2 -0.9 Sanford, Vee 12 20.4 159.7 3.9 10 140.0 2.8 +0.8 Sims, Henry 57 13.1 157.9 11.8 59 117.3 13.8 +0.5 Benimon, Jerrelle 16 10.7 89.4 1.5 18 167.4 6.0 -2.9 Lubick, Nate 46 9.6 123.2 5.4 44 114.2 10.1 -2.1 TOTALS 83 130.5 105.5 84 117.5 98.7 +8.9 Missouri Off % Pts Def Pts Player Poss Poss O.Rtg Prod Poss D.Rtg Allow Net Pts RATLIFFE, Ricardo 71 20.4 159.7 23.1 69 135.3 18.7 +4.0 BOWERS, Laurence 55 19.2 126.9 13.4 55 140.4 15.4 -1.7 DIXON, Michael 58 27.3 118.1 18.7 58 120.3 14.0 +2.2 DENMON, Marcus 75 13.0 166.4 16.3 74 128.3 19.0 +0.5 ENGLISH, Kim 77 22.6 69.9 12.1 76 127.4 19.4 -8.6 PRESSEY, Phil 8 12.5 0.0 0.0 8 130.5 2.1 -1.7 PRESSEY, Matt 36 14.3 181.2 9.4 34 144.7 9.8 +0.7 SAFFORD, Justin 32 15.2 119.9 5.8 33 102.7 6.8 -0.1 MOORE, Steve 8 37.5 0.0 0.0 8 88.0 1.4 -2.0 TOTALS 84 120.5 98.8 83 128.4 106.5 -7.1
The stars of the game were the big three, as Austin Freeman had a huge first half on his way to 31 points, Chris Wright drove me to the scotch as he forced a number of wild layup attempts (read: attempts to draw fouls) but made 9/9 FTs down the stretch as he got another double-double [21 pts, 10 assists] and stepped into the "ONIONS" pantheon, and Jason Clark exploded in overtime [3/3 3FG] to make up for a sub-par game up to that point.
But I'll point to two other players - favorites of this blog - who came off the bench to play big. Henry Sims was fourth on the team in minutes tonight [33 min], and took advantage with 10 points and 7 rebounds. He fouled out late in the overtime period, but was the main big down the stretch up to that point. And Vee Sanford only got three minutes of game time ("a number so small you can spell it" - J. Gasaway), but still managed to chip in 8 points.
HD BOX SCORE
Georgetown vs Missouri
11-30-10 8 p.m. at Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
Final score: Georgetown 111, Missouri 102
Georgetown Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
Thompson, Hollis 17:13 +13 5/46 1- 2 1- 2 0- 0 4/24 0/16 0/34 0/32 0/22 0/ 5 4/17 4
Vaughn, Julian 11:29 + 9 4/28 1- 1 0- 0 2- 2 1/14 1/ 8 0/20 2/22 1/15 2/ 5 1/11 4
Wright, Chris 40:18 + 8 21/102 3- 6 2- 6 9- 9 12/64 10/31 1/74 3/74 0/37 0/27 1/26 3
Freeman, Austin 40:47 + 8 31/106 4- 6 6-11 5- 5 17/63 2/27 2/78 4/75 1/43 1/25 4/31 2
Clark, Jason 35:21 +22 26/93 7-11 4- 9 0- 0 20/59 2/23 0/68 5/67 1/37 1/24 5/28 2
Starks, Markel 08:19 - 7 2/14 0- 0 0- 1 2- 2 1/ 8 1/ 4 0/15 0/14 0/ 9 0/ 4 0/ 5 0
Sanford, Vee 06:36 - 1 8/13 1- 1 2- 3 0- 0 4/ 9 1/ 1 0/10 1/12 0/ 5 0/ 5 1/ 3 0
Sims, Henry 30:19 + 5 10/79 5- 7 0- 0 0- 0 7/49 2/23 1/59 1/57 0/28 3/20 4/19 5
Benimon, Jerrelle 09:46 -16 2/14 1- 1 0- 0 0- 0 1/17 0/ 5 0/18 1/16 0/ 9 1/11 0/ 2 4
Lubick, Nate 24:52 + 4 2/60 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 2/38 4/18 2/44 1/46 0/25 1/19 3/18 3
TOTALS 45:00 111 24-37 15-32 18-18 69 23/39 6/84 19/83 3/46 12/29 24/32 27
. 0.649 0.469 1.000 0.590 0.071 0.229 0.065 0.414 0.750
Missouri Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
RATLIFFE, Ricardo 36:44 - 9 22/86 9-15 0- 1 4- 5 16/53 1/20 1/69 0/71 0/29 4/28 3/22 3
BOWERS, Laurence 30:46 - 8 10/70 4- 5 0- 0 2- 4 5/44 4/25 1/55 2/55 1/28 2/17 2/22 2
DIXON, Michael 31:26 - 7 17/70 3- 6 1- 4 8-11 10/45 4/22 4/58 2/58 0/30 1/22 1/24 4
DENMON, Marcus 39:54 - 8 27/89 5- 5 5- 7 2- 2 12/56 0/21 2/74 2/75 1/31 1/29 4/25 2
ENGLISH, Kim 42:02 - 1 11/100 5-11 0- 1 1- 2 12/59 4/30 3/76 4/77 0/34 0/27 1/28 3
PRESSEY, Phil 04:34 - 6 0/ 6 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 1/ 6 0/ 2 1/ 8 0/ 8 0/ 2 0/ 4 1/ 1 0
PRESSEY, Matt 17:44 - 5 9/43 2- 2 1- 3 2- 3 5/27 3/11 0/34 0/36 0/14 0/15 1/ 9 2
SAFFORD, Justin 17:10 + 0 6/36 1- 1 0- 1 4- 4 2/23 1/10 1/33 1/32 0/15 0/13 3/14 2
MOORE, Steve 04:40 - 1 0/10 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 1/ 7 0/ 3 2/ 8 2/ 8 0/ 2 0/ 5 0/ 0 0
TOTALS 45:00 102 29-46 7-18 23-31 64 17/36 15/83 13/84 2/37 8/32 17/29 18
. 0.630 0.389 0.742 0.472 0.181 0.155 0.054 0.250 0.586
Efficiency: Georgetown 1.337, Missouri 1.214
eFG%: Georgetown 0.674, Missouri 0.617
Substitutions: Georgetown 49, Missouri 23
2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 2-2, Missouri 1-3
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 15-19, Missouri 18-23
Jumpers: Georgetown 7-16, Missouri 10-20
Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 6 (6.5), Missouri 16 (20.3)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 9 (150.0), Missouri 24 (160.0)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 18.1, Missouri 14.0
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I may have sounded a bit cavalier in the lede by comparing tonight's game to the UW tilt from last season, a game that my reader may have needed a second or ten to recall. In no way do I mean to diminish the fun that was tonight's game.
Games like this one should be enjoyed, because they don't come around very often - trailing by four points with 19 seconds left and the other team at the line for 2 FTs is not a situation you'd want to rally from, but the Hoyas did just that. The crowd (almost 15,000) was a big part of the atmosphere - they seemed much more vocal about every call against the home team than most Big East crowds, and the difference between their cheers as Missouri made a run and their silence as the Hoyas answered was remarkable.
But it's only November, and another top-50 team comes to the Verizon Center on Saturday.
Pace yourself.
Woodford's an excellent drink bourbon, but in that price range, i always good Blanton's if the bar has it.
ReplyDeleteIf you're willing to go up, Black Maple Hill is probably my favorite. Minchter's is also good and not overly priced.