Recap: Georgetown 62, Old Dominion 59

The opening of the Georgetown Hoyas' 2010-11 basketball season went according to plan, with an exciting three-point win on the road at the tough environs of the Ted.  Georgetown's three guard offense proved to be the whole show for the Hoyas.

After watching the first half on-line, I had to pull the plug and head off to the CU Buffs vs. Idaho St. Bengals game ("Who ever heard of a tiger in Idaho?" my wife asked 5 minutes in), so I only saw the Hoyas and Monarchs as two incredibly tight basketball teams seemingly planning to miss every shot.  Since I didn't catch the exciting second half, this recap will be brief [edited to add: and Dan Hanner did a nice write up of the game].

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Visitor                         Home      
.            Georgetown                      Old Dominion         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            33        32        65

Effic.         58.3     135.5      96.0        76.7     107.2      91.4  
 
eFG%           36.5      61.7      50.0        37.5      50.0      43.3  
TO%            33.7       6.3      20.1        30.7       6.3      18.6  
OR%            35.0      16.7      26.3        47.4      23.5      36.1  
FTA/FGA        15.4      30.0      23.2        28.6      62.5      44.2  
 
Assist Rate    33.3      73.3      58.3        60.0      81.8      71.4  
Block Rate      4.2       0.0       2.5        25.0      31.6      28.6  
Steal Rate      6.1      12.6       9.3        21.5       6.3      13.9  
 
2FG%           50.0      42.1      45.7        37.5      56.2      45.0  
3FG%           10.0      63.6      38.1        25.0      25.0      25.0  
FT%             0.0      66.7      46.2        50.0      66.7      60.9

The pace was three possessions faster than last season's blizzard game, thanks mostly to ODU not grinding the game to a halt in the second half.  The Monarchs are actually a bit slower-paced team than the Hoyas, so those 65 possessions mostly splits the difference between what each time would normally like to run.

Sometimes it really is great defense, and sometimes the offense just stinks.  The first half was certainly a case of the offense just stinking.  Other than Jason Clark, there just wasn't much working for Georgetown.  As Chris Wright and Austin Freeman warmed up in the second half, the offense began to click and the efficiency soared.

While I was bemoaning rebounding in HoyaChat during the first half, it was more of a case of many turnovers hampering the Hoyas offense.  Of course, Old Dominion was being just as careless with the ball, which helped to turn the Lift-Off half into a quagmire.  The difference was the steals rate - the Monarchs were simply throwing the ball away, but they were also forcing Georgetown to give the ball up.

Both teams held onto the ball in the second half, and I think this was the untold story of the game - ODU's defense was relying on two things in the first half:  forcing the Hoyas to throw away possessions, and hope they missed those shots they got.  The Hoyas starting making their attempts in the Vesper half, but they also weren't being forced into lost possessions anymore.  That combination lead to the big boost in Georgetown's offensive efficiency, and the comeback was underway.

One surprising stat for me tonight is the block rate for the Monarchs throughout the game.  I'm not sure if this was a case of game-planning an overly aggressive interior defense by ODU, but they averaged 8.4% blocks last season.  This may be a sign that Georgetown's inside game is not physically up to the challenge right now.

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Thompson, Hollis       49   11.5   63.1    3.5      48    89.6    8.6      -3.3  
Freeman, Austin        58   20.3  119.0   14.0      57    84.9    9.7      +4.1  
Vaughn, Julian         54   25.3   74.4   10.2      52    99.1   10.3      -1.8  
Wright, Chris          58   20.2  112.8   13.2      56    88.5    9.9      +3.1  
Clark, Jason           54   26.3  114.4   16.3      53    84.9    9.0      +5.7  
Starks, Markel          4    0.0    -      0.0       5    60.0    0.6      -0.6  
Sims, Henry            12   31.4   40.9    1.5      13    51.4    1.3      -0.1  
Benimon, Jerrelle      10   10.0    0.0    0.0       9   111.9    2.0      -1.6  
Lubick, Nate           31    7.3   29.4    0.7      32    57.9    3.7      -1.8  
TOTALS                 66          92.8   59.3      65    84.9   55.2      +4.7  

Old Dominion          Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Hassell, Frank         49   24.4   92.7   11.1      50    97.7    9.8      +0.3  
Carter, Keyon          49   12.8  112.9    7.1      49    97.2    9.5      -0.7  
Finney, Ben            51   25.1   99.0   12.7      50    78.5    7.9      +3.7  
James, Darius          47   13.1   85.1    5.3      49   113.8   11.2      -3.8  
Bazemore, Kent         56   21.6   90.4   10.9      56    92.5   10.4      +0.2  
Wright, Nick           12   25.0    0.0    0.0      15    82.0    2.5      -2.5  
Iliadis, Trian         18   21.1   71.0    2.7      17    42.6    1.4      +1.2  
Cooper, Chris          27   18.3  138.0    6.8      26    86.1    4.5      +2.4  
De Lancey, Marquel     16   18.8    0.0    0.0      18    61.0    2.2      -2.0  
TOTALS                 65          88.3   56.5      66    89.8   59.3      -1.9

Austin Freeman and Chris Wright were the stars of the second half, but Jason Clark wins the star of the game honors for playing two good halves of basketball and keeping the Hoyas within contact until help arrived.

And . . . that's about it.  Hollis Thompson struggled with his shot and became passive.  Julian Vaughn was a force on the offensive glass (although I wonder how many of those were from his four shot attempts that were blocked).

The bench was exceptionally quiet.  Nate Lubick got some extended run as the main big off the bench, and he and Henry Sims were able to chip in some quality defense.

HD BOX SCORE

Georgetown vs Old Dominion
11-12-10 7:06 p.m. at Ted Constant Convocation Center
Final score: Georgetown 62, Old Dominion 59

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Thompson, Hollis       29:07  +10   2/58  1- 4  0- 2  0- 0  6/46  3/21  1/48  0/49  0/27  0/29  4/25   4
Freeman, Austin        34:30  + 7  17/55  4- 5  2- 6  3- 6 11/49  3/15  0/57  1/58  0/32  0/34  3/32   2
Vaughn, Julian         32:59  - 1   4/52  2- 9  0- 0  0- 2  9/46  3/18  0/52  3/54  0/33  6/31  1/28   3
Wright, Chris          33:50  - 5  19/50  3- 7  4- 6  1- 2 13/48  1/13  2/56  4/58  0/39  0/33  2/31   4
Clark, Jason           31:45  + 0  18/50  5- 6  2- 6  2- 3 12/43  3/12  2/53  1/54  0/32  2/30  2/32   4
Starks, Markel         03:16  - 3   0/ 0  0- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/ 4  0/ 0  0/ 5  0/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 4  1/ 1   0
Sims, Henry            07:01  + 4   2/10  1- 3  0- 0  0- 0  3/10  0/ 3  0/13  1/12  0/ 7  0/ 7  0/ 9   1
Benimon, Jerrelle      07:04  - 6   0/ 4  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 9  0/ 2  0/ 9  1/10  0/ 8  0/ 7  0/ 5   1
Lubick, Nate           20:28  + 9   0/31  0- 0  0- 1  0- 0  1/25  1/12  0/32  1/31  1/21  0/15  6/22   3
TOTALS                 40:00       62    16-35  8-21  6-13    56 14/24  5/65 13/66  1/40 10/38 23/36  22
.                                        0.457 0.381 0.462       0.583 0.077 0.197 0.025 0.263 0.639    

Old Dominion            Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Hassell, Frank         30:56  + 1  13/47  5-10  0- 0  3- 4 10/41  2/12  0/50  4/49  2/27  2/28  6/29   0
Carter, Keyon          30:32  - 3   9/46  3- 5  1- 2  0- 0  7/37  1/12  1/49  1/49  0/25  2/25  3/29   0
Finney, Ben            32:19  + 4  13/50  2- 5  1- 3  6- 9  8/43  3/15  1/50  1/51  1/27  2/29  8/31   4
James, Darius          30:37  - 7   3/46  1- 3  0- 1  1- 4  4/38  5/15  0/49  1/47  0/25  1/27  2/29   0
Bazemore, Kent         33:34  - 8  13/48  4- 9  1- 5  2- 2 14/43  4/12  3/56  1/56  1/29  0/32  3/30   4
Wright, Nick           07:11  - 5   0/11  0- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/ 9  0/ 4  1/15  2/12  0/ 5  0/ 6  1/ 8   2
Iliadis, Trian         09:56  + 7   3/16  1- 2  0- 1  1- 2  3/15  0/ 5  2/17  1/18  0/11  0/11  2/11   4
Cooper, Chris          16:05  + 0   5/22  2- 5  0- 0  1- 2  5/22  0/ 6  1/26  0/27  3/15  4/17  1/14   1
De Lancey, Marquel     08:50  - 4   0/ 9  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/12  0/ 3  0/18  3/16  2/11  0/10  1/ 9   2
TOTALS                 40:00       59    18-40  3-12 14-23    52 15/21  9/66 14/65  9/35 13/36 28/38  17
.                                        0.450 0.250 0.609       0.714 0.136 0.215 0.257 0.361 0.737

Efficiency: Georgetown 0.939, Old Dominion 0.908
eFG%: Georgetown 0.500, Old Dominion 0.433
Substitutions: Georgetown 34, Old Dominion 47

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 0-0, Old Dominion 0-0
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 13-21, Old Dominion 11-18
Jumpers: Georgetown 3-14, Old Dominion 7-22

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 10 (17.9), Old Dominion 6 (13.3)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 7 (140.0), Old Dominion 11 (122.2)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 17.6, Old Dominion 19.2