Recap: Georgetown 52, Rutgers 50

Image from here

In a game where Georgetown shot a historic low from the field in the first half, the Hoyas rode their stingy defense and a busy official's whistle to a two point victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 52-50.

 The big story for the game is that the Hoyas managed to shoot an eFG of 13% in the first half, and 33% for the game but still win.  It has also been noted that this is the third terrible shooting day for the Hoyas this season [34% vs. Howard, 33% vs. Providence] that has ended in a victory, thanks to the Hoyas stellar defense.  Prior to this season, the JT3-led Hoyas had managed one victory while shooting under 40% eFG (vs. Temple in Nov. 2009).

Out of morbid curiosity, I also went through the archives of this blog to find the worst shooting half since we've been keeping track.  The only time Georgetown has managed even a sub-25% eFG in a half was Feb 23rd of last year, when a shell-shocked Hoyas team collapsed after Chris Wright left the floor with a broken hand.

The Scarlet Knights deserve a world of credit for the terrible shooting performance in the first half [3-15 2FG, 0-8 3FG] by the Hoyas, but Georgetown wasn't just missing tough shots - the Hoyas went 0-6 on layups and tips, including a blown fast-break layup by Greg Whittington.  Rutgers' great FG defense came at a cost, though - lots of fouls.  Those fouls resulted in 18 free throw attempts in the Lift-off half (and 14 makes) and didn't end during the Vespers half, where Georgetown went to the line another 18 times, although making only 11.

The problem for Rutgers was two-fold in the second half:  Georgetown wasn't missing the easy shots anymore [4/5 on dunks, layups and tips], and had stopped turning over the ball.  After committing 9 turnovers on 31 possessions in the first half, the Hoyas finally held onto the ball after intermission, committing only 5 turnovers in their last 29 possessions to claw back into the game, and finally to win it.

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      RUTGERS         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            31        30        61
 
Points          20        32        52          25        25        50   

Effic.         63.9     107.7      84.9        79.9      84.2      81.7  
 
eFG%           13.0      58.3      32.9        50.0      37.9      43.4  
TO%            28.8      16.8      22.9        28.8      20.2      24.5  
OR%            45.0      28.6      38.2        15.4      33.3      25.8  
FTA/FGA        78.3     100.0      87.8         8.3      17.2      13.2  

Assist Rate    66.7      66.7      66.7        80.0      40.0      60.0  
Block Rate     18.8      23.8      21.6        13.3       0.0       7.4  
Steal Rate     12.8      10.1      11.4        16.0      10.1      13.1  
 
2FG%           20.0      50.0      33.3        37.5      38.1      37.8  
3FG%            0.0      50.0      21.4        50.0      25.0      37.5  
FT%            77.8      61.1      69.4        50.0      60.0      57.1 

more stats after the jump

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Thompson, Hollis       31   14.9   69.9    3.2      31    95.5    5.9      -1.9  
Starks, Markel         28   10.4   91.7    2.7      29    93.0    5.4      -1.4  
Sims, Henry            54   32.9   66.8   11.9      54    73.4    7.9      +1.4  
Clark, Jason           55   19.0   96.4   10.1      54    69.3    7.5      +2.7  
Lubick, Nate           35   13.5  114.4    5.4      37    76.4    5.7      +0.8  
Whittington, Greg      36   28.9   71.2    7.4      34    74.9    5.1      +1.0  
Porter, Otto           44   16.3  129.9    9.3      43    76.1    6.5      +3.3  
Trawick, Jabril        22   14.1   73.3    2.3      23    84.0    3.9      -1.0  
TOTALS                 61          85.5   52.3      61    78.5   47.9      +4.3  

RUTGERS               Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
SEAGEARS, Jerome       31   20.6   58.4    3.7      30    93.5    5.6      -2.1  
CARTER, Eli            51   33.2   81.3   13.8      52    91.9    9.6      +1.2  
MILLER, Dane           52   12.1  121.6    7.7      52    96.7   10.1      -0.4  
RANDALL, Derrick       19   16.7  139.8    4.4      18    91.1    3.3      +1.4  
BIRUTA, Gilvydas       26   33.5   72.5    6.3      26    75.4    3.9      +1.1  
MACK, Myles            44   19.6   40.1    3.5      43    67.9    5.8      -2.4  
POOLE, Mike            41   15.2  105.5    6.6      42    59.5    5.0      +2.2  
JOHNSON, Austin        31   19.9  120.5    7.4      30    68.0    4.1      +3.3  
JACK, Kadeem            2    0.0    -      0.0       2   200.0    0.8      -0.8  
LEWIS, Greg             8   30.3   52.6    1.3      10    56.0    1.1      +0.0  
TOTALS                 61          84.2   54.7      61    80.8   49.3      +3.8  

HD BOX SCORE

RUTGERS vs Georgetown
01/21/12 12:00 at Verizon Center
Final score: Georgetown 52, RUTGERS 50

RUTGERS                 Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
SEAGEARS, Jerome       19:45  - 1   3/26  0- 2  1- 3  0- 0  5/30  1/ 9  0/30  2/31  0/11  1/18  1/17   3
CARTER, Eli            33:20  - 9  14/41  2- 7  3- 6  1- 2 13/44  2/11  2/52  5/51  0/22  1/28  1/28   4
MILLER, Dane           34:26  - 4   7/44  1- 2  1- 1  2- 2  3/45  2/15  0/52  2/52  1/23  1/27  3/28   2
RANDALL, Derrick       12:50  - 5   4/13  2- 5  0- 0  0- 0  5/18  0/ 3  1/18  0/19  0/ 4  2/12  1/ 6   4
BIRUTA, Gilvydas       16:55  - 4   7/21  2- 8  1- 1  0- 0  9/22  0/ 5  2/26  1/26  1/ 8  0/13  2/16   5
MACK, Myles            30:00  + 3   2/36  1- 5  0- 3  0- 0  8/38  3/14  3/43  1/44  0/22  0/22  2/29   1
POOLE, Mike            26:25  + 8   6/34  3- 3  0- 2  0- 0  5/36  3/12  0/42  1/41  0/22  0/21  5/31   2
JOHNSON, Austin        18:45  + 7   7/29  3- 5  0- 0  1- 3  5/25  0/ 9  0/30  1/31  0/15  1/14  2/18   5
JACK, Kadeem           02:01  - 4   0/ 0  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 1  0/ 1  0/ 0   1
LEWIS, Greg            05:33  - 1   0/ 6  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 6  1/ 2  0/10  2/ 8  0/ 7  1/ 4  1/12   2
TOTALS                 40:00       50    14-37  6-16  4- 7    53 12/20  8/61 15/61  2/27  8/31 21/34  29
.                                        0.378 0.375 0.571       0.600 0.131 0.246 0.074 0.258 0.618    

Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Thompson, Hollis       21:15  + 1   4/28  1- 2  0- 3  2- 2  5/20  0/ 5  0/31  1/31  1/21  0/16  1/18   3
Starks, Markel         18:55  - 1   3/24  0- 0  1- 4  0- 0  4/23  1/ 5  0/29  1/28  0/16  0/20  1/14   4
Sims, Henry            36:01  + 2  12/46  2- 9  0- 0  8-13  9/34  2/ 9  1/54  4/54  3/30  1/31  9/27   2
Clark, Jason           34:52  + 6  11/48  0- 1  1- 3  8-10  4/35  1/10  2/54  3/55  1/35  1/32  4/31   2
Lubick, Nate           23:25  - 4   4/28  1- 1  0- 1  2- 4  2/23  2/ 5  1/37  0/35  2/23  3/23  3/23   1
Whittington, Greg      21:40  + 0   7/27  2- 8  1- 1  0- 0  9/25  0/ 4  1/34  4/36  0/19  3/23  2/15   1
Porter, Otto           27:44  + 5   9/36  3- 6  0- 1  3- 4  7/29  0/ 5  1/43  0/44  1/26  3/27  1/21   0
Trawick, Jabril        16:08  + 1   2/23  0- 0  0- 1  2- 3  1/16  2/ 5  1/23  1/22  0/15  0/13  1/11   1
TOTALS                 40:00       52     9-27  3-14 25-36    41  8/12  7/61 14/61  8/37 13/34 23/31  14
.                                        0.333 0.214 0.694       0.667 0.115 0.230 0.216 0.382 0.742    

Efficiency: Georgetown 0.852, RUTGERS 0.820
eFG%: Georgetown 0.329, RUTGERS 0.434
Substitutions: Georgetown 27, RUTGERS 40

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 2-2, RUTGERS 0-1
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 3-10, RUTGERS 8-19
Jumpers: Georgetown 4-15, RUTGERS 6-17

Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 4 (14.8), RUTGERS 2 (4.3)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 6 (85.7), RUTGERS 13 (162.5)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 17.4, RUTGERS 21.7