Someone else's highlights clip.
Georgetown was able to take advantage of an undersized App. State team by pounding the ball inside and kept one of the nation's top scorers in check, thanks largely to Jason Clark's efforts.
Let's run the numbers:
TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE . Home Visitor . Georgetown Appalachian State . 1st Half 2nd Half Total 1st Half 2nd Half Total Pace 33 35 68 Effic. 125.6 136.2 131.1 98.0 79.5 88.4 eFG% 54.8 72.4 63.3 52.0 32.3 41.1 TO% 15.3 19.9 17.7 24.5 19.9 22.1 OR% 40.0 44.4 41.7 26.7 39.1 34.2 FTA/FGA 22.6 27.6 25.0 32.0 38.7 35.7 Assist Rate 86.7 66.7 75.0 45.5 44.4 45.0 Block Rate 12.5 11.8 12.1 4.5 0.0 2.1 Steal Rate 24.5 17.0 20.6 6.1 14.2 10.3 2FG% 50.0 80.8 66.7 43.8 41.2 42.4 3FG% 44.4 0.0 33.3 44.4 14.3 26.1 FT% 100.0 75.0 86.7 75.0 66.7 70.0
The story of the game for Georgetown was points in the paint [GU 60, App St. 22]. But it wasn't simply a matter of the Hoya big men running wild: Julian Vaughn finished with 8 pts, Henry Sims with 6 and Nate Lubick with 11. Rather, it was the quality of shots that keyed that ridiculous advantage for Georgetown.
For the game, the Hoyas shot 48 times from inside the arc and only 11 of those were jump shots [4/11]. Instead, Georgetown relentlessly attacked the rim, and was rewarded with 6 dunks and 22/31 shooting on layups and tip-ins. This was especially true in the Vesper half, where the Hoyas 3/9 on all jump shots (2FGs and 3FGs), but 18/20 (!) from in close.
Now a bit of that hot shooting was luck, as I recall at least Wright, Thompson and Freeman having acrobatic lay-ins, but the principle was sound - in spite of the constant pounding down low, the Mountaineers could only get one block all game. There was simply little deterrent to the strategy, and the game was blown open by it.
After the Temple game, some may look at the box score and say "Hey, only 12 turnovers!" but an 18% TO rate for the game should be routine, not something to celebrate. There certainly could have been fewer turnovers today, as several Chris Wright dimes were left on the floor, and the game got particularly messy in the later stages of the Vesper half.
It has been pointed out that the 27 assists today tied for the most since Coach Thompson has been at Georgetown. That translates into an assist rate - the percentage of field goals that were off of an assist - of 75%, which is high but not unusual for the Hoyas. Indeed, they actually assisted on more than 80% of their makes earlier this year against Coastal Carolina. This was more the confluence of a high assist rate with a very high number of made shots. For what it's worth, the highest assist rate I've found for the Hoyas since 2004-5 was the day it rained 3s against Villanova in the Big East tournament - Georgetown has 25 assists on 28 made shots (including 17 3FG) for an 89% assist rate.
