The Hoyas tipped off the 2009-10 season in style tonight, shaking off last season's disappointment and
a likely food-coma to
pull away from the might Green Wave in the second half.
It's a little strange firing up the HD Box score program after the long off-season and sitting down to write a recap. Forgive some rust.
Let's run the numbers:
TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
. Visitor Home
. Georgetown Tulane
. 1st Half 2nd Half Total 1st Half 2nd Half Total
Pace 31 34 65
Effic. 104.7 123.2 114.1 88.3 90.9 89.4
eFG% 51.9 67.3 59.4 42.9 47.6 44.9
TO% 29.4 17.6 23.1 19.6 20.5 20.0
OR% 50.0 30.8 41.4 33.3 14.3 25.0
FT Rate 22.2 46.2 34.0 17.9 76.2 42.9
Assist Rate 50.0 68.8 60.7 72.7 44.4 60.0
Block Rate 17.6 7.1 12.9 11.8 10.5 11.1
Steal Rate 9.8 11.7 10.8 16.4 8.8 12.3
2FG% 47.1 68.4 58.3 52.9 50.0 51.6
3FG% 40.0 42.9 41.2 18.2 28.6 22.2
FT% 66.7 58.3 61.1 60.0 68.8 66.7
There were 64 possessions in the game, with a faster pace in the second half - I think the extra possessions in the Vesper half were accumulated during garbage time in the last five minutes or so.
For those of us watching the Tulane video stream (or at least parts), there was a noticeable improvement in the Hoyas play in the second half, not just the pace - this came on the offensive end, as the Hoyas posted nearly identical defensive efficiencies in both halves of the game.
The Hoyas seemed to come out with some jitters early in the game, most apparent in
Chris Wright's four turnovers in the half (9 total for the team). This lead to a disappointingly high TO rate, but the team managed "only" six second half turnovers - none by Wright as they got their sea legs after 20 minutes of play.
The team rebounded well against undersized Tulane, with a strong offensive rebounding performance in the 1st half and excellent defensive rebounding in the 2nd.
The team also shot well from the outside, making ≥40% from deep in each half. That uptick in 2FG shooting in the second half may have been at least partially the result of the strong 3FG shooting, which seemed to open up the interior as the Green Wave defenders were forced to guard out to the arc. Outside shooting is going to be a critical item to watch as the season unfolds, as it serves to open up the cutting lanes.
Tulane probably scored a few more points that you'd have expected from the underlying stats, simply because they made a high percentage of 2-pt jumpers (10/16). The Hoyas did a good job forcing more 2-pt jump shots than layup and dunk attempts, but sometimes you run into a hot-shooting team. Thankfully, Georgetown was dominant in most other facets.
INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS
Georgetown Off % Pts Def Pts
Player Poss Poss O.Rtg Prod Poss D.Rtg Allow Net Pts
Vaughn, Julian 34 21.5 138.8 10.2 35 90.1 6.3 +3.7
Monroe, Greg 57 25.7 121.5 17.8 58 87.6 10.2 +6.3
Wright, Chris 57 15.8 98.6 8.9 57 70.1 8.0 +1.7
Freeman, Austin 53 22.6 110.7 13.2 51 77.0 7.9 +4.7
Clark, Jason 55 16.0 134.1 11.8 53 75.0 8.0 +4.5
Thompson, Hollis 25 15.4 44.5 1.7 26 107.2 5.6 -3.1
Mescheriakov, Nikita 5 20.0 0.0 0.0 6 166.7 2.0 -1.8
Sanford, Vee 2 0.0 - 0.0 3 200.0 1.2 -1.2
Benimon, Jerrelle 2 0.0 - 0.0 2 250.0 1.0 -1.0
Sims, Henry 30 20.9 122.0 7.6 29 103.0 6.0 +1.4
TOTALS 64 113.3 71.2 64 87.5 56.0 +15.9
Tulane Off % Pts Def Pts
Player Poss Poss O.Rtg Prod Poss D.Rtg Allow Net Pts
MCQUEEN, Asim 49 17.8 73.0 6.4 48 112.5 10.8 -3.9
HOLMES, Aaron 45 17.0 95.6 7.3 47 114.4 10.8 -2.4
HOGAN, Geoff 24 10.4 115.0 2.9 23 114.0 5.2 -1.2
RICHARD, Kris 57 24.1 101.9 14.0 56 116.6 13.1 -0.5
SIMS, Kevin 54 13.9 53.9 4.0 53 123.0 13.0 -7.1
BOOKER, David 44 24.8 102.4 11.2 46 99.6 9.2 +1.2
ROGERS, Trent 12 46.1 56.7 3.1 13 112.3 2.9 -1.4
TIMMONS, Kendall 13 1.8 225.0 0.5 13 103.1 2.7 -0.9
MAYHANE, Johnny 15 25.5 117.3 4.5 15 86.7 2.6 +1.5
VIANNEY, Eric 7 20.0 57.1 0.8 6 53.8 0.6 +0.1
TOTALS 64 88.2 54.7 64 110.8 70.9 -15.3
The individual net points stats show the story, with the returning players (except
Mescheriakov) all coming out strong. Wright just missed joining five teammates with a +100 offensive rating for the game (one less turnover would have done it), but made up for it with the top rated defense in the game - 5 steals will go a long way towards making amends.
Julian Vaughn posted a particularly strong opening night, thanks in no small part to 4 offensive rebounds grabbed on only 17 opportunities. I had mentioned in his
season preview article that he seems to have a talent for offensive rebounding, and if he can keep that rate up he'll make it awfully difficult for
Henry Sims to displace him from the starting line-up.
Clark (3/6 3FG), Sims (2/2 2FG, 2 OR) and
Freeman (4/6 2FG, 2/3 3FG) all looked at mid-season comfort.
Hollis Thompson did not, appearing a bit passive throughout the game. That was to be expected for his first collegiate game, and I'll expect it will take most of the fall semester for Thompson to grow comfortable in game situations.
The player of the game was . . .
Greg Monroe, making his triumphant return to his home town. While not a spectacular game by his standards, Monroe looked comfortable stepping up to use 25% of available possessions while keeping a high efficiency and playing his typical strong defense (2 blocks, 8 DR). I hope his family and friends had a great time watching him play in person.
HD BOX SCORE
Georgetown vs Tulane
11/13/09 8:15 p.m. at Fogelman Arena, New Orleans, LA
Final score: Georgetown 74, Tulane 58
Georgetown Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
Vaughn, Julian 24:02 +14 7/43 2- 5 1- 1 0- 2 6/31 2/13 0/35 1/34 2/20 4/17 1/24 2
Monroe, Greg 35:25 +16 18/66 7-12 0- 2 4- 6 14/48 2/18 0/58 1/57 2/29 3/27 8/30 2
Wright, Chris 35:24 +17 11/66 4- 7 1- 3 0- 0 10/48 2/20 5/57 4/57 0/29 0/27 2/29 1
Freeman, Austin 32:03 +23 16/66 4- 6 2- 3 2- 2 9/43 5/19 1/51 4/53 0/27 0/21 6/28 4
Clark, Jason 34:35 +27 13/68 1- 2 3- 6 2- 2 8/45 5/21 1/53 2/55 0/27 0/23 4/30 3
Thompson, Hollis 16:07 - 5 2/24 1- 2 0- 2 0- 0 4/22 1/ 8 0/26 1/25 0/11 0/15 1/ 8 3
Mescheriakov, Nikita 03:25 - 8 0/ 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 6 0/ 1 0/ 6 1/ 5 0/ 2 0/ 5 0/ 1 2
Sanford, Vee 01:15 - 6 0/ 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 1 0/ 0 0/ 3 0/ 2 0/ 0 0/ 1 0/ 1 0
Benimon, Jerrelle 01:14 - 5 0/ 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 1 0/ 0 0/ 2 0/ 2 0/ 0 0/ 1 0/ 0 0
Sims, Henry 16:30 + 7 7/35 2- 2 0- 0 3- 6 2/20 0/12 0/29 1/30 0/10 2/ 8 2/ 9 1
TOTALS 40:00 74 21-36 7-17 11-18 53 17/28 7/64 15/64 4/31 12/29 24/32 18
. 0.583 0.412 0.611 0.607 0.109 0.234 0.129 0.414 0.750
Tulane Min +/- Pts 2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A FGA A Stl TO Blk OR DR PF
MCQUEEN, Asim 29:27 -10 7/47 3- 9 0- 0 1- 2 9/39 0/14 1/48 0/49 0/28 1/23 0/21 3
HOLMES, Aaron 19:27 -24 8/36 2- 5 0- 1 4- 8 6/36 0/ 9 2/47 1/45 2/23 1/28 2/18 0
HOGAN, Geoff 04:51 - 7 2/18 0- 1 0- 0 2- 2 1/15 1/ 4 0/23 0/24 0/ 9 1/13 1/ 9 3
RICHARD, Kris 34:10 -10 15/53 4- 5 1- 7 4- 4 12/41 1/13 0/56 1/57 1/32 1/25 3/25 4
SIMS, Kevin 33:16 -13 3/49 0- 2 0- 4 3- 3 6/43 3/16 0/53 3/54 0/27 0/30 1/24 0
BOOKER, David 28:32 -13 14/43 4- 6 2- 2 0- 2 8/35 2/ 9 3/46 3/44 1/27 2/23 7/20 4
ROGERS, Trent 08:20 - 2 4/13 2- 2 0- 1 0- 0 3/10 1/ 4 0/13 3/12 0/10 0/ 5 1/ 8 1
TIMMONS, Kendall 08:31 - 5 0/ 9 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0/ 9 1/ 4 0/13 0/13 0/ 9 0/ 5 0/ 8 2
MAYHANE, Johnny 09:19 - 2 5/14 1- 1 1- 2 0- 0 3/11 2/ 3 2/15 1/15 0/10 0/ 6 0/ 7 0
VIANNEY, Eric 04:37 + 6 0/ 8 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 1/ 6 1/ 4 0/ 6 0/ 7 0/ 5 0/ 2 0/ 5 0
TOTALS 36:06 58 16-31 4-18 14-21 49 12/20 8/64 13/64 4/36 8/32 17/29 17
. 0.516 0.222 0.667 0.600 0.125 0.203 0.111 0.250 0.586
Efficiency: Georgetown 1.156, Tulane 0.906
eFG%: Georgetown 0.594, Tulane 0.449
Substitutions: Georgetown 26, Tulane 28
2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Georgetown 3-3, Tulane 1-1
Layups/Tips: Georgetown 12-18, Tulane 5-14
Jumpers: Georgetown 6-15, Tulane 10-16
Fast break pts (% FG pts): Georgetown 7 (11.1), Tulane 8 (18.2)
Pts (eff.) after steal: Georgetown 10 (142.9), Tulane 9 (112.5)
Seconds per poss: Georgetown 17.8, Tulane 20.1
