On a day Notre Dame was without its leading scorer, All American Luke Harangody, Georgetown came out and pooped the bed. The Hoyas lost 78-64 in the Verizon Center, and it wasn't even that close. Leading scorer Austin Freeman came down with a virus and only contributed 5 points with two airballed 3 pointers in the second half. The Hoyas cut Notre Dame's lead to 4 points with 7 minutes to go, but Ben Hansbrough put the Irish on his back, scoring 19 second half points and 21 in total to lead Notre Dame to a victory.
Georgetown was outrebounded 24-13, giving up what seemed like 15 easy dunks throughout the game. The game was pathetic to watch, from the top down. It was clear that Freeman had nothing all game and got killed on the defensive end, yet John Thompson III stubbornly continued to play him. Chris Wright and Greg Monroe couldn't pick up the slack, the Hoyas had lazy turnovers and didn't have any interest in rebounding or defense.
Hollis Thompson was the lone bright spot for Georgetown, scoring 12 points in his first career start. Hopefully that will increase his confidence when we flame out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The saddest part of this game is the realization that this team will not make any noise in the Big East or NCAA tournaments. The maddening inconsistency and laziness has been there all year, and nothing is going to change in the next three weeks. When it's all said and done, Georgetown won't get past the 2nd round of either tournament and wasted two years with Greg Monroe when he leaves for the NBA after the season.
I understand that Freeman was sick, and that hurts the team's confidence, but they can't go out on National TV at home and have a performance like that. I don't have much more to say, other than this was the most disappointing loss of the season for me. Considering we've lost to South Florida, Old Dominion and Rutgers, that's really saying something.