After a streak of 8 impressive wins, it took a dominant second half performance by Kemba Walker to stop the Hoyas momentum. The opening plays of the game looked promising with Chris Wright knocking down a 3 on Georgetown's first play and Kemba Walker forcing up a terrible brick on UConn's opening possession. From there, Georgetown generally controlled the first half with Wright driving and kicking out and Julian Vaughn dominating the post.
Unfortunately, the one point cushion wasn't enough, particularly as Walker showed that he's one of the toughest matchups in the country. And while he deserves almost all the credit, he got major help from Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who tossed in 23 points off the bench. Going into the game, we all knew Walker would get his but when there's someone to play second fiddle, UConn is a really tough team to beat.
At some point during the day, everyone who reads this blog fell into delusional land and had a dream of Georgetown streaking the rest of the season and then cruising through the Big East Tournament en route to a 1 seed. While the first part of that dream has now died, this is not a terrible loss. Though Austin Freeman suffered an off night, he, Wright, Jason Clark, and Hollis Thompson were in double figures and Vaughn continued to show flashes of being a highly effective post scorer. More than half the Georgetown baskets came on assists and this game highlighted the teamwork that established the streak.
There are lessons to learn from this game but the sun will come up tomorrow (hell, it might be 70 degrees in DC) and Georgetown now sets its sights on the upcoming roadtrip to the University of South Florida.