How should this recap start? How do you explain the unexplainable? Well, umm, ahh, THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF ALL OF OUR LIVES. Georgetown went to the hellhole that is the Carrier Dome and were tied at 55 with 3:15 to play. Georgetown fans have been conditioned to believe that when the going gets tough, we'd falter. Instead, we did the exact opposite, finishing the game with an 8-1 run to win 64-56 in the most satisfying victory of the season. John Thompson III earned his first victory in the Carrier Dome as the coach of Georgetown.
Austin Freeman led the Hoyas with 14 points, but this game will be remembered as Hollis "Hollywood" Thompson's Bar Mitzvah. Tonight was the night that young Hollis became a man. He scored 11 enormous points on 4-5 shooting, drilling three bombs from three point range. It wasn't the points that he racked up, but the points in the game in which he scored them. Chris Wright played his best game as a point guard in his Georgetown career, which is remarkable because he only scored 6 points. Wright was the center of Georgetown's offense tonight, slashing through the zone and finding open Hoyas on the three point line. He had 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, with only 1 turnover.
After The Jump, I may pee my pants a little.
John Thompson III got his first win at Syracuse because of his wrinkle putting Wright in the middle of the zone. The ball movement shredding the zone tonight was by far the best we've seen by a Georgetown team in the Carrier Dome. The Hoyas had 20 assists on 24 made shots. Read that again and let it sink in. Wright's ability to slash through the zone created open looks for Freeman, Jason Clark and Thompson, while Julian Vaughn scored a gritty 12 points and added 8 rebounds.
What was great about tonight was that Freeman had a B- game, and the Hoyas still pulled out a victory in the roadiest of road environments. Markel Starks played his best game in his young career, scoring 6 huge points when our offense had stalled in the first half. Yet, the most impressive moments were those in the last three minutes. The Hoyas kept their composure, ripping off six straight points on layups from Clark and Freeman, while Syracuse fell apart at the seams. Syracuse has now lost three straight games at home, and have faltered since their 18-0 start to the season. When you see an Orange team chucking up threes and abandoning their vaunted zone, you know things are bad in Boeheimville.
Georgetown has now won seven straight Big East games after starting conference play 1-4. They play Marquette in Washington, DC on Sunday and have to be considered amongst the top 8 teams in the country. As we've seen already this season, success can be fickle in the Big East, but right now this is so satisfying. Remember how much fun Syracuse Hate Week was before the game? Can you imagine what it's going to be like tomorrow? Cuz ain't no party like a Casual Hoya Blog Party, cuz a Casual Hoya Blog Party don't stop. As Greg Jennings said on Sunday night, it's a great day to be great Hoya fans.