The Morning After: DePaul Blue Demons

Final Score: Georgetown 61, DePaul 54 - Big East Coast Bias
Despite turning the ball over ten times early from the Hoyas, they committed just four turnovers the rest of the way while forcing 16 turnovers from DePaul.

Georgetown holds off DePaul basketball 61-54 - Chicago Sun-Times
After switching out of it early, Georgetown coach John Thompson III went back to his 1-2-2 zone press, which sparked a rally. “We started off in (the 1-2-2) and it wasn’t effective, and we came back to it and it got our juices flowing a little bit,” Thompson said. “It was key, we went from down eight or nine until Aaron Bowen hit that shot at the buzzer and we went up four and our press had a lot to do with that.”

Instant analysis: Ironman Starks leads Hoyas past DePaul | Comcast SportsNet Washington
Disappearing act: With Ayegba on the court starting the second half, Thompson sat Joshua Smith. The 6-foot-10 center had one rebound and five points in 14 minutes, continuing a stretch of irrelevant work on the glass. He has been a liability on the defensive boards throughout the season and just five rebounds over the last four games. DePaul had 12 offensive boards and stayed afloat with 14 second-chance points. "If he’s not productive we have other guys. One, who you people have been asking a lot about, in Moses, who we can put in there," Thompson said when asked about sending any message to Smith.

Georgetown downs DePaul men's basketball 61-54 in Big East opener - Sports - The DePaulia - The student newspaper of DePaul University
Give credit to the Blue Demons, they fought hard. DePaul men’s basketball opened the Big East with the daunting task of having to face Georgetown on the road, a team that went 16-1 at home last season.  Las Vegas odds-makers tabbed the Blue Demons as a 13.5-point underdog.

Analyzing Georgetown’s Defensive Inconsistencies This Season | Rush The Court
quality teams. In their non-conference showdown against Kansas, defensive vulnerabilities bubbled up when Joel Embiid and Tarik Black exposed the interior and put up 34 points and 14 rebounds between the two of them. For further proof, the chart below examines each of this year’s Hoyas’ opponents’ offensive performance with their Pomeroy ranking. As the table shows, they are giving up over a point per possession whenever they play a high quality team.

Georgetown vs. DePaul: Hoyas win Big East opener, 61-54 - The Washington Post
While the game exposed the inconsistency of Georgetown’s starters, 6-foot-10 transfer Joshua Smith in particular, it also showcased the potential of lightly used reserves Aaron Bowen (eight points, six rebounds) and Moses Ayegba (three blocks), who came off the bench for clutch baskets and defensive stops at critical junctures. “We needed those guys to come in with an infusion of energy,” said Coach John Thompson III, whose Hoyas improve to 9-3, 1-0.

DePaul Georgetown - chicagotribune.com
Starks, who played all 40 minutes, has tied or led the Hoyas in scoring in each of the last four games. The senior guard scored 11 of 13 points for the Hoyas over a nine-minute section of the first half before help arrived. Georgetown trailed by eight in the first half before entering halftime on a 14-2 run for a 29-25 lead.

G L I D E H O Y A S: My thoughts on Georgetown's first New Big East conference win vs. Depaul
The Hoyas were outrebounded 39-33 by Depaul, but sophomore guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera  managed to lead his team in rebounding for this game (8 rebs.) last night. How this happens is beyond me. I guess DSR has some kind of ball radar on him or something.

Postgame Quotes vs DePaul - Georgetown University Official Athletic Site
On why Georgetown came out flat today... I don't think we came out flat. We proceeded to get flat during the course of the game. I thought we came out OK. You have to attribute some of that to them, they're a big team. I think that they're pressure, for stretches in the first half, affected us. Not that we can't handle pressure, but I think we didn't stick what we were supposed to do a few times...The 13 turnovers in the first half was a lot of the reason for us being flat. We weren't getting shots, we were giving them the ball.