Georgetown Tramples Towson, 78-46

Georgetown came out rested and ready after more than a week off Sunday, dominating Towson from the tip en route to a 78-46 blowout win. D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera led five Hoyas in double figures with 16 points, and Georgetown's best three-point shooting of the season fueled a runaway victory.

After establishing Joshua Smith in the post during their first few possessions, the Hoyas started to blow things open from the perimeter. Smith-Rivera hit a pair of jumpers, the latter a triple, and shortly later, freshman forward Paul White (11 points on 3 of 4 three-pointers) hit two more long-range bombs. Smith's size and brawn inside opened up many of these opportunities, as the Towson defenders were packed tightly into the paint, leaving the three-point arc vacant. At the same time, Towson struggled to score, tallying as many turnovers as points (3 apiece) over a seven-minute stretch as Georgetown pulled away.

While previous one-sided wins had seen the Hoyas open up big leads, only to give back smaller runs, this time they continued to pour it on. Towson made just 5 field goals before half, missing all nine three-point attempts. For the day, the Tigers could not generate any offensive flow, assisting on just four baskets and turning the ball over 17 times. Georgetown suffered no such difficulties. DSR began a parade to the free-throw line while White and Aaron Bowen (5 points) each hit a three-pointer, swelling the halftime lead to 40-17.

Georgetown's dominance only increased out of the break as the Hoyas scored on seven of their first nine possessions in the second half. White and Bowen each hit another jumper, the latter from three. Meanwhile, Smith-Rivera continued to use his entire scoring arsenal, hitting a herky-jerky mid-range jumper, earning trips to the line, and burying a triple that put Georgetown ahead 56-23 with nearly 14 minutes remaining.

With the Hoyas up by so much with so much time to play, JT3 turned to his bench. Smith-Rivera played just 25 minutes, while big man Joshua Smith (12 points, 7 rebounds) notched just 21. With those two offensive fulcrums sitting down the stretch, Georgetown had to find points elsewhere. Mikael Hopkins distributed a bit from the high post, and Jabril Trawick (11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) scored seven straight points.

The most encouraging of these baskets were a pair of three-pointers, one from Trawick and another from sophomore Reggie Cameron. Both had looked a bit hesitant from beyond the arc of late. Georgetown could scarcely afford gun-shy wings, entering Sunday's game shooting barely 30 percent from three. Sunday, the Hoyas got plenty of triples, with Smith-Rivera, White, Bowen, Trawick, Cameron, and even Isaac Copeland (10 points, 2 of 5 from three, mostly in garbage time) hitting threes. For the day, the Hoyas made 11 of 22 three-point attempts, burying Towson from deep.

Sunday's win was a high-energy, if low-stakes, romp in between a pair of high-stakes non-conference showdowns. The first, Georgetown's 1-2 appearance at Atlantis, alternately affirmed that the Hoyas could trade punches with the nation's elite and exposed their weaknesses. The next comes Wednesday, when #11 Kansas rolls into town.The Jayhawks will be bigger, more athletic, and more skilled than Towson, by a long shot. Still, Georgetown's play in the Bahamas proves that it can win on Wednesday. If Georgetown can repeat Sunday's play--a mixture of hot outside shooting, dominant offensive rebounding, and stingy half-court defense (until stretch time, anyway)--the Hoyas will pull off that upset.