View from Press Row: "Too Casual" Hoyas Hold Off Marquette

After starting off the New Year with anything but a bang, Georgetown held served at home to improve to 2-1 in the league. If you don't want to remember the final 16 minutes of the game, nobody will ever hold it against you. That being said, a win is a win and in the BIG EAST losing at home will clearly get you in trouble. I'm not sure how many Hoya Wins Mr. Chvotkin belted out tonight but he said at least one and that's all that matters.

The Closer: When all else fails, let DSR take the shot. Well that's exactly what Georgetown did, clinging to 54-53 lead. The preseason BIG EAST player of the year delievered with a midrange jumper and Marquette never got closer. DSR then sank 5-of-6 from the line to end up leading the Hoyas with 15 points.

For JT3 there's no secret end of game formula. Said JT3: "If he can't help us close games than we're in trouble. He did what he's supposed to do at the end of games."

And here's what Mr. Big Shot had to say: "I just knew, down the stretch, that my team eventually was going to rely on me to show up at that point so I just wanted to make a play and stop the bleeding a little bit."

33.3 Percent - Joshua, Mikael, L.J., and D'Vauntes. Those are the first names of the four players who accounted for the six second half field goals for the Hoyas. Only two of those shots happened after the 16 minute mark. For the half the Hoyas shot 6-of-18 from the field, missing all six attempts from deep and going nearly 12 minutes without a bucket.

The reason was Marquette's zone but even deeper was Georgetown's lineup that included two bigs - Smith and Hopkins for large stretches.

Said JT3: I think our zone offense was bogged down for most of the game to tell you the truth. I don't think we had enough movement.

Without Paul White - or another player that is a threat to shoot from outside the paint - on the court against the zone, Georgetown struggles.

Hopkins - After going scoreless in the two opening BIG EAST games of the season, Mikael was back in the scorers book with 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting. It was his most productive offensive performance since the Hoyas took down Florida on Thanksgiving Eve. On the other end of the court the senior forward tied a season high with four blocks, passing Don Reid for 13th best in school history with 124.

Redshirt? Before the game I noticed that freshman forward Trey Mourning was sitting on the scores table wearing a suit instead of taking part of the big man drills with his teammates. While we didn't receive any official word, the redshirting of the great Alonzo Mourning's son would make a whole lot of sense.

Update: After the game the official word from Georgetown was that Mourning was held out after a collision in practice left him with concussion like symptoms.

Another update: A player can petition for a redshirt if they play less than 30% of the team's games and none after the halfway point of the season. The halfway point of a college basketball season is always fluid because of tournament play but it's likely to be in the neighborhood of 30 something

games.

Mourning has seen action in four games so far with the last coming against Radford in the ninth game of the season on Dec 13.

Fastbreak - This was a Tale of Two Halves 2.0 right here. In building a 32-27 halftime lead the Hoyas were up a touchdown in transition at 7-0. In the second half it was all Marquette as the Eagles threw their own shutout and ended the game with an 8-7 edge on the break. It's no secret that Georgetown struggles in the halfcourt so the fact that the game got close is no surprise.

FT's FTW: Nothing like a 68% free throw shooting team for the season shooting 82.1 percent for the game and an even better 87.5% (21-of-24) in the second half. Jabril Trawick came into the game shooting 51.5 percent with just 17 makes and proceeded to go 8-of-9 on the night. Trawick finished with 13 points, good enough for a season high and just three off his career high.

Burying the Lead: JT3 on the late turnovers: "I think we were just too casual."

Well that's it from the Verizon Center. I never got my Tuxedo shirt. I'll try and carry on.