View from Press Row: Hoyas Debut is a Dud in Loss to Radford

"In the first half, I started off flat and it carried over to the rest of the team. For the most part, I take the blame for how we started the game off..." - DSR who went 0-of-3 in 13 scoreless first half minutes.

You can look to a lot of things - rebounding, defending, poor free throws down the stretch - but it is probably that poor start that did the Hoyas in and star player/captain DSR admitted as much in the post game press conference.  The Hoyas were unable to put any separation between themselves and Radford at the half despite going 19-for-20 from the line.  That type of free throw parade should have included a sizeable lead.  It didn't and for the first time since 2005 Georgetown has dropped its home opener.

Rather than being buried early on the road Radford went to the locker room believing that they could compete with Georgetown and the Highlanders held on for a thrilling 82-80 double overtime road victory that were are going to go ahead and call the best win in Highlander history.

After that late sequence in regulation that involved an Isaac Copeland 3-pointer and then an L.J. Peak steal and layup, I was thinking that the Hoyas would escape disaster ala the 2004 OT win over Norfolk State.  That was way back in JT3's first season.  It took a few crazy Ashanti Cook shots from deep to save the Hoyas bacon that day but they avoided a loss to a dreaded low major conference.

Hayes: In his first start Bradley Hayes finished with career highs 19 points and 12 rebounds.  The senior center scored three more points than he did all of last season.  He did a good job on the defensive glass but he's going to need some help.  Radford tracked down 15 misses to hold a plus ten advantage in offensive rebounds.

Rain: Cameron, Govan, and Campbell all hit 3-pointers during a key stretch in which it seemed as though order had been restored and the Hoyas would pull away from a pesky Radford squad and get ready for Tuesday's clash with the Turtles. Not so fast.  Despite the crowd coming awake for the first time all afternoon after the Hoyas took a 50-43 lead, the Highlanders scored five quick points and never trailed by more than a possession the rest of the way and actually led by five with under a minute in regulation. The beginning of the end probably happened when DSR tried a behind the back pass on a semi break that didn't work all that well.

0-2: Georgetown travels to College Park on Tuesday night to take on the 3^rdranked Terps.  I'll be there and I'm not counting the Hoyas out but we need to look at the possibility of an 0-2 start.  The last time that awful record occurred was in the final days of John Thompson Jr's reign.  His Hoyas started the 1998-99 season 0-2 with neutral site losses to Temple and Illinois.

Bad losses: Every season when it comes time to evaluate teams for the NCAA Tournament, one of the constants on the Georgetown resume is the lack of bad losses.  Now Maybe we find out that Radford and Rashun Davis are the real deal but the likelihood is that they finish between 120 and 180 on the RPI side of things.  That would likely make this Radford loss the second worst non conference loss behind that opening round loss to Northeastern two seasons ago in Puerto Rico.  Northeastern finished that season with an RPI of 219 and the Hoyas ended up in the NIT.

Frosh: After hearing about the talented frosh, particularly Derrickson's shooting, JT3 went mainly with veterans down the stretch.  The lone exception seemed to be some offensive-defensive substitions with Kaleb Johnson.  It felt very Jeremiah Rivers-ish.  Derrickson's outside stroke will be needed in a few days.  With Govan and Derrickson the Hoyas looked far more Princetony than with Joshua Smith out there not moving.

Quotables:

Like I said earlier, Hayes did pretty well on the glass but Radford owned a sizeable advantage on the offensive glass.  BJ was pretty honest afterwards even though it's not something Georgetown fans are going to love hearing his explanation as to why it happened.

"I think it was heart. They just wanted it more than we did in the moment and it's just that simple."

JT3 on Rashun Davis going 12-of-19 for 28 points including the game winner:  "Davis is one tough nut. A tough kid that makes winning plays. And not just the shot down there at the end."

Numbers:

DSR scored 16 points which moved him past Charles Smith ('89) for 18^th place in school history with 1401.  His two 3-pointers now give him 179 all-time as he closes in on Jason Clark ('12) for fourth place.  He needs five more to pass Clark.