Runaway: Georgetown Dominates Early, Coasts to 83-57 Blowout of Maryland-Eastern Shore

Patrick Ewing stays winning. The new Georgetown coach guided the Hoyas to his third easy win in a week Saturday, a 83-57 blowout of visiting Maryland-Eastern Shore. Junior wing Kaleb Johnson turned in his second straight impressive performance, scoring a career-high 24 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Johnson’s classmate Jessie Govan notched his third 20-10 performance in as many games as Ewing’s protege, hanging a cool 23 points and 14 rebounds on the Hawks.

Georgetown owned this game from the outset, scoring the game’s first 10 points and building a 33-8 lead midway through the first half. Johnson put his mark on the game from the outset, scoring 12 of the Hoyas’ first 18 points including a pair of early triples to go with some strong finishes around the basket. Meanwhile, the visiting Hawks couldn’t buy a bucket, managing just a single basket across a nine-possession stretch as Georgetown blew the game open. The Hoyas rolled into the half with a 40-19 advantage and were never threatened after the break.

As a team, Georgetown continued to combine the offensive pace and sturdy defense that have characterized the second Ewing era. The Hoyas assisted on 24 of 30 made baskets, continuing to find the open shooter. Jonathan Mulmore dropped 5 dimes while guards Jagan Moseley and Jahvon Blair matched Johnson’s 4 assists. That ball movement has yielded open perimeter looks—Georgetown is now shooting nearly 45 percent from three—and easy finishes around the hoop for slashers like Johnson and bigs like Govan alike.

On defense, the Hoyas once again forced a lesser opponent into bad shots. The Hawks shot just 32 percent on the day, the third straight Georgetown opponent to fail to reach 39 percent from the field. UMES in particular made just 3 of 19 from three, an ugly number that stalled any faint hope at a comeback the Hawks may have had. Inside the arc, the Hawks didn’t fare much better, shooting under 40 percent and having shots blocked by five different Hoyas.

Even accounting for small samples and lowly competition, the notable play thus far under Ewing has come from the junior class. Johnson, who had scored in double figures just three times in two previous seasons at Georgetown, has done so in consecutive games while crashing the glass and finding open teammates. Govan, always skilled but not always ferocious in years past, has hauled in the three highest single-game rebounding totals of his career in as many games under Ewing. The remaining junior, Marcus Derrickson, scored turned in a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, his third impressive outing.

So can these reinvigorated Hoyas extend their impressive start? That remains to be seen. A road game at Richmond next Saturday — what passes for a non-conference test amid a slate of cupcakes — will be a big step up from Georgetown’s first three opponents. But with one week of games in the books, Georgetown looks to be taking a step in the right direction.