LINKS: Hoyas’ Hopes Fade Away After Blowing 14-Point Lead to Butler

The #16 Butler Bulldogs (17-4, 5-3) came back from a 14-point deficit to beat the Georgetown Hoyas (12-9, 2-6) on Tuesday night.

Georgetown lead in the first half. Then they didn’t. A slow start was the back-breaker, again, but this time it was after halftime.

At this point in the season, with this record, there’s not much point in looking for tweaks to return the team to December form—a serious change in philosophy is necessary. Perimeter defense is pathetic. Over-help is a staple. Pick-and-rolls equate to and-one layups. Jumpers are settled for and ball-movement is forfeited at first sign of adversity.

There’s no sense of urgency, even after a week off. Faith in Ewing’s prep and in-game coaching is shaken. Fans wish their hopes weren’t raised last month, because these losses hurt doubly.

Here are the links:

Butler stages second half comeback for win at Georgetown | THEINDYCHANNEL

The Bulldogs trailed by 11 at the half but were up by seven 10 minutes later. Then, with 1:29 left and the score tied, Butler scored the final five points of the game.

Hoyas surrender hefty halftime lead, get saddled with 69-64 loss to No. 16 Butler | WASHINGTONPOST

Senior center Omer Yurtseven led Georgetown with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and sophomore guard Mac McClung had 12 points. But the Hoyas’ top two scorers were inefficient; they combined to shoot 8 for 30 from the field.

“We’ve got to make enough plays if we’re going to win,” Ewing said. “With our ballclub the way we are right now, Mac and Omer have to shoot better than they did tonight. If we’re going to be successful, if we’re going to go to the place where I believe that we can go, those two guys have to do a better job.”

Baldwin heats up again, No. 16 Butler beats Georgetown 69-64 | USATODAY

“They were over-helping, so it was just easy to find the shooters and just let them do what they do,” Baldwin said. Georgetown (12-9, 2-6) built its big lead by making 13 of 14 free throw attempts and capitalizing on Butler’s 12 first-half turnovers.

Center Omer Yurtseven led the Hoyas with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing was upset that a late block by Baldwin on a Mac McClung layup attempt wasn’t called goaltending, but acknowledged there were bigger problems that contributed to blowing such a big lead.

“We couldn’t make any baskets, they were making them (and) we couldn’t get any stops,” Ewing said. ”We did some good stuff, but we didn’t do enough stuff to be able to come away with the win.”

Hoyas hang with Butler, but forgot to cover Sean McDermott | NBCSPORTS

Throughout an 18-1 run stretching from the end of the first half and into the second, the Hoyas somehow could not find No. 22 in black on the court. Slipping screens, rotating into corners and simply finding the open hole on the perimeter, McDermott continuously found ways to get open against the Hoyas defense.

Entering the game, he was a 40% 3-point shooter. Georgetown knew he was going to be a threat. Yet, possession after possession he was left on an island in the corner of the court. He rarely missed.

“He’s not the focal point of their team but tonight he played a great game,” Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing said. “We knew that he was a very good shooter. Our goal was to keep him off the 3-point line and we didn’t do a good job of getting that.”.

Butler Mounts Comeback to Defeat Georgetown | BIGEASTCOASTBIAS

Georgetown: Defensive Awareness... There are really only two guys on Butler’s team that you absolutely cannot give good looks from three — Jordan Tucker and, more importantly, Sean McDermott. How the Hoyas managed to lose track of McDermott so many times throughout this game is a mystery.

Georgetown has a lot of talent. The Hoyas can pass, shoot, score inside, and rebound, but they have to improve their team defense if they want to climb out of the Big East cellar.

Press Conference (Ewing at 16:49):