LINKS: Georgetown Drops Winnable Game to #12 Seton Hall

The Georgetown Hoyas (3-7) dropped a very winnable home game to the Seton Hall Pirates (9-1) on Wednesday night, 71-78. Even without Mac McClung the Hoyas battled valiantly and scored 70+ points. The performance was OK overall, and most GU fans feel hopeful after their second-half comeback push, despite the palpable fatigue for the men in white.

Jahvon Blair had a tough shooting night, scoring 18 on 3-7 from two and 1-9 from three, but impressively found a way to draw fouls and hit all 9 of his free throws.

Omer Yurtseven was 8-14 with 15 boards (7 offensive) and 19 points. Jamarko Pickett (3-11 FG, 1-4 3PT) and Jagan Mosely’s shots (2-7, 1-3 3PT) were off, and Terrell Allen wasn’t much better, even with almost as many attempts as the two combined (4-17, 1-3 3PT). Pickett did have 10 rebounds, while Mosely added 6 assists and Allen had 4 assists.

While Georgetown only shot 23-68 (33.8%) from the field and 4-21 (19%), their 21-24 (87.5%) from the charity stripe kept them in the game. Perhaps that is a bit of home-cooking (for the first time at MCI/Verizon/CapOne), but the gameplan to attack Sandro Mamukelashvili and Romaro Gill, despite his 8 blocks, was rewarded. Seton Hall shot 29-62 (46.8%) and 9-27 (33.3%) from three.

Still, in a game of swapping runs, the initial sprint by Seton Hall left the Hoyas fighting from behind the whole game. Yes, the start of the game was, yet again, the problem. The announcers proudly announced that Georgetown was merely a victim on the #12 team in the nation getting hot after an embarrassing loss. But we know better.

Ewing may be outwardly happy with the total efforts last night but , with due respect to the living legend and Hall of Fame center come back to coach our beloved alma mater, the problem has not been energy and effort out of the gates. Georgetown is consistently outscored early because high-paid, smart Big East coaches know what defense is coming.

Specifically, familiar opponents use a script of plays to lure a weak-side help defender from the wing towards the lane. When the over-help succeeds in tricking the wing to slough off their man on the perimeter, the result is a predictable set of swing passes that has a Georgetown defender running out to the three-point sniper waving his hands with reckless abandon. (And don’t get me started on the hard-hedge on screens). Georgetown’s offense and best shot selection relies on attacking the opponent's transition defense, which just doesn’t appear if SHU starts 4-4 from three.

Simply put, the early efforts to fortify the middle with help defenders—as seen in a playbook from the NBA or in pre-1986 college hoops—are consistently backfiring and leaving the Hoyas in a hole. I’d much rather see some early trapping out of the tip.

Here are the links:

Myles Powell’s big night carries No. 12 Seton Hall past Georgetown | NBC Sports Washington

Georgetown (13-10, 3-7) was playing for the second straight game without leading scorer Mac McClung, who was out with an injured right foot.

Omer Yurtseven led the Hoyas with 19 points and 15 rebounds, his 13th double-double of the season. Georgetown’s Jahvon Blair had 18 points while Terrell Allen added 11 points.

Seton Hall held Georgetown to 33.8% shooting as Gill had eight of the Pirates 11 blocks. The Hoyas stayed in the game by hitting 21 of 24 free throws.

Myles Powell pours in 34 points as Seton Hall clips Georgetown | ABC 14 News (Hilarious re-translation?)

Myles Powell scored 34 details, Romaro Gill tied a vocation-significant with eight blocks and No. 12 Seton Corridor raced out to a large lead and conquer Georgetown 78-71 Wednesday night.

The Pirates (17-5, 9-1) jumped out to a 16- direct, heading 4 for 4 on 3-tips. Powell, the 2nd main scorer in the Significant East, strike his scoring normal of 21 factors by halftime.

Seton Hall’s Quincy McKnight was in the setting up line-up and finished with 8 details and a game-substantial 10 assists in 22 minutes. He was stated as working day to day just after leaving Saturday’s decline to Xavier early with a still left knee harm.

No. 12 Seton Hall rolls past Georgetown, 78-71, on Myles Powell’s 34 | NJ (Adam Zagoria)

Powell was also active in driving to the basket and hit a nice shot off the window during a first half in which he tallied 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting as Seton Hall took an 42-32 halftime lead.

He finished 12-of-24 for his 12th career 30-point outing and fourth against Georgetown. It’s his third 30-point outing of the season...

Seton Hall basketball: Myles Powell returns to All-America form in win at Georgetown | Asbury Park Press

The coach inserted power forward Sandro Mamukelashvili in his third game back from a broken wrist, sending struggling Myles Cale to the bench and sliding much-improved sophomore Jared Rhoden from the four to the three.

The move was made with two objectives. First, to improve the team’s subpar rebounding, which hit a low point against Xavier (the margin was 51-22). Second, to create more offensive options and take some pressure off Powell, who had been getting off to slow starts.

The change sparked the Hall to a 16-0 run out of the gate....

Slow Start Dooms Men’s Basketball against Seton Hall – The Georgetown Voice | The Georgetown Voice

“Even though we lost, I’m proud of my team,” Ewing said. “We kept our composure, kept chipping away.”

Ewing granted that his six-man rotation will cost his team, however. “It’s going to wear on you,” he said. “But that’s sports.”

The Blue & Gray entered halftime only down 10, and they emerged from the locker room on a roll. Two minutes later, the deficit was down to three after a layup from senior center Ömer Yurtseven, a 3-pointer from senior guard Jagan Mosely, and a layup and-one from junior guard Jahvon Blair. The Pirates responded, however, with a three from Powell and then a layup. Before long, the deficit was back to 11.

Without Mac McClung, Georgetown starts slow and falls to Seton Hall | WaPo

“...We got down big, but we fought, came back, cut it to four at one point, but they were able to make some shots and build the lead back up. We’re only playing six guys. It’s rough when you’re only playing six guys.” ...

“They’re a very good team, one of the best teams in the Big East, and you know the reason why,” Ewing said. “They have shot-blocking at the rim. They have a guy like Powell who can give you 35 any night. They have great defense, and they have tremendous size and athleticism.”

Seton Hall’s Myles Powell looking for a ‘chunk of history’ against Villanova on Saturday | nj

Now Mamukelashvili is back — he went for 12 rebounds and eight points against Georgetown — and Seton Hall is almost completely whole while Mamukelashvili and Quincy McKnight round back into form. McKnight started against Georgetown after getting an MRI on his left knee after the Xavier game that came back negative. He went for 10 assists and eight points in the win despite feeling “sore” and learning about two hours before game time he was going to play.

Myles Powell returns to form, Seton Hall hangs on for win over Georgetown – The Setonian | The Setonian

Perhaps part of the switch up comes from where Willard decided to change his starting five – electing to use Sandro Mamukelashvili over Myles Cale with Romaro Gill, Quincy McKnight, Powell and Jared Rhoden...

Although Georgetown does not possess the quality of defenders that the rest of the Big East has, Powell’s overall performance is more than encouraging moving forward. After a few games with a visibly frustrated superstar on the floor, Powell was able to regain his swagger, including a 4-for-13 performance from beyond the arc.

Myles Powell is having fun again, and Seton Hall (and the… | The Athletic

Still, it never turned into a blowout. Powell was a bit more sporadic in the second half, which helped. He got to the rim on occasion, particularly in transition and secondary break situations, but his perimeter game (1-of-5 from 3) wasn’t quite there. There was a wide-open miss on a corner 3, which would have seemed impossible early in the night. There were also a couple of tougher, more contested jumpers, the type Powell had excised from his game in the first half.

There was also, with just over two minutes to play and with the Seton Hall lead whittled to four points, probably Powell’s best play of the game. The Pirates were scuttling through a frantic offensive possession; Gill had missed a layup, snatched his own rebound and only barely managed to kick the ball out. Then Powell caught it, drove left, flipped the ball up on the rim and in, and somehow spun away from contact in the process, an extra stunt on top of an already spectacular finish. He ended with 34 points, his third 30-point performance of the season.

Seton Hall recruiting target sits in front row for latest win … in a Georgetown seat | nj

“I’m watching where do I fit in on offense and stuff like that, so I’m just seeing if I could come in and make an impact,” he said.

During his Georgetown visit, Moncrieffe sat in on the scouting meeting with head coach Patrick Ewing and his staff.

“I’m watching to see if they execute it, all that type of stuff,” he said...

“I was with Juggy, he was my host,” he said of Blair. “He was just talking about Coach Pat and all the legends they have around Georgetown and stuff like that. Like you see Coach [John] Thompson [Jr.] right there [at the game]. It’s just a wealth of basketball knowledge at that school. Coach Pat is down to the basics, he’s a no-nonsense guy. He’ll tell you how it is and I kind of like that. I appreciate it.”