The Georgetown Hoyas seemed to have a lot on their side tonight coming into their matchup with the St. John’s Red Storm, including playing in the thought-to-be friendly confines of the world famous McDonough Arena. However, Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas had no answer for the Johnnies press and Julian Champagnie’s 27 points with 6 three-pointers.

In front of a max-capacity crowd of 1,100—due to COVID restrictions—that appeared more like a couple hundred on screen, Georgetown never led this game and was only tied for less than a minute and a half.

St. John’s had a 7-0 run after a score of 8-6 four minutes into the game and the Johnnies never looked back. A similar 10-0 run to start the second half gave Mike Anderson and the Red Storm plenty of breathing room. St. John’s shot the ball well (35-69, 51%) in both halves, while Georgetown seemed to only make buckets at the end of each half.

Defensively, many of the same woes revealed themselves and, unfortunately, St. John’s experience breaking the press only sped the hemorrhaging up even more. Rather than try to slow the tempo that the Johnnies love, Patrick Ewing let the Hoyas run and gun rather unsuccessfully. The Red Storm thrived in transition. Georgetown only had 8 turnovers, including only 3 in the first half, primarily because the Hoyas really didn’t see a shot attempt they didn’t like. Moreover, Joel Soriano’s four blocks register as shot attempts and not turnovers, and often led to more transition buckets by St. John’s. A slower, more methodical offense by Georgetown may have kept this one within reach.

Donald Carey was Georgetown’s strongest offensive player tonight, shooting 7-14 FGs and 3-7 3PT for 23 points in 38 minutes. Kaiden Rice was 5-10 from three and made a two pointer after a steal. Rice was actually +6 in plus/minus, and Mutombo was only-2 (4-8 FGs, 9 points, 7 rebounds). Aminu Mohammed struggled, going 1-13 (0-6 in the first half) with only two assists. Dante Harris looked like his old self at times, but ended up shooting 4-12 from the field and only 1-4 from three, adding only 4 assists. Collin Holloway had a pretty mediocre night going 3-7 (01 3PT) with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers, and 2 assists in 29 minutes.

With Ryan Mutombo earning 24 minutes and presumed starter Timothy Ighoefe only playing 5 minutes (0 fouls), one might consider that Mutombo may start sooner than later. Also, with Dante Harris recently conjuring dark images like James Ak*njo and Mac McCl*ng, one might think Tyler Beard could cut into the point guard minutes a bit more for the experience.

There’s not much time to think about this game as the Hoyas are back in action on Sunday afternoon hosting a ranked Providence at Capital One Arena.

Press Release from GUHoyas:

Hoyas Downed by St. John’s

WASHINGTON – Despite a career-high 23 points from Donald Carey, the Georgetown University’s men’s basketball team (6-14, 0-9 BE) dropped a 90-77 decision to the St. John’s University Red Storm (12-9, 4-6 BE) on Thursday evening at McDonough Arena.

ON THE RECORD

“Today it wasn’t turnovers, it was our lack of defense, our lack of rebounding … I thought that we got messed up a few times with our transition defense. We have to get back to the drawing board. Whenever we win or are in the game, we have more than two guys in double figures and that seems to be the trend lately. We’ve been having two, maybe three guys in double figures … We need guys to produce not only defensively but offensively if we’re going to have a chance to win.” - Head Coach Patrick Ewing on the game

“I’m very confident in him. He’s a warrior. He had a bad outing tonight but it’s part of his learning, his growth. He’s got to learn when they have size on him, what to do - they’re coming over to collapse on him, sometimes you have to make the pass, sometimes you have to make the shot. It’s just part of his growth, he’s going to be fine.” - Ewing on Aminu Mohammed

HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Carey surpassed his previous best (22P - Holy Cross; 12/29/19) with 23 points on 7-14 shooting from the floor, 6-for-7 from the line and three triples. The Hoya captain also registered seven boards, two assists and a pair of steals.
• Kaiden Rice added 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 5-of-10 from distance and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
• Dante Harris posted a near double-double with 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds to go along with four assists.
• Ryan Mutombo also came close to a double-double, recording nine points on 4-of-8 shooting and seven boards off the bench.
• While both teams scored 17 second-chance points, the Hoya bench outscored the Johnnies, 29-24.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Timothy Ighoefe dunked GU’s first bucket of the game before Holloway banked one in off the glass for a 4-4 tie (17:50).
• The Hoyas jumped out to a 6-0 run, five of which were scored by Carey, cutting Georgetown’s deficit to three, 18-15 (12:16).
• The Blue & Gray chipped away at the St. John’s lead with Mutombo’s personal 4-0 run (10:09) and a quick 5-0 spurt over a 30-second span to keep the deficit at three, 36-33 (3:57).
• Carey hit a triple before GU stopped the Red Storm on the final possession, holding the SJU edge at 45-38.
• GU chipped away at the Red Storm’s hot start to the second half with a 6-2 spurt, cutting the deficit to 13, 57-44 (15:00).
• St. John’s pulled away down the stretch despite nine-straight points from Rice (5:56) and eight-consecutive from Carey (4:15) before the Hoyas fell, 90-77.

OF NOTE

• Rice and Carey recorded 20-point performances in the same contest for the second time this season, scoring 23 and 20, respectively, against Siena (11/19).
• Carey registered his ninth-straight game in double figures with his career night against the Johnnies.
• Harris’ nine boards beat his previous mark (8) set against Creighton in the BIG EAST Championship game last year.

UP NEXT

Georgetown will head back to Capital One Arena to face No. 15 Providence on Sunday, Feb. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be broadcast live on FS1. Sunday’s contest can be heard locally on 106.7 The Fan with Rich Chvotkin in his 48th season on the call. The game will mark the 1,500th game Chvotkin has called in his career. Beginning his tenure with the Hoyas on November 30, 1974, his career has included 40 years of postseason broadcasts and covered NCAA Tournaments spanning six decades. Chvotkin was inducted into the Washington Metropolitan Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.