LINKS: Ewing says, “That’s last year. This is a new team … we’ve [only] lost four Big East games”

In the post-game press conference after the loss to Butler Bulldogs (1-3), it was hardly a surprise to hear Patrick Ewing excuse another BIG EAST loss on Sunday. His newest endeavor, however, to reframe the in-conference 24-game losing streak as merely a four-game bump in the road, is not a fair assessment for the Georgetown Hoyas program, the fans’ suffering, or his own legacy in the sport. The once promised “change” is severely lacking a year later, and that broken promise can’t be swept under a rug in Healy.

Back in 2010-11, DePaul lost 24 in-season games from January 23, 2010 until February 27, 2011. Those teams had changes in personnel and coaching staff. So the fans probably should have reset the loss counter there.

As much as the Georgetown Hoyas supporters understand that 8+ new faces certainly makes a “new” team, the fans’ concerns about the lack of results stem from these new faces apparently making the same old errors in perimeter defense, screen switching, and shot selection. The lack of discipline must be infectious.

The lack of energy and effort in the loss to Butler—12 days after hanging tough with No. 2 UConn—was new, and inexcusable. In a season where, despite the many issues on offense, the Hoyas have leveraged their aggressive pace to score 64+ points in every game, finishing with 51 points on 19 for 66 shooting (28.8%) is legitimately a new low. Allowing the struggling Bulldogs to shoot 31 for 62 (50%) from the floor and 12 for 26 (46.2%) from three was, well, pretty much expected.

Ewing’s Hoyas find a way to play down to nearly every team. Maybe they match a Villanova team in flux and lead for 10 minutes in the second half.

Here are the links:

Twelve Three-Pointers and Taylor’s Career Night Lead Butler to Big Win Over Georgetown | Butler Sports

Butler shot 50 percent from the field and matched a season-low by committing only five turnovers... Butler’s defense limited Georgetown to 29-percent shooting... Butler had 19 assists on 31 made field goals. Eric Hunter Jr. and Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs with five assists apiece.

Butler took control of the game with a 10-0 run late in the first half that erased Georgetown’s last lead of the game and gave the Bulldogs a 29-21 advantage with 4:25 to play. The first eight points of that run belonged to Taylor... Taylor scored the first five points of the second half to take a 43-30 lead, which was the largest of the night at that point in the game... By the 12:15 mark of the second half, the lead swelled to 21 for the first time...

Over the team’s first three BIG EAST games, Butler combined to shoot 7-for-42 from three-point range before going 12-for-26 Sunday night.

Butler shoots past Georgetown for first Big East win | CBS 4 Indy

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field, making 12 of 26 shots from three-point range, while limiting the Hoyas to just 29 percent shooting overall.

Manny Bates scored 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Eric Hunter Jr. had 11 points and Chuck Harris added 10. They both had five assists as Butler committed a season-low five turnovers.

The Bulldogs took control of the game with a 10-0 run late in the first half, including eight straight from Taylor. The Perry Meridian product scored five straight to start the second as Butler’s lead grew to 13. The lead ballooned to 21 by the 12:00 mark.

3 reasons Butler routed Georgetown 80-51: Jayden Taylor paces Dawgs on career night | Indy Star

In just 15 minutes, Bristol, who came in averaging just 3.1 points on in 12 minutes a game, added two points on 1-for-7 shooting that mirrored Georgetown’s greater shooting troubles.

Butler’s defense held the Hoyas to just 28.8% shooting from the field (19-for-66) and 5-for-23 shooting from beyond the arc (21.7%). The team’s leading scorer, Primo Spears, struggled mightily, going 1-of-5 for two points. The sophomore guard averaged 17 points per game in Georgetown’s first 14 games of the year. Akok Akok paced Georgetown with 12 points aided by a 2-for-5 line from deep and a 4-for-4 night on free throws. Brandon Murray finished with 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting, and Bryson Mozone added 10 points off the bench (4-for-10 from the field). Qudus Wahab, Georgetown’s 6-foot-11 center who has averaged 11.3 points and 8.4 rebounds, finished with a line of 9 and 5.

Villanova Basketball 2022-23 game preview: Georgetown Hoyas | VU Hoops

Villanova Has a Glaring Weaknesses and a One-Dimensional Offense... Unlike the Villanova teams from a few years ago, this year’s team can not win conference games if they do not play their absolute best. Aside from Justin Moore’s absence during his recovery, this year’s team has two glaring weaknesses and Big East opponents are beginning to notice.

After Villanova went up 36-33 at UConn, Dan Hurley called for a full-court press which took the Wildcats out of rhythm. The ‘Cats lack a trusted ball-handler with Justin Moore recovering from a torn achilles suffered in last year’s Elite Eight win against Houston. Villanova’s offense ranks 276 out of a possible 352 teams in total assists this season.

Without star guard Justin Moore, Villanova’s offense doesn’t have much creativity and has been heavily-reliant on their post-up game. Throughout the entire game against Marquette, the Golden Eagles double-teamed Villanova’s post-up attempts on the first dribble. This smart coaching decision by Shaka Smart caused the Wildcats to have a tough time scoring all day.

Villanova offense struggles in second half of 68-66 loss to Marquette | VU Sports (24/7)

Villanova (7-7, 1-2) suffered a painful, 68-66, loss to Marquette on Saturday at the Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats squandered a nine-point lead early in the second half, fought back to tie the game and then failed to execute offensively in the closing minutes. Leading 53-46 at the under-16 media timeout, ‘Nova went to a small line-up; sending Eric Dixon and Cam Whitmore to the bench (after they provided back-to-back baskets). Marquette began to attack the rim with abandon and flipped the score with an 18-7 run to take a 64-60 lead with 7:05 remaining in the game.

Over those final seven minutes, the ‘Nova offense worked ineffectively as a unit - struggling to get open looks against a stout Marquette defense and producing only six points on two made three-pointers. Caleb Daniels drilled one to cut the Golden Eagle lead to one at the 5:30 mark. Chris Arcidiacono (the Wildcat who received the least amount of attention from the Golden Eagle defense) drained another at the 3:42 mark to tie the game at 66. However, that bucket closed out the scoring for the Wildcats while during that same period of time the Marquette offense scored by virtue of a dunk, two free throws, a second chance lay-up, and another dunk. The scoring opportunities attacking the rim trumped the two three-pointers Villanova could muster.

Big East Preview Primer: at Villanova Wildcats | Anonymous Eagle

Obviously we have to start any conversation about Villanova with the differences between what they were without Cam Whitmore and what they are now with him. Thankfully, we have BartTorvik.com for this, and thus we discover that Villanova was legitimately terrible on defense without Whitmore. Terrible as in “bottom 50 in the country in adjusted efficiency” bad. You’re not going to win a lot of basketball games as one of the worst defensive teams in the country, and this was proven because they were #40 in offensive efficiency! They could score really well, and WOMP WOMP, 2-5, including having to rally from a 12-2 deficit out of the gate against Delaware State, the worst team on their schedule this season.

With Whitmore in the lineup..... well, they’re still not good on the defensive end. #100 in defensive efficiency isn’t fooling anyone into thinking they’re a good basketball team, but it is still a massive improvement merely by adding a very talented large person (Whitmore is 6’7”, 232 lbs.) to the rotation. They’re pretty good at defending your shots and really good at not letting you get to the free throw line, but they’re not great at turning you over (18% of possessions, which is #212 in the country since Whitmore joined the lineup) and their aversion to offensive rebounding stretches out to the defensive end as well. New head coach Kyle Neptune appears to be a big proponent of “I think we should make all our shots, so when it goes up, get back on D to get stops!” as a tactic, so for the entire season, Nova ranks #326 in the country per KenPom.com in offensive rebounding rate. When Whitmore has been playing for them, the Wildcats rank just #122 in defensive rebounding rate. That’s probably going a long way towards making their defensive efficiency suffer even if it’s not objectively awful.

Wildcats to visit Georgetown Wednesday Night | Villanova

Villanova will resume one of its longest running rivalries Wednesday night when the Wildcats (7-7 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST) visit Washington, D.C. to meet Georgetown at 6:30 p.m.

FS1 will carry the game nationally with Jeff Levering and Tarik Turner on site to describe the action. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will handle the radio broadcast duties for the Villanova Sports Network (Sirius XM channel 381 and channel 971 on the SM app).

This series dates to a Jan. 19, 1922, matchup in Washington taken by the Hoyas, 39-34. The Wildcats swept both meetings last season, earning an 85-74 win at Capital One Arena in January behind a combined 65 points from Collin Gillespie, Justin Moore, and Jermaine Samuels. The Wildcats trailed 40-37 at halftime.