Three late turnovers gut Georgetown comeback efforts
Your Georgetown Hoyas (8-8, 1-4 BIG EAST) lost on Tuesday at home to Seton Hall (4-1), 74-70. Georgetown dug a big early hole but fought back to make it a very close game, leading for 2 minutes down the stretch. In the end, three bad turnovers turned the final tide for the Hoyas in their comeback bid against this top-in-conference Pirates squad.
FINAL: Seton Hall 74, Georgetown 70.
Al-Amir Dawes scores 25 and Kadary Richmond adds 20/8/8 for the Pirates (11-5, 4-1 Big East).
Jayden Epps had 30 for the Hoyas (8-8, 1-4), who have lost six in a row to Seton Hall for the first time since a seven game skid from 1914-52.
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) January 10, 2024
Georgetown was led by Jayden Epps (30 pts, 5 assists) and Supreme Cook (13 pts). Rowan Brumbaugh was benched in the second half and only played 12 minutes. Seton Hall was led by Al-Amir Dawes (25 points, 5 rebounds) and Kadary Richmond (20 points, 8 rebounds).
The Hoyas played an uninspired first ten minutes. At different points, they trailed 13-4, 20-6, and 24-8. Not ideal! The second ten minutes of the first half were a different story, as the Hoyas fought all the way back to cut the lead to 29-27. They were steadied by 15 first-half points from Jayden Epps, and trailed 39-31 at halftime. It could’ve been a lot worse, as Seton Hall allowed Georgetown to stay in the game with 12 first-half turnovers.
Georgetown came alive again in the second half. They cut the lead to 57-55 on a Heath three-pointer with 8:58 to play, and the game was primed for an enticing ending. Heath again hit a big 3 to cut the score to 62-61 with 4:59 to play. Wayne Bristol gave the Hoyas the lead with a putback layup on a missed Epps 3, 63-62. Bristol has emerged as a nice effort and defense guy. Epps lengthened the lead with a floater at 3:15 to make it 65-62.
The Hoyas reliance on Epps for offense reared its head in the final 90 seconds. In a live-by-it die-by-it moment, Dylan Addae-Wusu stole the ball from Epps on a 3-point attempt and drove for a breakaway layup and 1 to make it 70-65. Ishmael Massoud then coughed the ball up to Richmond, who drove the ball to the hoop to make it 70-65. That was the game. Seton Hall ended the game on 12-5 run, and Georgetown had 4 turnovers in the final 2:30 outside the three-point line. The sloppiness and lack of execution from the Hoyas was, well, a bummer.
One fascinating aside from the game was when FS1 went inside the huddle with Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway at the 8-minute mark of the second half. Paraphrasing: “They’re going to take a lot of bad shots, they’re going to take 30 threes, and they’re playing zone! There’s no pressure, so stop turning the ball over!” Yes, a lot of this is a great coach (Holloway) motivating his team to try to close out a win in a sloppy game.
However, an opponent’s coach often offers a lot of insight, and Holloway’s assessment of Georgetown up to that point of the game was true (and aligns with a lot of frustrated Hoyas’ fans thoughts of the team this year).
In short: too many threes, bad defense. Yes, the Hoyas played a very spirited, hard final 30 minutes of this game. However, they lacked execution in the last two minutes and took 35 3s in the game. We’re all curious to see how this team evolves the rest of the year. Better shot creation and a defensive identity should be top priorities. Consistency of energy and effort seems to be trending in the right direction.
The Hoyas return to action at #4 UConn on Sunday at Noon at the XL Center in Hartford, CT (FOX). They are pretty good.