Hoyas treaded water but ultimately sunk
Well that was an interesting game for a Hoya squad on the road looking for just their second conference win of the season. For a game that it never felt like Georgetown was never in, the Pirates certainly did their best to give the Hoyas every opportunity they could to take control.
Your Georgetown Hoyas (6-21, 1-15) dropped another BIG EAST matchup, this time to the Seton Hall Pirates (16-11, 9-7), 76-68.
The first half certainly won’t be remembered for its offense, it took over 5 minutes of game time for both teams to get into double figures. The Hoyas didn’t see a basket fall for them until a Jay Heath jumper just before the 17 minute mark. The biggest woe of the Hoya’s first half was the inability to hit from beyond the arc (0-7 in the first half). Had the Hoyas hit just 1 or 2 of those, this game may have gone a different direction.
As mentioned earlier, this game never felt as close as the score indicated. While it remained a one possession game until 5 minutes in the first half, the Pirates were only able to gain a 7 point advantage at the break.
As the second half was about to begin, the commentators had a great quote describing the game: “They don’t shoot the ball well, but the miscues they’ve made, have made the game very ugly.”
Unfortunately for the Hoyas, Seton Hall started to hit their shots and Georgetown could not. It took until there were NINE minutes left in the game before Georgetown hit a three (12-40, 1-13 on the night at that point). But then, something clicked as the Hoyas hit back-to-back threes and found themselves getting to the line and playing solid defense.
Here is where things got interesting, Seton Hall would keep a 10 point lead, sometimes making it 12+, but then the Hoyas would get right back in it to make it a 1 or 2 possession game.
This pattern would continue until the final seconds of the game where the Hoyas would make it a 3-point game, the closest score since 19-16. After a couple of successful traps that had Seton Hall holding their breath, the Pirates would inevitably break the press and were able to seal the game with free throws.
One note I would like to add, while usual starting center Qudus Wahab was absent from the lineup tonight, due to personal reasons, it was great to see Ryan Mutombo get some more minutes. We can say a lot about the staff and the current trajectory of the program, but these guys have never once quit.
With that being said, the Hoyas have now won just 1 conference game in the last 714 days. There are three regular season games left and one Wednesday night dog fight against another basement dweller in MSG.
For those of you that are still here, bless you, this nightmare season is almost over.