Syracuse showdown Thursday at Verizon
The bounce in Chris Wright’s step on Tuesday was noticeable.
First, he was feeling better after fighting through flu-like symptoms in Georgetown’s upset loss at Rutgers two days earlier.
Second, despite wearing a smile on his face, Wright said that in the Hoyas’ rematch with rival Syracuse (24-2, 11-2 Big East) on Thursday, they actually need to be a little bit angrier.
“One thing we’ve wanted to emphasize is we want to play with emotion because we’re better when we play mad,” said Wright.
Sick or healthy, fiery or fun-loving, Wright needs to be a factor. The Hoyas (18-6, 8-5) are undefeated (16-0) when he scores in double figures. Which means, in every game Georgetown has lost, the junior point guard has managed just nine points or less.
“The numbers don’t lie,” said sophomore center Greg Monroe. “If he’s having an off night, we’re most likely having an off night as a team.”
Balance and unselfishness have been a crucial part of Georgetown’s success this season, with four starters averaging more than 10 points a game — Austin Freeman (16.8), Monroe (15.5), Wright (14.2) and Jason Clark (10.8) — and each capable of carrying the offensive load when necessary.
But because the rest of the team is limited — none of Georgetown’s three key reserves averages more than 4.2 points per game — the Hoyas also can ill afford for any starter to go missing offensively or due to foul trouble.
“Do we need Chris to be a presence? Absolutely,” said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III. “Do we need and want Chris to score points? Yes. But we are capable, and we’ve shown when we are not scoring points, he still is a leader, and we still need that energy and presence from him.”
Thompson, who can be defiantly calm and unemotional, disputes the notion that his team was lacking passion and intensity in their surprising defeats to the Scarlet Knights and South Florida.
But in the same way that the Hoyas are defined on court by their deliberate play, perhaps they ought to consider getting themselves purposely stuck in D.C. traffic on the way to Verizon Center.
“I don’t know how to get there,” said sophomore guard Jason Clark, “but we just have to come out mad from the tip.”
