No. 22 Georgetown 81, Drexel 53
Georgetown head coach John Thompson III urged everyone to slow down when it comes to Greg Monroe after the freshman put together another seasoned veteran-style performance in Saturday’s 81-53 romp over Drexel, despite it being just his second collegiate game.
The 18-year-old’s team-high 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals against the Dragons were duly impressive in the relative anonymity of local radio and 11,434 at Verizon Center.
But if he duplicates that effort on Thanksgiving afternoon in a nationally televised contest against Wichita State at Orlando, Thompson won’t have any control as the amount of attention Monroe receives surges into high gear.
“I like playing with the kid,” said Hoyas senior guard Jessie Sapp of Monroe. “He’s really good. He goes after the rebounds. He’s willing to block shots, defend. We need that out of our big guy, and he’s willing to take on that role.”
In a game where the 22nd-ranked Hoyas (2-0) did just about everything better than they had in their season-opening win over Jacksonville five days before, Monroe once again stood out with hustle on defense (such as a block on Georgetown’s first defensive possession) and savvy on offense (including a nifty interior pass to Henry Sims for an easy second-half layup).
“[Monroe’s] instincts are great at both ends of the floor,” said Thompson, comparing him to former Hoya Jeff Green. Another legendary Hoya big man, Alonzo Mourning, also was courtside. “His instincts coupled with his intelligence, coupled with the fact that you tell him something once, and he understands what you’re saying, why you’re saying it, when to apply it, and how to apply it.”
The rest of Georgetown’s rotation also settled in nicely, slicing and dicing the Dragons’ (1-1) man-to-man defense in half-court sets while forcing 13 steals and blowing by them in transition. Austin Freeman (16 points) went 6-for-7 from the field following a 1-for-10 showing against the Dolphins, and Chris Wright racked up 11 points and seven assists, including alley oops to three different teammates – Monroe, DaJuan Summers (10 points) and Jason Clark (nine points).
“I think it was just the flow of the game,” said Wright. “It just happened to be the right time for me to throw those passes. I’m not really coming down in transition and saying, oh, I can throw an alley oop right here. I’m just looking to make the right play.”
Having seen Georgetown’s season-opener on tape, Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint wasn’t surprised by the Hoyas’ intensity and effort. But his team was.
“We played with our eyes a little wide open today,” said Flint. “I told them, ‘There’s no A.I. [Allen Iverson] or Alonzo out there.’ But you couldn’t tell them that today.”
Note
Georgetown sophomore Nikita Mescheriakov scored his first career point with a second-half free throw. But his afternoon was more notable for the name on the back his jersey, “Meshcharakou,” which is not a misspelling but in fact is the Belarussian translation for his name, as opposed to the Russian one, which is used in all official Georgetown media.
