Georgetown guard scores 33
There was a time when the Georgetown triumvirate of McDonald’s All-Americans felt more like a duo.
That’s no longer the case.
Scoring more points in the second half than he had ever before in a game wearing a Georgetown uniform, Austin Freeman dragged the 12th-ranked Hoyas back from a seemingly insurmountable 19-point deficit for a 72-69 win over No. 13 Connecticut in front of 15,654 at Verizon Center.
Despite his toughness and pure stroke, Freeman has always lagged behind Greg Monroe — the NBA prospect with limitless potential — and Chris Wright — the point guard and floor general — in notoriety. But after Georgetown trailed, 40-25, at halftime on Saturday, Freeman responded with 28 of his career-high 33 points, including a stretch in which he scored 15 out of 19.
“The first couple of years, I wasn’t really as focused as I am now, obviously,” said Freeman. “Just now, I want to win, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to help my team win.”
Not only did he overwhelm the stat sheet, Freeman made two crucial hustle plays down the stretch. With the game tied, 59-59, he fought off two Connecticut players to grab a loose ball that was destined for the sideline and made an off-balance pass cross-court to Wright, who, in turn, found Monroe in transition for an alley oop.
Freeman also all but clinched the remarkable victory over the Huskies (11-3, 2-1 Big East) by drawing a charge on Rockville native Jerome Dyson with two minutes, 38 seconds remaining.
“It’s easy to sit and start talking about points, which Free did today,” said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III. “But that charge he took might have been the biggest play of the game.”
Monroe had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Wright added 14 points and four assists for the Hoyas (11-2, 2-1), who bounced back from a midweek loss at Marquette.
But this was the day that the soft-spoken Freeman emerged and played louder than ever before.
“At the end of the day it’s the three of them,” said Thompson. “The responsibility of figuring out how we’re going to win is going to fall on Greg, Free and Chris. It’s on their shoulders, and they know that, and I think they’ve approached that in an unselfish manner.”
