American’s daunting task against the length and athleticism of No. 16 Georgetown will be even more difficult when the Eagles visit Verizon Center on Saturday.
Senior guard Troy Brewer was shut down this week because of a turf toe injury that has hampered him since the end of preseason. Brewer led the Eagles with a season-high 23 points in a 66-61 defeat at St. Francis (Pa.) last weekend, but he won’t play again until at least January.
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| American at No. 16 Georgetown |
| When » Saturday, noon |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » MASN |
“We obviously need him, but we need him to be 100 percent, and he still was limited,” Eagles coach Jeff Jones said. “He got us through that stretch in early December, but once exams got here, we had made the decision ahead of time that we were going to hold him out and see if we can get him all healed up.”
With Brewer fighting through the pain and the emergence of Charles Hinkle (22.2 points a game), the Eagles (8-3) cast aside modest expectations for the season by piecing together eight wins in a row. But whereas they had prevailed in three games during that streak by two points or less, they stumbled against the Red Flash, squandering a 14-point halftime lead.
“In some cases, this group has surprised me in a positive way,” Jones said. “At the same time, we’ve shown that we’ve got to become more consistent in our approach. I think almost every game we’ve been ready to play. But we haven’t been consistent throughout.”
The Hoyas (8-1) also made things harder on themselves than they needed to in their most recent victory over Howard, allowing the Bison to trim a 13-point halftime lead to two points four times before prevailing by double digits. As the unraveling occurred, Georgetown coach John Thompson III decided against using a timeout to stall the backslide, instead relying on veterans Jason Clark (16.2 ppg), Hollis Thompson (14.7 ppg, 5.6 rebounds per game) and freshman Otto Porter (8.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg) to change the game with defensive pressure.
“They’ve got to figure some things out on their own,” Thompson said. “We can call [a] timeout, but I wanted to see who is going to step up, who is going to talk, who is going to try to make adjustments on their own.”
The Hoyas have won their last nine against their neighbor at the other end of Foxhall Road, including the last three in consecutive seasons by an average of 26 points. But the Eagles, who went to overtime in their season-opener at Richmond and toppled Saint Joseph’s at home, relish the challenge against their first ranked opponent this season.
“Georgetown’s probably another step up,” American guard Daniel Munoz said. “But I think if we come out at the beginning of the game without backing down and show them that we’re going to play all game, I think that will go a long way.”
