In my hasty poll of scribes covering the Hoyas’ win this afternoon over upstart Harvard, I couldn’t get agreement on whether Greg Monroe’s performance over the final three minutes of the first half was his most dominant stretch of the season or his career. After all, it was Harvard.
But it was also ridiculously dominant.
Here’s Monroe’s line over that stretch, in which a 33-33 tie turned into a 44-33 halftime advantage that was far too much for the Crimson to overcome: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 1 assist, one drawn charge.
Game over. He finished with 16 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, a career high-matching five blocks, four steals, and two assists.
“He was working today, and it’s contagious,” said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III. “Just like if you fall into a rut, and you walk around like a bunch of zombies, that’s contagious. Today we get a couple of effort plays, and everyone else falls in line and follows suit.”
Thompson should’ve added “against Old Dominion,” after “zombies.” I know I heard him say it in my head.
But anyway, Chris Wright’s career-high 34 points — the most points since Jeff Green’s 30 in 2007 and Michael Sweetney’s 35 in 2003 — and career-high 6 steals were an afterthought. I almost feel bad for the guy because I had my lead at halftime, and neither team did anything to make change it. Austin Freeman also matched his career-high with 21 points, but he got one sentence in my game story. Crazy.
Rather than look at the final box score, how about a quick examination of the halftime numbers? Georgetown had nine offensive rebounds. Harvard had 12 turnovers. The second half was academic.
Jeremy Lin was impressive, given one 30-foot 3-pointer and a couple of acrobatic finishes at the rim, and it was easy to see how Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker tried to keep a leash on his first-half minutes before letting him go off in the second half. Problem was, 11-point deficit. Lin even had the first two Harvard buckets of the second half, but both were immediately followed by Georgetown points at the other end as the Crimson defense caved under the pressure and athleticism.
So Georgetown completes its non-conference schedule — apart from Duke’s visit on Jan. 30 — a sturdy 9-1. I stand by my ranking of 16, and can’t for the life of me figure out what to expect on New Year’s Eve against St. John’s, which choked against Cornell at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Perhaps it’s a nice, timely warning that all bets are off when it comes to the Big East.
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