Am going to peel myself away from chasing the Gilbert Arenas story to Great Falls and back – literally – for three thoughts on the Hoyas’ victory over Seton Hall earlier tonight.
For a team that never seems to be about the points, there was another compelling scoring story, and I don’t mean the 68 percent that Georgetown shot from the field – their highest percentage of the season and highest against a Big East opponent under John Thompson III. Tonight it was Jason Clark, who came back from a 0-point outing against Connecticut on Saturday to score a career-high 20 on 5 for 6 shooting overall, including 4 for 4 from 3-point range. Wow.
“I don’t know where that came from,” said Clark. “It’s just our good offense that we ran. We got wide-open shots. [Not scoring] was frustrating. That was refreshing. It kind of gets my confidence back.”
Thompson said yesterday that playing defense against Jeremy Hazell was irrelevant because of all the ways he can score. Tonight, the Hoyas made Hazell irrelevant. Eight of Hazell’s 17 points came in the final minute after the game was already decided. Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez said he wasn’t in love with his playmaker: “I don’t think he gave a great effort defensively, that’s why I took him out. I thought it was interesting that we made the comeback and the run when he was on the bench. I think sometimes he lets his offense dictate his game, his defense, rebounding and working hard, moving without the ball… I thought they dictated he got frustrated basically, and he didn’t create as many angles as he could have.”
It could all come crashing back to reality on Sunday when Georgetown heads to Philadelphia to face deep, talented, and ferocious Villanova. But for now, consider this a massive compliment from Thompson to his team: “I think we’re getting better. We’re doing a very good job of finding what is there and not forcing anything. I think the guys are doing a very good job of sharing the game, of helping each other, and reading the situations. We’re maturing. We’re getting to a higher level of understanding, where the reads are becoming more natural and we’re having some success.”
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