Hoyas lost to Panthers during regular season
John Thompson III is doing anything he can to help Georgetown improve its woeful fortunes at the free throw line. He’s tried all manner of postures in front of the bench while his players stand at the foul line, but nothing worked as the Hoyas went 14-for-25 in their regular-season finale loss at Marquette.
Recommended Stories
“I spent part of the year, ‘OK, I’ll stand up.’ Part of the year, I’m kneeling down,” Thompson said. “Now, I’m not looking. I’m trying to do my part. I think I may scrap that now because that’s clearly not helping them make any more. It’s just me trying to find the right karma to help the ball go in from the sideline.”
But don’t expect luck, superstition or other outside forces to come to Georgetown’s rescue in the postseason, where it didn’t win a single game in 2009 or 2011. In between, the Hoyas reached the 2010 Big East final. To get back there again, the simple task is avenging losses to three different teams the Hoyas lost to during the regular season — Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and likely Syracuse — starting with the Panthers, who beat St. John’s in the conference tournament’s opening round on Tuesday.
| Big East tournament |
| No. 13 Georgetown vs. Pittsburgh |
| When » Wednesday, 2 p.m. |
| Where » Madison Square Garden, New York |
| TV » ESPN |
“It’d be beautiful,” said Hoyas senior center Henry Sims, who was named to the All-Big East third team. “That’s exactly what we want.”
To Sims and senior guard Jason Clark, who have yet to win an NCAA tournament game, the timing and location are both right for another deep run.
“It’s my favorite place to play,” Clark said of Madison Square Garden. “I think it’s just the atmosphere, being in that historic building. A lot of great players have gone through there and did great things there. I like the bright lights.”
A first-team All-Big East selection, Clark isn’t concerned with accolades or about the Hoyas (22-7) squandering a chance to claim the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with last weekend’s loss to the Golden Eagles.
There are still sources of inspiration, however, for a team that was overlooked before the season.
Asked about being left off the All-Big East rookie team, Hoyas forward Otto Porter said, “I heard about that. Yeah, it motivates me, but I just come in and play my game.”
Along with free throws, Georgetown has made it a key priority to work on breaking the kind of full-court pressure that was so effective for Marquette.
“Do I anticipate us getting pressed because of our showing the other day?” Thompson said. “Absolutely.”
But the short turnaround and preparation time in the Big East tournament and the NCAAs will challenge Georgetown to do what it has done best all season, limit opposing teams from the field, and in particular from 3-point range, while remaining balanced and attentive to the openings that its offense creates.
“Both as a staff and as players, we’ve got to be ready to adjust, to adapt, to come up with things,” Thompson said. “But then you fall back on who you are a lot of time, you have to fall back on the defensive principles that we’ve worked on all year, all the offensive principles. This time of year it’s difficult to reinvent the wheel.”
