Reserves get into the act in rout of Savannah State
Georgetown’s reserves had better have enjoyed their tidy sum of minutes in what amounted to little more than a glorified shootaround Monday in a 100-38 win over shockingly pitiful Savannah State. It is inconceivable that they’ll get the same opportunity when No. 17 Memphis enters Verizon Center for a nationally televised showdown Saturday afternoon.
The Conference USA’s Tigers (5-1) also will care little that the 19th ranked Hoyas (6-1) have won their last three games by an average of nearly 38 points.
Five Hoyas finished in double figures against Savannah State, including 14 points from Jessie Sapp, DaJuan Summers and Austin Freeman. But more importantly, five reserves played at least 15 minutes.
The Tigers (5-4), an independent coached by Georgetown alum Horace Broadnax, showed no resemblance of a team that lost in the final second of overtime to Michigan two weeks ago, combining almost no offensive execution with little rebounding and a sloppy defense (14 personal fouls) that resulted in 16 trips to the line for the Hoyas in the first 20 minutes.
The game began in much the same fashion as Georgetown’s embarrassment of American over the weekend, with the Hoyas hitting their first six shots while Savannah State missed the same amount. Georgetown turned the ball over three times in the first six minutes, but the small contingent of student fans still began chants for walk-on Bryon Jansen before three minutes had elapsed.
Raye Bailey (14 points) finally got the visitors on the board with a 3-pointer at the 16:45 mark to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 7-3. Another at the halftime buzzer made the score 57-15.
The contributions were many and varied from every part of the Georgetown roster. Julian Vaughn got things going with an offensive putback, Omar Wattad added a lengthy 3-pointer, and Jason Clark (10 points) converted a layup in transition. Even Henry Sims got into the act, nearly doubling his four points entering the game with seven in the first half.
Jansen, who came into the game with 2:57 remaining, scored the Hoyas’ 99th and 100th points with two free throws in the final minute.
