It hasn’t been intentional for Georgetown to hoist 10 more 3-pointers a game this season than last, even if they’ve been making them at 45 percent clip. It also wasn’t the Hoyas’ specific game plan Saturday to abandon their lethal perimeter game just when it was starting to look as if they were relying on it too much. But when it was clear that Georgetown wouldn’t get by against tricky and disciplined Utah State in the same fashion it had won its first seven games, the Hoyas effortlessly adjusted on fly, locking down the Aggies after halftime in a 68-51 victory in front of 12,106 at Verizon Center.
When Georgetown tilted the game with a decisive 17-2 run after the break, it came through defense, not the outside jump shot.
The change in emphasis actually came midway through the first half, when Hoyas coach John Thompson III altered the game’s tone by going at the Aggies (5-2) with fullcourt pressure. Chris Wright (game-high 21 points, four steals), Thompson’s floor general and the only player on either team to score in double figures, persuaded him to stick with it, making consecutive steals to help complete a 12-0 run for the Hoyas’ biggest advantage of the half at 22-13.
Utah State came back to tie the game at 26-26, but Wright responded again, capping a personal 5-0 run with an acrobatic reverse layup over his head.
“I just think we wanted to change the tempo a little bit,” Wright said, who is fifth in the country in assists but had just two Saturday. “We all felt like they were getting in a rhythm in the halfcourt, and we wanted to switch up the defense. It slowed them down offensively, and we were able to force a couple turnovers and build a little lead.”
Said Thompson: “As much as whatever shows up on the stat sheet, [Wright’s] feel for running the game and managing our team, he’s doing that at a very high level right now.”
The Hoyas were unable to find space to attempt a 3-pointer much less make one, finishing the first half 0-for-3 and the game 2-for-9 from beyond the arc. Hollis Thompson hit the Hoyas’ only meaningful 3 of the afternoon two minutes into the second half.
“We didn’t get that many open looks,” John Thompson III said. “Our team has done, is doing and did a good job today of taking what the defense gives you. We don’t have to make 3s to win games.”
