Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Jason Clark, Chris Wright & Jason Clark:
Locker room audio - Coach John Thompson III:
The risk paid off.
Using a smaller lineup for the last 15 minutes of the second half, Georgetown shot 69.2% from the floor after intermission and knocked top seed Syracuse out of the Big East Tournament in a 91-84 Hoya victory.
"It's a risk, because [Syracuse] is big and they're long, but I thought that was our best offensive group. I thought that if we hustled and scrapped that we could get stops," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III after the game. "That zone is so good you have to have a very good offensive group out there where all five guys can hit shots and make decisions and make plays. We went small for a very, very long period of time but we were able to continually score."
Andy Rautins' catch and shoot three point shot sent Syracuse up 57-48 with 13:43 left in the game, but freshman forward Hollis Thompson answered with a much-needed three from the left corner, found off the dribble by Jason Clark. This began a 25-6 Hoya push with starting big man Julian Vaughn on the bench in lieu of Thompson and at times fellow freshman Vee Sanford.
Despite the Orangemen shooting over 60% from the field, Georgetown was able to stay within striking distance to this point. "We kept scoring, stating the obvious," Thompson remarked with a chuckle.
A balanced offense kept Georgetown close. Chris Wright had a good game against South Florida on Tuesday. 24 hours later, he had a great game against Syracuse - fast but rarely out of control - scoring 27 points on 10-16 shooting, grabbing six rebounds and dishing six assists. Wright was one of four Hoyas in double figures.
Greg Monroe had 15 inside, including a pair of three point plays late, along with seven assists and 10 boards. While Monroe was able to post inside the Syracuse zone the last time these two teams met as the Hoyas nearly rallied from a 23 point second half deficit, on Thursday he did not force things, becoming a distributor to cutters down either baseline .
Austin Freeman added 18 and the unheralded Jason Clark scored 17.
"We call Jason 'Loose Change,' because you never think about him, but if you keep collecting that loose change, all of a sudden it adds up," Thompson said of his long-armed sophomore guard. "Jason makes the hustle plays. He usually guards the opposition's best perimeter player. He's an underrated offensive player. He does the little things that make teams win that a lot of people don't notice and don't see."
The Hoyas turned the nine point deficit into a 72-63 lead when Monroe found Wright right before the shot clock expired with 5:43 to go. The Orange benefited from Thompson going 1-6 at the free throw line over the next minute, missing his first five tries as Syracuse quickly closed within three on a Kris Joseph baseline explosion.
Up two after two Scoop Jardine free throws, Freeman drove to his left and came up too strong, with Monroe putting the ball back from the center of the lane as he was fouled by Rick Jackson.
Right in front of the action, an interested spectator named Sydney Johnson stood up and applauded from his seat next to the Georgetown band.
The feed was one of 22 Hoya assists on 33 field goals, versus 12 turnovers.
Four Freeman free throws iced the verdict as Wright waved his arms to the Garden ceiling and the Georgetown fans gave the team a standing ovation.
The Hoyas will play either Marquette or Villanova in the first game of tomorrow night's semifinals, Georgetown's 20th appearance in the Big East Tournament semis.
