box score
audio - coach john thompson III
audio - jessie sapp & jonathan wallace
Holding an opponent to a paltry 31.1% from the field and limiting them to 46 total points over the course of an afternoon can be enough to please a basketball coach.
Not Georgetown's John Thompson III.
"I'm not happy with our defensive effort" explained the Hoyas' head man after his team opened their Big East schedule with a turgid victory over Rutgers. We allowed them to get a few things that we did now want then them to get and how they got them."
On a day where the Georgetown offense did not have consistent success inside the arc and where Georgetown's rebounding continued to confound, the Hoya defense made the plays to defeat the Scarlet Knights 58-46.
Freshman guard Austin Freeman was one of four Hoyas in double figures, recording a game-high 13 points. Jonathan Wallace added 11 on perfect 4-4 shooting, including three shots from behind the arc. Jessie Sapp and DaJuan Summers each had 10.
JR Inman's 11 points off the bench paced Rutgers, the only Scarlet Knight in double figures.
The Hoyas were outrebounded 43-26, with Rutgers snatching 22 offensive boards. These extended possessions lead to 12 second chance points for the Scarlet Knights.
"It is something we need to work on, we have to go back in the gym and work on our boxing out and we'll be fine" remarked Sapp after the game. "I think the guards need to rebound a little bit more, get the rebounds that are bouncing further out."
Rutgers trailed 27-20 at halftime when Sapp patiently drew two defenders with time running out and passed off to Wallace on the wing for his second three point shot of the game.
Georgetown is second in the nation in defensive field goal percentage and that number improved on Saturday. Rutgers was 9-30 from the field in the first half (30.0%) and 10-31 in the second (32.3%).
The Hoyas were not satisfied.
"I think we could be a lot better [on defense]" said Wallace, echoing his coach. "They missed a lot of open shots. We want to limit those open shots."
Georgetown extended their lead to 10 for the first time with 18:24 left to play on a Freeman three, one of eleven for the team in the game. The Hoyas were in front by double figures for the final sixteen minutes, extending the advantage to 47-30 on consecutive threes from Wallace and Summers.
The crowd of 7,938 was loud and vocal all game. For the visiting team. With several thousand Georgetown fans in the building and many Rutgers sports followers watching the Scarlet Knights play football in the simultaneously-occurring International Bowl, the gym was full of extended chants of "Hoya Saxa" and "We are Georgetown!"
A motley Rutgers pep band of long-since graduated ringers and students without passports scrambled to play a quick number during breaks in the action, hoping to drown out support for the Hoyas.
