Amongst a crowd of 11, 854, all undoubtedly aware of Georgetown University’s dwindling NCAA Tournament hopes, surged a Hoyas team, unwilling to throw in the towel just yet.
This was made clear on Saturday when Georgetown swept the Xavier University Musketeers 74-52 at the Verizon Center, snapping the Hoyas 2-game losing streak.
Hoyas’ senior Markel Starks led the team’s offense with a game-high of 22 points, while junior Jabril Trawick had 13 points and set a much-needed spark early on that the Musketeers just could not extinguish.
This was Trawick’s first game back in the starting line-up since he suffered a broken jaw on Jan. 8 against Providence College. And the decision to continue to play the guard is one that Hoyas’ head coach John Thompson, III says he’ll most likely stick with for the remaining three conference games.
“Quite honestly, it has a huge impact because when he’s on the court, we’re a better team,” Thompson said. “I like bringing him off the bench because we get an infusion off the bench. But we had too many slow starts.”
The Hoyas (16-11, 7-8) went up early against the third-place Musketeers (18-9, 8-6), scoring 16 points in its first eight possessions. Then Georgetown finished the first half with an all-too familiar double-digit lead, 42-26.
Hoyas’ senior forward Nate Lubick finished with nine points and was the first to score for Georgetown. He was assisted by Trawick. Sophomore guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera had a more quiet game than usual, making seven of his nine total points in the first half.
Georgetown was the definite aggressor in this match, creating a much different story than the last meeting when the team lost by giving up a 17-point lead and going scoreless in the last six minutes of the match.
The Hoyas shot 52 percent from the floor in this game and had 14 assists, but the turnover rate, or lack thereof, is what ultimately made the difference. Georgetown only gave the ball up three times, setting a record for fewest turnovers in a game in Thompson’s 10 seasons as coach.
In the second half, Georgetown shut down Xavier’s offense, holding the team scoreless for almost 13 minutes and never allowing them within more than 11 points.
“We were overwhelmed from the beginning of the game to the end of the game,” said the Musketeer’s head coach Chris Mack. “They outplayed us. They out hustled us. They outcoached us. They were by far the superior team on the court today. It wasn’t even close.”
Xavier’s Semaj Christon (guard) finished with 18 points, making all five of his field goal attempts, while teammate Justin Martin finished with 13 points.
With this win, the Hoyas continue to stay alive in the quest for an NCAA Tournament berth and a chance at retuning to .500.
Having only three games left in the season against the top four teams in the Big East — Marquette University, Creighton University and Villanova University — the Hoyas cannot afford to offer anything less than the consistent performance they gave on Saturday.
The team will face fourth place Marquette on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.