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Hoyas' Austin Freeman
Pittsburgh's Brad Wanamaker (left) drives around Georgetown's Greg Monroe to put in |
WASHINGTON--
On another day, under different circumstances, it might have drawn a huge ovation from a packed Verizon Center. Georgetown freshman Jason Clark left five Pittsburgh defenders behind for a breakaway dunk in the final minute of yesterday's Big East home opener.But instead of punctuating another victory, all Clark's basket did was reduce the third-ranked Panthers' final victory margin to 70-54, snapping the Hoyas' 29-game home win streak.
Clark's otherwise forgettable field goal was symbolic as well, because it represented the only points Georgetown got from a bench that's thinner than a 4-year-old's excuse. And it's an issue the No. 11 Hoyas will have to address if they have any hopes of winning a third straight regular-season title in America's biggest and deepest conference.
"It's important," coach John Thompson III said of finding quality depth. "We're a young team, and it's easy to say 'They should play more guys.' But as long as the guys on the court do what they should do, we'll be fine."
They weren't fine yesterday--especially not in the second half. The veteran Panthers, who look very much like a Final Four team, wore down the younger, slimmer Hoyas in the final minutes and won in a runaway.
Georgetown never led, but battled back from a 37-32 deficit to tie the score at 40 on DaJuan Summers' fourth 3-pointer of the game, with 14:12 remaining.
From then on, it was all Pitt. The Panthers (14-0) outscored the tiring Hoyas 26-7 over the next 10 minutes and outrebounded them 48-23 for the game. In the second half, the board numbers (24-8) were even more staggering. Summers, who finished with a season-high 22 points, didn't hit another field goal after his game-tying 3.
In terms of starting fives, the two sides were relatively even. But Pitt's Jamie Dixon had far more talent sitting beside him at tipoff than did Thompson.
Massive sophomore forward DeJuan Blair (20 points, 17 rebounds) and slick point guard Levance Fields (eight assists, no turnovers) were the stars for Pittsburgh yesterday. But the Hoyas also had no facsimile for sophomore Gilbert Brown, who gave the Panthers nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
"We're playing more guys [than Georgetown does]," Dixon said. "That was a big part of it. Our bench was really good. We've got seven guys who could be starters."
Thompson might have that many if everyone had returned as expected this season. He knew he'd have to play without two graduated four-year starters, 7-2 center Roy Hibbert and steady point guard Jonathan Wallace. But their backups--post player Vernon Macklin and point guard Jeremiah Rivers--decided to transfer after last season, leaving Thompson with less depth than a sitcom pilot.
That puts a lot of pressure on Summers, senior Jesse Sapp, sophomores Chris Wright and Austin Freeman and blue-chip starting center Greg Monroe. Even in Monday's upset of then-No. 2 Connecticut, the Hoyas (10-2) got 68 of their 74 points from their starters.
Aside from Monroe, Thompson's only freshman who looks game-ready is Clark, a former star at Arlington's Bishop O'Connell High School. Yesterday, Thompson tried to cobble together 23 minutes from Clark, freshman Henry Sims and sophomores Omar Wattad and Julian Vaughn. But whenever a Hoya starter sat down, his team's chances dipped as well.
The Big East will find and expose a team's weakness. The Hoyas are wonderfully skilled and well-coached, but they're not particularly big, strong--or deep.
Someone asked Thompson how his players could become better rebounders.
That won't be easy. Neither will developing youngsters into regular contributors before they're ready. If
"We just needed to do a better job of what we were supposed to do," Summers said of yesterday's loss.
He's right. And it's apparent that if the Hoyas' starters don't, no one else will.
Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443
Email: sdeshazo@freelancestar.com
