Georgetown comes to Omaha with their season on the ropes, sitting at 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big East. Picked to finish second in the preseason, they got off to a 10-3 start, but have gone 1-4 since, a timeframe that dovetails with the loss of center Josh Smith, who has missed the last five games with academic issues and was declared ineligible for the remainder of the season on Friday.
Smith wasn’t their best player, but he was a giant force in the middle, emphasis on giant. Listed at 6’10”, 350 — yes, three-fifty — Smith was an extraordinarily difficult player to contend with.
Smith’s loss is big, no pun intended, but Georgetown’s backcourt is where they win and lose games. Their two starting guards are as good as any in the league — the uber-talented D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who does a little bit of everything, and Markel Starks, who sets the table for everyone else. Smith-Rivera averages 17.5 points to lead the team, and has the most three-pointers (42) and steals (23) while also ranking third on the team in rebounds at 4.8 per game. The sophomore also ranks among the league leaders in field goal percentage (12th, 48.0%), assists (13th, 3.1), free throw percentage (7th, 83.7%), steals (T10th, 1.3), three-point field goal percentage (third, 46.7%), three-point field goals made (sixth, 2.3), assist-turnover ratio (13th, 1.6) and minutes played (5th, 34.7). He is also third on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game. Like I said, he does a little bit of everything.
Starks is a great compliment to him, and has scored in double figures 14 times this season. He’s second on the team with 15.9 points a game, which ranks eighth in the Big East, and leads the team with 3.9 assists per game, which ranks eighth in the league.
Together, they average 33.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 2.2 steals a game, and they’ve combined to score 46.3% of Georgetown’s total points this season (602 of 1,301). The two guards are shooting 43.7% from the floor (192-of-439), 39.7% from three-point land and (73-of-184) and 84.3% from the free throw line (145-of-172), so pretty much wherever they shoot it from, they’re deadly. The good news is they’re the only long-range shooting threats on the entire team. Smith-Rivera has 42 three-pointers, Starks has 31, and there’s only one other player on the roster in double-digits — freshman Reggie Cameron, who has 15.
The main beneficiary of Smith’s absence has been junior Mikael Hopkins, who recorded his first career double-double last week against Seton Hall (11 points, 15 rebounds). At 6’9″, 225, Hopkins has been forced to play center because after Smith, he’s the Hoyas’ biggest player, not because he’s suited to play that role. Ironically, that might actually work to their advantage in this game — bigger players chasing Ethan Wragge around the perimeter hasn’t worked very well for other Big East teams. He averages 6.4 points a game and a team-high 5.9 rebounds, and is fourth in the Big East with 1.6 blocks per game. Hopkins had a career-high five blocks against Marquette earlier this week, and is a capable defender on the block.
Starting forward Jabril Trawick suffered a broken jaw against Providence in early January and has been out since; that’s provided more opportunities for senior Nate Lubick to contribute, and he’s played admirably, averaging 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while ranking third on the team with 1.8 assists. Senior guard Aaron Bowen averages 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds off the bench, including 6.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in conference games, and is one of the more valuable sixth-men in the league.
In a lot of ways, these are teams headed in different directions. Georgetown won three of their first four conference games, but has lost three straight heading into a difficult portion of their schedule — a road game at Creighton, a home game against Villanova, and neutral court game against Michigan State, all in a six-day span. A season-torpedoing six-game losing streak wouldn’t surprise anyone. Meanwhile, Creighton is 6-1 in the league heading into a three-game homestand full of winnable games against DePaul and St. John’s as well as the aforementioned Hoyas, and is in the pole position for the league title at the moment thanks to beating the second-place Villanova Wildcats on their home floor.
After that win, the Jays are now the only team in America with five true road wins and a top-25 strength of schedule (according to both WarrenNolan.com and Ken Pomeroy) — this team has not only played a ruthless slate of games, they’ve rolled up 16 wins so far. Cal is the second-best team in the Pac12 a third of the way through the season, sitting a game back of #1 Arizona at 5-1 in the league; Creighton’s win over the Golden Bears looks pretty damn good right about now. Arizona State is struggling at 3-3 in that league, but is still rated in the mid-30s by most computer rankings and considered a bubble team for the tourney. San Diego State is 17-1 and 6-0 in the Mountain West, and is rated #7 in both major polls — there’s no shame in losing to them, not that there ever was. Even George Washington, a loss people legitimately wrung their hands over, doesn’t look so bad now — the Colonials are 15-3 and 3-1 in the A10, and have been getting votes in both polls.
Four top 50 wins according to KenPom, another four against teams 51-100, and their worst loss came to a team rated #52. Anyone still saying Creighton doesn’t play anyone (you know who you are on Twitter) or that they haven’t beaten anyone (again, you know who you are) is probably a football fan that only pretends to like basketball for the purposes of trolling. The latest of those wins, the defeat of Villanova, got the attention of national media in way few regular season hoops games do — thanks to taking place in a major east coast city on a night when not many other televised sports options were competing against it.
Saturday night’s game against Georgetown has been circled as one of the marquee games on the home slate from the minute the schedule came out, both because the opponent is the world-famous Hoyas, and because it’s the annual Pink Out game which is always an emotional night. Now it’s also the homecoming for Omaha’s conquering heroes, the first home game following Monday night’s defeat of #4 Villanova, a victory that captivated not only Bluejay fans but college hoops fans across the nation. If you thought the atmosphere for Marquette on New Years Eve was nuts, I have a hunch you haven’t seen anything yet.
What in the world will the Bluejays do for an encore? I can’t wait to find out.
About the Hoyas: The Hoyas rank ninth in the Big East in scoring offense (72.3 points per game) and are third in the league in field goal percentage, connecting on 47.0 percent of their shots … GU ranks fifth in the league in scoring defense, allowing 66.9 points per game, but the Hoyas are second in that category in conference games, allowing only 68.3 points per game. The Blue & Gray rank first in the league in field goal percentage defense (39.3 percent) and second in three-point field goal percentage defense (30.4 percent) … Georgetown ranks No. 17 in the country in field goal percentage defense and No. 10 in the country in three-point field goal percentage defense … John Thompson III (Princeton, 1988) is 220-96 in his 10th season at Georgetown, moving his career mark to 288-138 in 14 seasons overall, and is the son of legendary Hoyas head coach John Thompson.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Your leader in the clubhouse for the jersey auction benefitting the American Cancer Society? Doug McDermott, whose #3 had a winning bid of $11,603. Grant Gibbs was second, with his #10 earning $7,600. All totaled, the entire auction raised $48,247.11, more than the previous two years combined … Creighton has been .500 or better after 20 games in each of the last 19 seasons, including this season, and even more impressive, Creighton has won 13 of its first 20 games in 16 of the last 17 seasons … Austin Chatman owns 296 career assists in his first 90 career games, and with four more assists, Chatman can become the 13th player in Bluejay history to 300 assists … Creighton is 10-8 in the game following a win over a ranked team all-time, last winning such a contest in 2006 … Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery will have the call for Fox Sports 1 Saturday night, which is great news — in its last two games with Johnson & Raftery on the broadcast (Butler & Villanova), Creighton did not trail and outscored those teams 107-65 in the first half, eventually winning both contests by 28 points.
The RUN-DMD Show: Doug McDermott is second in the nation with 472 points this season, just 28 points away from his fourth straight season of 500 or more points. He’s already one of only four men in Creighton history with three straight seasons of 500 or more points, joining Paul Silas (1961-64), Bob Harstad (1988-91) and Rodney Buford (1996-99), and is seeking to become the first man to do it four times.
Out of Context Ron Swanson Quote: “One rage every three months is permitted. Try not to hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”
The Last Time They Played: Creighton and Georgetown have met just once, a 70-69 CU win in 1970 as part of the Gold Coast Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Series: Creighton leads 1-0. However, Greg McDermott is 0-1 all-time against Georgetown and coach John Thompson III, losing 54-49 in the 2006 NCAA Tournament to the Hoyas while he was coaching Northern Iowa.
Gratuitous Linkage: Our friends over at CasualHoya caught up with “Sad Georgetown Fan”, the student that became a social media sensation earlier this week after FS1’s cameras caught him looking dejected and despondent at the end of their loss to Marquette.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On January 25, 2012, 15th ranked Creighton defeated Drake 77-69 in Des Moines, as Doug McDermott scored 30 points — including 12 of the Jays’ final 16. During that final stretch, this happened.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: The Primer featured a video from Rocky IV before the Villanova game. I’m superstitious, what can I say? Here’s the training montage from that movie set to “Hearts on Fire”, which makes for about a 1000% better video than the actual video for the song.
The Bottom Line: Creighton builds off the momentum of Monday night, and moves to 7-1 in the league.
Bluejays 83, Hoyas 70