It comes as no surprise that a pair of heavyweights from the formative years of the conference will duke it out in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, just as what Syracuse brings to the court today as will come as no surprise to Georgetown.
“Everything they do is pretty straightforward,” Hoyas sophomore Greg Monroe said. “They play that zone and they don’t really have a real complicated offense. [Coach Jim Boeheim] just lets his players make plays and they’ve been doing it all year.”
The easy part is identifying what Boeheim wants to do with the Orange; the hard part is stopping it. The Hoyas this season couldn’t do it, losing at Syracuse (73-56) and in Washington (75-71).
“It’s probably going to be crazy,” Monroe said. “It’s Georgetown-Syracuse at Madison Square Garden in the Big East Tournament. It’s probably going to be a great atmosphere.”
It wasn’t quite that yesterday as Georgetown (21-9) took control, weathered a mild threat early in the second half and cruised to a 69-49 victory over South Florida in a second-round game. Monroe was in and out of foul trouble, but in 25 minutes scored16 points, as did guard Jason Clark on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Chris Wright added 15 points and hit both of his 3-pointers as the Hoyas outscored the Bulls 21-3 on 3-pointers.
The Bulls (20-12) were fortunate to last two days here, considering they put forth one of the worst shooting displays in tournament history. They went 1-for-18 from 3-point range in the two games and nearly left the city shooting complete blanks until some freshman named Shaun Noriega launched one for the final points with 20 seconds remaining.
“We really struggled to find a shot,” said South Florida coach Stan Heath, whose team is likely NIT-bound.
Georgetown paid all sorts of attention to star guard Dominique Jones, who shot just 6 of 18 (0-for-5 on 3-point tries) to get his 21 points.
South Florida closed to within 44-36 on a dunk by Augustus Gilchrist, but Monroe scored from inside and the Hoyas then executed a perfect fast break, Monroe to Chris Wright to Austin Freeman for a layup to make it 48-36. Even with the 6-11 Monroe sitting with four fouls, the Hoyas, ousted in their first game last year by St. John’s, had no trouble extending the lead.
And now it’s onto Syracuse, the top seed and the No. 3 team in the country. These programs have met 12 times in the conference tournament, with each school winning six times.
“They put a lot of pressure on you, not literally pressing pressure, but because they don’t allow you to get good shots and they find a way for them to get good shots,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “And you cannot be careless against them because they make you pay.”
In the first meeting in the Carrier Dome, the Orange fell behind 14-0 before storming past the Hoyas. In the rematch at the Verizon Center, the Orange built a 23-point lead with 13 minutes to go and held on for dear life.
“We have to have to play a full 40 minutes,” Monroe said. “In the first game we started off real well and then fell asleep. The second game we started off slow and then woke up in the second half. Being focused and having that energy and playing together for the whole 40 minutes is going to be the most important thing.”