Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Monday night’s game between Georgetown and Notre Dame. You can follow him at @walkerRcarey.
Entering Monday night’s game, Georgetown’s performance in conference play had been both subpar and offensively anemic. John Thompson III‘s squad sat at just 2-3 in Big East play and among its losses were a 25-point home loss to Pittsburgh and a defeat this past Saturday at South Florida to a team that had been previously winless in conference play. The Hoyas also had suffered a personnel loss when sophomore Greg Whittington was declared out indefinitely on January 16 due to academic issues. Losing Whittington was a huge hit to the Hoyas, as he had been both their second-leading scorer (12.1 PPG) and second-leading rebounder (7.0 RPG) at this point in the season. Regardless of all that recent history, the Hoyas put aside their issues and inconsistencies when they traveled to Notre Dame on Monday and dominated the Irish throughout in an impressive 63-47 victory. The following are three thoughts from Monday night’s game:
- Otto Porter is one of the most complete players in the Big East. Porter entered Monday’s game as Georgetown’s leading scorer (14.3 PPG) and rebounder (7.6 RPG). The sophomore surpassed both of those averages in his team’s victory against the Irish by tallying 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Standing at 6’8″, Porter also exhibited how he can be a match-up nightmare as he stepped out and converted on three of his four three-point attempts. While his point and rebound totals were impressive, the most important part of Porter’s performance Monday may have been the fact that he played all 40 minutes for the Hoyas. With Porter on the court for the entire game, the Hoyas knew they had someone who they could count on for points, rebounds and important defensive stops. Through 17 games, Porter has proven himself as not only Georgetown’s most complete player, but also one of the best all-around performers in the entire Big East.
- Notre Dame is completely out of sorts right now. Since the Irish notched a hard-fought 66-60 road victory over Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, the team has now lost three of four games. The Irish suffered consecutive defeats at the hands of Connecticut at home on January 12 and on the road at St. John’s on January 15. Notre Dame was able to snap the two-game skid on Saturday against Rutgers, but the Irish were plagued by inconsistency all evening in its narrow three-point victory. Against Georgetown, the Irish were essentially dominated from the opening tip and it culminated with a 16-point loss on a night where they shot just 34.7% from the field. There is no certain reason for Notre Dame’s recent struggles, but a lot of it might have to do with the recent play of guards Jerian Grant and Scott Martin. Grant, a junior, has converted on just 19 of his last 49 field goal attempts over four games and has turned the ball over 13 times during that period. Martin, a sixth-year senior, has struggled to get anything going offensively and has made just 2-of-11 shots over the same stretch. If the Irish continue to get subpar performances from important players like Grant and Martin, it is logical to believe that the team’s offensive struggles will continue.
- Reserves D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Moses Ayegba showed their value to the Hoyas. Smith-Rivera, a freshman, had a big night playing back in his home state. The Indianapolis native finished with 14 points while also doing a commendable job on Notre Dame’s Eric Atkins on the defensive end. Georgetown goes with a lot of three-guard lineups, so it is important to the team for Smith-Rivera to continue to contribute and improve. Ayegba, a junior, entered Monday’s game averaging just 6.7 minutes a contest, but due to both Mikael Hopkins and Nate Lubick’s foul trouble, Ayegba played a career-high 24 minutes, collected 10 rebounds, and helped hold Irish big man Jack Cooley to just a 4-of-11 performance from the field. With Greg Whittington on the bench in street clothes, the Hoyas need role players to step up each game and on Monday night, Smith-Rivera and Ayegba fulfilled their roles admirably.