Georgetown is still adjusting to a new style of play, but with two of its guards shooting as well as they are, that might not take too long.
The 20th-ranked Hoyas hope to stay hot as they take on Coastal Carolina in the first round of the Charleston Classic on Thursday.
Georgetown (2-0) beat Tulane 69-53 on Monday. The Hoyas were 12 of 29 from 3-point range, five 3-point attempts shy of matching the school record. Austin Freeman went 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, finishing with 23 points.
While Georgetown knew it was going to have to rely heavily on its guards this season after losing 6-foot-11 Greg Monroe, the No. 7 pick in the NBA draft, the Hoyas were also without 6-foot-9 forward Julian Vaughn on Monday due to an undisclosed illness. He's not expected to play Thursday.
"There was a stretch there where I told them, 'We're taking too many (3s),' but then I thought about it and Tulane made a concerted effort; that's what they were going to give us," coach John Thompson III said. "They clogged everything up when we threw it down and said, 'We're going to let you take shots and see if you can make them.' I'm comfortable with that because I think we have guys that can make them."
Georgetown ranked 13th in the Big East last season with 16.1 3-pointers attempted per game. Its 29 on Monday came after it shot 8 of 21 from beyond the arc in a 62-59 season-opening win at Old Dominion last Friday.
While Thompson said he hopes to strike more of a balance on offense, the majority of the points figure to come from three guards. Freeman, who is shooting 57.7 percent from the field, and Jason Clark have been especially good in the first two games.
Clark, who played Monday hours after learning his grandmother had died, had 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds against Tulane and is shooting 54.2 percent.
Chris Wright, Georgetown's third starting guard, finished with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, also contributing eight assists.
"My role is bigger than just scoring the ball," Wright said. "I have to get people involved, and Jason was shooting the ball well and Austin was shooting the ball well, so you have to keep getting them the ball. If I hit a shot every now and then, that would be pretty cool."
Coastal Carolina (2-1) is coming off its first loss after a pair of wins over lower division schools, falling 83-67 at College of Charleston on Tuesday after blowing a 15-point first-half lead.
The Chanticleers went 28-7 last season, but they lost in the first round of the NIT and dropped their only game against a ranked opponent, falling 74-49 to then-No. 9 Duke on Nov. 16, 2009. The program is 0-14 all-time against ranked foes.
Junior guard Desmond Holloway is leading Coastal Carolina in scoring with 18.3 points per game while adding 7.3 rebounds. The transfer, in his first season with the Chanticleers, scored a season-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting Tuesday.
Georgetown is 5-0 against Coastal Carolina. The teams most recently met in 2003 with the Hoyas winning 81-68.
The winner will face either South Carolina Upstate or Wofford in the second round.
