Georgetown lands much-needed win to start Big East play (VIDEO)
Back in October at the Big East Media Day, Georgetown head coach John Thompson III was asked about on his team's schedule leading up to league play.
"Our non-conference is good ... it's almost too good," Thompson said.
That statement proved to be true as the Hoyas entered Wednesday night's Big East opener at DePaul with five losses.
Georgetown lost to Maryland and Duke (both games away from home) by a combined six points. But the Hoyas did themselves no favors by falling to the likes of Radford, Monmouth and UNC Asheville. In those three mid-major losses, Georgetown failed to guard the 3-point line, allowing a combined 29-for-54 (45 percent) from beyond the arc.
With four Big East teams in the top-20, Georgetown will have plenty of opportunities to improve its tournament resume, but the handful of losses leave the Hoyas little room for error.
That's what made Wednesday night's 70-58 road victory over DePaul an important one for Georgetown.
The Blue Demons were coming off their biggest win of the season, a 21-point win over No. 20 George Washington. An improving defense held the Colonials to 33 percent shooting.
On the stat sheet, it appears DePaul's defense did its job again in the conference opener, holding the Hoyas to under 40 percent. But Georgetown has its best 3-point shooting of the season, connecting on 10-of-23 from deep.
Georgetown had not been shooting well leading up to its matchup with DePaul, going a combined 11-of-51 from three in back-to-back losses to Monmouth and UNC Asheville earlier this month.
However, the 3-point shooting slump didn't seem to concern Thompson.
"If they’re open, and it’s a good shot, then I don’t mind them taking them,” Thompson said earlier this week during the Big East teleconference.
While several teams were handed a difficult slate to begin Big East play, Georgetown's first five games are relatively favorable. In the next two weeks, the Hoyas face Marquette, Creighton, DePaul and St. John's. That'll give them time to build confidence before playing Villanova, Xavier and UConn in the span of eight days; a three-game stretch that could decide their postseason fate.
