Hoyas Open Season With New Faces and Convincing 71-62 Victory Over Jacksonville

While the Georgetown Hoyas have some big shoes to fill for the upcoming season, with the loss of Roy Hibbert and Patrick Ewing Jr., many did not see the Hoyas as the team they were last season, but tonight it was the freshman Greg Monroe who had an impressive night with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots that showed the new breed of Hoyas could pick up where the others left off.

The Hoyas with Monroe started the game fast with quite a number of firsts that should make Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson and fans happy. He was the first to score, the first to grab a rebound and the first to block a shot. Not a bad way to start your time on the hilltop.

“He has to touch the ball,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “Good things will happen for our team when he touches the ball.”

Despite Monroe taking over for Hibbert and gettin off to a fast start, how the Dolphins out-rebounded the Hoyas, 44-37, despite a considerable size difference is amazing. Jacksonville had two starters under 6 feet and none taller than 6-7. Any way you look at it, it is still a victory for the young Hoya team who will look to veterans like Jesse Sapp and DeJuan Summers to help the team to compete come time for the main part of the Big East schedule which already has some strong numbers in the Number 2 ranked Connecticut Huskies and the sixth ranked Pitt Panthers.

The Hoyas were able to take this game away from the Dolphins because of their awful first half performance. Jacksonville missed its first eight field goal tries en route to shooting only 28 percent for the first half and 35 percent for the game. Many misses came from beyond the new, farther 3-point line: Jacksonville went 3-for-20 (15 percent) from there.

“You start all over every year, so I’m not going to compare and contrast this team to last year’s team,” Thompson said. “We want to be, by the end of the year, the most improved team.”