Story By : Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
There have been some games against Syracuse and there have been some games like today against Syracuse.. only this time Georgetown had their number and one that was credited to Hoyas Coach Patrick Ewing by Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim.
“There is one guy that lost at least three games for them. Patrick won’t say it, but I will, said Boeheim. He had no problem calling out, now transferred James Akinjo, for setting the Hoyas back this season. After a whirlwind week for the Hoyas, this victory seems to have more meaning going forward. Boeheim even said this was the best Georgetown team he had seen in the past few years.
From our observations, we can see over the their play over the three games would indicate the “cancer” has been removed from the locker room that’s for sure! The play is different, the mentality on the court is different, this is not the same team that went pound for pound against Duke, it’s better.
With just seven scholarship players remaining on the roster for the Hoyas, it was again Mac McClung stepping up to lead the way for the Hoyas along with a solid performance by Terrell Allen and Omer Yurtseven in the second half.
The game didn’t end without controversy , as Syracuse had one of the strangest technical fouls called on bench player Jalen Carey, who appeared to have tripped Allen in the final minutes of the second half which he took objection to. Neither coach would speak about the call after the game, but rather referred to it as something the refs too exception to and called it after Allen glanced at the Syracuse bench with his objections to the actions by Carey.
Buddy Boeheim was scoreless at halftime but scored 25 in the second half. Elijah Hughes had 18 of his 21 before halftime.
Georgetown came into the game shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. The Hoyas went 11-for-25 beyond the arc (44 percent) against the Orange.
The Orange failed to get within nine points the rest of the game. The Hoyas controlled the game the rest of the way, leading by as many as 16 points in the second half.
The loss dropped Syracuse’s record to 5-5, the Orange’s worst start since the 1968-69 season.
Georgetown improved to 7-3.
The Hoyas have three more non-conference games before taking on Providence in the Big East opener on December 31st in Rhode Island.