Cold shooting continues in loss to West Virginia
Nothing about Georgetown has changed. The players and the coach are no different, still among the most celebrated in the country.
But the Hoyas haven't looked like the team that blitzed through their non-conference schedule since Big East play started, and there are no indications that they've figured out what's gone wrong after Saturday's demoralizing 65-59 loss to West Virginia in front of 13,603 at Verizon Center.
"We are in a place where we don't want to be right now," Hoyas head coach John Thompson III said. "Everyone in that locker room, from myself on down, has to figure out how to get us out of this place. We're the same group of guys that was in there two or three weeks ago, and now we just have to get back to doing the things that got us in that position."
But against the Mountaineers (10-4, 2-2 Big East), the Hoyas (12-4, 1-3) squandered four consecutive chances to trim a 62-59 deficit with under two minutes to play without even taking a shot.
| UP NEXT |
| No. 5 Pittsburgh at No. 13 Georgetown |
| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » ESPN |
| The Hoyas are off to their worst start in conference play since 2003-04, the last season under former coach Craig Esherick. |
After Chris Wright (nine points, two assists, five turnovers) saw his fumbled pass go through Julian Vaughn's hands, Jason Clark turned the ball over three times in a row, overshadowing his team-high 16 points.
The third turnover came in a sloppy bid to get the ball to Austin Freeman, the Big East preseason player of the year, who finished with 11 points but went scoreless in the first half for the first time since Georgetown's NCAA tournament loss to Ohio last March.
"I wasn't aggressive at all, plain and simple," Freeman said. "It's something I can't do because my team needs me to be aggressive and be able to get my shot and also be able to get them easy shots, too. It's just all my part."
With Clark's turnovers and Wright and Freeman combining to shoot 6 for 21 (28.6 percent) from the field, Georgetown's stellar guards continued their recent swoon. West Virginia also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Georgetown's four and rattled the Hoyas (18 turnovers) with a gimmick defense down the stretch. Casey Mitchell, barely a role player on last year's Final Four team, led all scorers with 28 points.
"Our confidence as a team is down because of the way we've lost these last two games," Wright said. "But we have to stay together. We have good enough player where we need to come out of this, and we're going to be alright."