WASHINGTON, D.C. – Facing adversity throughout the majority of the beginning of this season, the Georgetown Hoyas proved they could come back after losing two of their top players last season, and rekindle the team chemistry, when they took down the visiting Memphis Tigers today in a rough-and-tough battle that ended in a 79-70 win.

 

It was a give-and-take game where the Tigers clearly dominated rebounding 53-36 but the Hoyas were sent to the free throw line for 36 attempts, connecting on 27, whereas Memphis went 11-15.

“I have to tell you, my hats off to John Thompson and the job he’s done,” said Memphis Head Coach John Calipari.  “To lose what they had and to have a team that had that much desire to win anyway and the swagger they have, I got to give it to them.  There was a time where there was a chance we could have given them eight and ten and they just said ‘nope no way’”.

At no point during the game did the lead extend further than six, when Memphis was on top at 11:37 in the first half.  There were no runs, no bursts of scoring that led the other team to a cushion; it was just good old fashioned college basketball.

“I thought that was good college basketball,” said Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson III.  “We could never pull away and they could never pull away, it was back and forth.  It was a tight intense game with no breathing room.”  

Memphis was led by their reserve, Shawn Taggart, who put in 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.  Starter Tyreke Evans contributed 20 points and seven rebounds.  

Austin Freeman had the chance to give the Hoyas a three point lead with 34 seconds left, put failed to connect on two of his foul shots leaving the score at 66-64.

Robert Dozier made the lay-up for Memphis in the final seconds of regulation to tie the game up at 66, sending both teams in to overtime play.

Starting sophomore guard Chris Wright made a crucial dribble fake between three defenders who were putting on full court pressure, and ran the ball in for the lay-up, giving Georgetown the three point lead again 73-70 with 1:15 left to play in overtime.  Ten of Georgetown’s overtime points were only answered by four of Memphis’ points, which made for the difference in OT.  

The rest of the Hoyas’ points were from free throws, with Jessie Sapp throwing the ball up at the last second only for it to bank in, giving Georgetown the extra three points in their win.

Four of Georgetown’s starting five ended in double digits today, with DaJuan Summers leading his team at 21 points and seven rebounds.  Freeman threw in 18, Wright 14 and freshman 6’11” center Greg Monroe put in 13.
 
“You have to be able to execute in the half court to win.  Period. The end,” Thompson said.

The Hoyas have extended their home court winning streak at the Verizon Center to 26 and move to 7-1 for the season.

Memphis, who made it as far as the Final Four last season, falls to 5-2 and is in a transitional building period after losing one of the best players in the nation, Derrick Rose, to the NBA draft last year.  This was the first time in 19 games that the Tigers have lost on the road.  

Georgetown, back-to-back Big East Conference Champions, is slated to finish seventh this year and have a tough road ahead to prove their stomping ground.  Big East play begins at the end of December and it is one of the toughest conferences in NCAA men’s basketball.

“Every year, I put together the schedule with the thought of putting the schedule together for Big East play,” Thompson said.  “I think it was very good for this group to play in a tight, intense game like today and come away with the win.”