Hoya Slaxsa!

Lackadaisical.

That is the one word that comes to mind after watching 11th ranked Georgetown get throttled by Notre Dame, 78-64. I was looking forward to this game for 2 reasons. First, I'm a big Hoya fan. Second, I was looking forward to seeing Mike Brey coach in person. Mike coached the University of Delaware (my alma mater) from 1995-2000, and led them to 2 straight NCAA tournaments.

On paper, this one didn't look to good for the Fighting Irish. They were coming to the Verizon Center without their big forward, Luke Harangody. The Hoyas were looking strong recently with solid play from Greg Monroe, Austin Freeman, and Jason Clark. Unfortunately, Freeman was limited to the bench today due to a stomach illness. Even with continued solid individual play from key players Georgetown looked like a team that had mailed it in; instead of a team playing for a potential double-bye in the upcoming Big East Tournament.

Georgetown managed a lead, 4-3, within the first 2 minutes of the game, but was looking up at the Irish for the remainder of the game. The game was close at halftime, 31-27, in favor of Notre Dame despite several turnovers and lack of intensity on Georgetown's part. Both teams were able to hit several big 3-pointers, and the main difference between the teams was Notre Dame’s ability to press Georgetown into poor passes and turnovers.

Notre Dame came out in the second half and basically blew the doors of the Hoya bus, eventually pushing the score to 50-38 before Georgetown began to show signs of life. A big 3 pointer by Jason Clark started the Hoyas on an 8-0 run about the 11 minute mark of the second half. The defense stiffened a bit, and Georgetown managed to cut the lead to 4, 50-46. Three 3-pointers by Notre Dame, 2 of which were by Carelton Scott and Ben Hansbrough (brother of UNC first round draft pick Tyler), pushed the Irish lead back to 10, 59-49.

Ben Hansbrough and Carleton Scott both had excellent games for Notre Dame. Hansbrough led all scorers with 21 points. Scott added 17 points of his own, and proved to be too much for the Hoya defense at times. He was generally the most active player on the court, and played aggressively on both sides of the ball.

All in all the game was exciting to watch. Several runs for both teams during the game managed to blow it open and bring it back close several times. Mike Brey has shown that he can coach his teams for the big games, and when it counts. Unfortunately for the Georgetown fan it was a difficult game to watch, and left me feeling…well…lackadaisical.