When the Hoyas did battle with Memphis last year, Georgetown dominated the Tigers, coming away with a decisive victory. In the fifth-place game at the Maui Invitational tonight, the Hoyas faced a closer battle, outlasting the No. 8 Tigers 91-88 in Memphis’ second overtime thriller in as many days.

While much of the focus so far this season has been on the development of the Hoya freshmen, it was the upperclassmen that willed the Blue and Gray to their first marquee victory of the year. Seniors Jason Clark and Henry Sims combined for fifty points and supplied the Hoyas with big shots when they were needed the most.

As Memphis’ run-and-gun offense turned the first half into more of a track meet than a basketball game, Clark’s 17 points before the break helped the Hoyas snag a five point lead by halftime. They kept pace with the Tigers’ swift and streaky scorers, thanks in part to a 19-2 Georgetown-run in the early going.

Memphis looked more under control in the second half, quickly eliminating the Hoyas’ advantage. Tiger sophomores Will Barton and Joe Jackson seemed unguardable at times, as the Tigers began to look more like the top-ten team people expected. Despite his slow start, Jackson’s agility allowed him to get into the paint at will in the second half, as he finished with 20 points on the night.

Yet, even as Memphis’ caliber really began to shine, the Hoyas kept a foothold on the contest through Sims, who had, quite simply, his best game as a college basketball player. The one-time recruiting bust exploded Wednesday night, man-handling the four-guard Memphis lineup, unveiling an array of smooth post moves, and even stepping out to drain the occasional jumper. With 25 points on 10-17 shooting, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Sims has already backed up his pre-season sentiment that he came into his senior year ready to play a major role for the Hoyas.

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After falling to Kansas on Monday night, the Hoyas bounced back about twelve hours later, trouncing Division-II Chaminade by a score of 88-61 behind spectacular efforts from senior Jason Clark and freshman Otto Porter. Check out the full box score here.

There is no time for the Hoyas to rest however, as they face their toughest challenge in Maui today against the eighth-ranked Memphis. The Tigers may be even more tired, advancing to the finals of the Invitational’s consolation bracket with a thrilling 99-97 double overtime win against Tennessee. Today’s game will be both teams’ first look at each other since the Hoyas’ 86-69 victory at Memphis last season. It will not, however, be their only contest this season, as the teams have another game at the Verizon Center on December 22. Today’s matchup is slated for 5 p.m. EST and will be televised on ESPN2.

Pedal on the Gas

The one worry with this Georgetown team was that they could fall asleep against a lesser opponent after coming up so close against the vaunted Kansas Jayhawks. Though they started out a little sluggish against Chaminade, they eventually overpowered them through their shooting, as noted by Swords head coach Eric Bovaird:

Georgetown just shot the ball like crazy…Man, they have some guys that can really shoot the ball and that really flows into their offense. Clark is one of the quickest guys I’ve seen and Thompson is a pure shooter.

As the unquestioned leader of this team, Clark led the charge with 28 points on 10-12 shooting, hitting 6 of his 7 shots from beyond the arc. The other starters all had a hand in the dominant effort, including Henry Sims’ full stat-line of seven assists, two steals, and two blocks to go with eight points. Even with their contributions, this had to be considered Porter’s coming-out party, as he has integrated himself more seamlessly into the offense over his first four games as a Hoya.  The Missouri native turned a lot of heads with his career-high seventeen-point effort, pulling down a team-high seven rebounds in the process. Fellow freshmen Jabril Trawick and Mikael Hopkins saw a lot of playing time in the blowout and looked to be a lot more comfortable out on the floor. Overall, the Hoyas shot 57.9 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three for the game. Though they didn’t face the same frenetic defense they saw from Kansas, their sweet shooting put their four-point loss the night before in perspective – one or two more made shots and the Hoyas could be playing for the Championship today instead of the fifth place rank. That’s pretty impressive for such a young group and the basketball literati are really starting to take notice.

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The Hoyas fell to a strong Kansas team tonight, losing 67-63. Georgetown hung tough with the Jayhawks, but came up just short when it mattered most against Bill Self’s fourteenth-ranked Kansas squad. Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson led the Hoyas with fifteen and fourteen points respectively, while Thomas Robinson paced the Jayhawks with twenty points and twelve rebounds.

Setting the Rotation

There were times over the course of the game where the Jayhawks’ fervent defense stagnated the Hoyas’ Princeton sets, but Clark and Thompson led a solid effort in transition. Up to this point, Head Coach John Thompson III has insisted that their scoring won’t come from constant sources, as it did last season with Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. Three games into the season, the Hoyas have established that they will go as Clark, Thompson, and Markel Starks go. The two upperclassmen shined at different times throughout the game, while Starks showed flashes with a few heady drives. Freshman Otto Porter broke out with an excellent game as well, chipping in twelve points while doing a little bit of everything else for the Hoyas. He and Greg Whittington saw the most time off the bench for the Hoyas tonight, perhaps reflective of Thompson’s go-to rotation moving forward.

Shortcomings

Kansas’ Robinson ruthlessly exposed the Hoyas’ weaknesses in the post; he is a monster of a power forward who will likely propel himself into the top-ten draft pick discussion prior to the next NBA Draft. At times, Nate Lubick looked overmatched against Robinson. The Kansas big man’s presence negatively impacted the rest of the Hoya defense as well, as the Blue and Gray seemed to be scrambling to recover time after time. Henry Sims also had a couple of questionable decisions, but his overall play was encouraging. He held his own against more experienced big men down low, something that bodes well when the Hoyas match up with some of the vaunted big men in the Big East this season. Aside from their interior play, Georgetown will need to capitalize from long-range in the future, as they shot just 29.2% from behind the arc.

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While most Hoyas will be spending their Thanksgiving breaks in the continental United States, our men’s basketball team is in Hawaii this week to play in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Check out our preview of the Invitational over on the main Voice website.

Here on Vox, we focus on the Hoyas’ first matchup tonight (11:50 p.m. ET on ESPN2) against the college basketball heavyweight Kansas Jayhawks.

For two storied basketball programs, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that Georgetown and Kansas will do battle for just the second time on Monday night. Add to that that the fact that they will be playing almost 5,000 miles away from Washington DC in the EA Sports Maui Invitational and we’ve got an intriguing matchup for both sides. Their first meeting was in the 1987 Sweet Sixteen, when the Hoyas defeated Kansas 80-57 before losing to Providence in the next round. That team was led by Hoya legend Reggie Williams, while the Jayhawks were led by Danny Manning.

This season, the Jayhawks are veteran-heavy, compared to Georgetown’s mere three upperclassmen. The Hoyas are unranked and Kansas dropped a few spots to 14 in the Coaches Poll after falling in a tough game against Kentucky. An early-season victory against KU would do wonders for the Hoyas’ expectations this season and likely propel them into the national rankings. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, are looking to come back strong after the Kentucky loss, led by senior point guard Tyshawn Taylor and junior power forward Thomas Robinson.

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The Maui Invitational officially (and confusingly) kicked off in Washington D.C. on Monday night, and Georgetown made short work of UNC Greensboro, shutting down the Spartans in an 86-45 victory. The Hoyas moved to 2-0 on the season in a game whose outcome was never really in doubt. Georgetown started the game on a 12-2 run and never looked back, extending the lead to as much as 46 late in the second half.

O captain, my captain

Senior captain Jason Clark was mostly quiet in the season opener against Savannah State, scoring just nine points. Clark showed why he’s the leader of this team tonight, however, scoring 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting, dishing out three assists, and grabbing three steals–all in 20 minutes. Almost all of Clark’s work came in the first half before the Hoyas’ lead became insurmountable. His shot wasn’t falling from long range (1-for-7 from beyond the arc), but Clark didn’t let that discourage him, fighting his way inside for the majority of his points. The 6-foot-2 guard even managed to grab four offensive rebounds.

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