Hoyas hope for return this year after surgery
Georgetown won’t have Chris Wright for the biggest home game of the season, but it’s a price the Hoyas are willing to pay if the senior guard is able to play again this year.
Saturday’s visit from rival Syracuse is the final home game of Wright’s Georgetown career, but he’ll be relegated to the sideline after undergoing successful surgery Thursday on the third metacarpal of his nonshooting, left hand to repair damage suffered in a second-half collision with Cashmere Wright in Wednesday’s upset loss to Cincinnati.
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“Our medical staff is optimistic,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. “Although we do not have an exact timetable, we expect to have Chris back before the end of the season.”
The immediate task is the Orange (23-6, 10-6 Big East), with whom the Hoyas (21-7, 10-6) are locked in a tie for fifth place in the conference, but Georgetown is well aware that the NCAA tournament selection committee takes injuries into account when it sets out the bracket for March Madness. Last year, Robbie Hummel’s ACL injury affected Purdue’s shot at a top seed, and not having him proved too much to overcome as the Boilermakers — a No. 4 seed — lost to eventual champion Duke in the Sweet 16.
| UP NEXT |
| No. 17 Syracuse at No. 11 Georgetown |
| When » Saturday, noon |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV/Radio » CBS/980 AM |
Kenyon Martin’s broken leg had a similar effect in 2000 — dropping Cincinnati to a No. 2 seed — and even that might have been too high for the Bearcats, who fell in the NCAA second round to Tulsa.
The floor general in the Hoyas’ veteran three-guard backcourt, Wright leads Georgetown in assists (5.4 per game) and is second in scoring (13.1 points per game).
Without him, the contributions of the team’s other two senior starters will be paramount in their Verizon Center swan song. Austin Freeman broke out of a recent funk with 19 points against the Bearcats. But while he went 7-for-13 from the field, the rest of the Hoyas were a combined 5-for-35, including Julian Vaughn, who missed eight out of nine shots. Vaughn was 5-for-8 with 12 points and eight rebounds as the Hoyas beat Syracuse last month at the Carrier Dome for the first time in six attempts since Thompson took over as coach.
Wright’s absence will force junior guard Jason Clark to take over more responsibilities at the point, and freshman guard Markel Starks also came off the bench against Cincinnati for 11 minutes — matching his high in Big East games. Starks has struggled shooting, hitting just 24.5 percent from the field, but he was 2-for-2 in his first game against Syracuse.
