Coming off long break, guard looks to heat up
In a way, it feels like the start of Georgetown’s season all over again.
Entering Wednesday’s rematch with St. John’s (11-7, 4-4 Big East), the 21st-ranked Hoyas (14-5, 3-4) are coming off a long break without a game. Their latest stretch began with Austin Freeman earning a conference accolade that doubles as a reminder of the responsibility he bears for the Hoyas to have success.
It’s been eight days since Georgetown beat Seton Hall 80-75, thanks in part to Freeman’s 28 points. The performance earned him the first Big East player of the week award of his career. It was the Hoyas’ second straight win and Freeman’s second game in a row with at least 25 points — a stark contrast to his 29 total points during Georgetown’s three-game losing streak earlier this month.
“We had and Austin had a difficult couple of weeks there,” Hoyas head coach John Thompson III said, “and so it’s good that Austin is back to being Austin.”
| Up Next | |
| No. 21 Georgetown vs. St. John’s |
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| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. | |
| Where » Verizon Center | |
| TV » MASN | |
The Hoyas, still stuck in the bottom half of the conference standings, can ill afford for Freeman to go missing again.
“It’s an honor, but I also just have to keep playing,” Freeman said. “That just shows that people are still going to try to come at me. I’ve got to be prepared for whatever comes my way.”
The Red Storm limited Freeman, the Big East preseason player of the year, to just six points on 2 of 10 shooting in their 61-58 upset at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3, a game that Thompson said was, “a poor performance all around at both ends, maybe our poorest performance of the year.”
With that in mind, the Hoyas spent a lot of time in the last week working on the simplest aspect of defense: shutting down the guys they’re guarding with one-on-one defense.
“I think a lot of times the kids were getting bogged down with our schemes as opposed to, you have to compete,” Thompson said. “It’s a competition, I’ve got to stop you, and there’s no magic formula, no dust coach can sprinkle, no dust my teammates can sprinkle to make that happen.”
St. John’s forward Dustin Brownlee and guard Dwight Hardy dominated Georgetown inside and out, with 15 and 20 points, respectively, in the teams’ first meeting. Georgetown needs it to be Freeman’s turn on Wednesday.
“He is mild-mannered by nature, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand his role with this team,” Thompson said. “He understands. He knows what he has to do.”
