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After two games this season, Aaron Bowen has played decently enough for the Georgetown Hoyas, but in the game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, he brought some energy off the bench tonight by scoring 13 points and five steals tonight against the Islanders. Bowen is usually not the type of player to surprise many people because he plays within himself and just does what he is asked to do.
When Bowen is on the floor, the team defense really clamps down on opponents and he does small things that are not even seen on the stat sheet.
Bowen only played 18 minutues, but in those minutes, he helped on both sides of the ball, taking Mikael Hopkins' spot in the second half because he had three fouls and head coach John Thompson III wanted him in at the time so they can start the game off a sense of urgency..
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
It started with LJ Peak and Jabril Trawick, and then the others got involved, too. Bowen understands what he needs to do help his team win and he said it perfectly on Tuesday night after the win against the Islanders.
"I am just doing my job. Coach Thompson tells me that every time I touch the court just to play with energy and I feel that that's what I did," Bowen said.
Bowen contributed to five of 11 turnovers his team got and he addressed that also.
"That's how you win games, playing defense. That was the mindset on the court in the second half."
Some of the things that Bowen is doing now are comparable to what a former Hoya used to do. Patrick Ewing Jr. was also not the type of player to surprise someone with all the huge plays, as it was mostly his defense that caught the eyes of others. Ewing won Sixth Man of the Year in 2008, primarily because of his impressive on-ball defense.
John Thompson III went in-depth about the simalarities between Bowen and Ewing Jr,., and Thompson III believes that Bowen can have the same impact the Ewing Jr. had when he came off the bench.
"I thought AB's quickness and speed would help. I look at this as very different, but I think that he can have the same type of effect as Patrick Ewing Jr. A couple of years ago, Pat was starting and then I brought him off the bench and he affected the game with his energy. Much like Aaron, Pat was always getting deflections, getting steals, getting rebounds. I think Aaron can have a similar effect on this year's team. Pat goes from a starter to the bench and was the Big East Sixth Man of the Year. They are very different players, I'm not saying that AB is like Pat, but they can have the same effect coming off the bench."
If Bowen can continue to make an impact on defense and score at the rate he is going while coming off the bench, this will give Georgetown a huge boost in terms of how deep they are. Bowen has a shot at winning the conference's Sixth Man Of The Year award should this type of play continue on throughout the season.
When Thompson III made the point that sometimes being a bench player is more helpful to a team because of the leadership that Bowen has with all the young basketball players they have. Bowen will continue to make impacts like this, and his next test will be against Robert Morris.