Georgetown vs. Providence analysis: The Hoyas' Crossover Examination

To this point in the season, the Georgetown Hoyas have hit the road twice, and have decisively lost twice. The latest in this string of defeats came against Providence Friars on Saturday. In this Noon eastern game, you could be accurate in saying it was an "old school Big East slugfest," and the Hoyas simply did not play well.

The offense was relatively stagnant. The Friar defense contained D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera especially well throughout the entire first half. But in the second half, he was the one that led his team to overtime in terms of solid production. Joshua Smith's game-tying basket to send the game to overtime was also, obviously, a major moment in the ballgame.

This game was a classic showing of a Big East battle, but both teams made a lot of mistakes. The one thing that hurt this team in this game was missing a lot of shots at the free throw, especially Mikael Hopkins. Hopkins went to the line six times and did not convert on any of those opportunities. If he had made at least four of those, Georgetown could have won this game. But it was clear that something was affecting him on throughout the stretch of the game.

Georgetown team observations

• Georgetown needs to learn how to get out to better starts. They struggled in that department again in this matchup with Providence, and it's becoming a huge issue.
• Georgetown scored just 0.86 points per possession.
• Georgetown's 3-point percentage has been low the past few games, but in this game it was 32.5 percent. They made 4-of-17 from the perimeter. It's still not great, but it's good to see development in that area. They've been about average this season from the 3-point line.
• Defensive rebounding was a high point for this team. 29 is one of the highest marks of the season for them.
• Georgetown needs to pass the ball more and share the ball also because they only had eight assists throughout the game.
• The team defense held Dunn and Henton to a combined 7-for-20 for the whole game so the defense was there on stopping two main players.

Player observations

• Joshua Smith was used on 39 percent of the possessions, and got the ball down low, but he could have demanded the ball more from the guards.
• Mikael Hopkins looked like he could not help his team on the offensive side of the ball, while on defense he played a pretty solid game.
• Smith-Rivera scored 12 points in the second half and helped lead his team to overtime. The last five minutes of the game were where he picked up the intensity.
• Aaron Bowen's presence has not been felt in the last two games and against DePaul, he has to play better.
• L.J. Peak is one of the best freshman in the league and he showed it with how aggressive he was when he driving to the basket.

The next few games will be important and need to get a road win, and will get that chance with DePaul on Tuesday night. Georgetown needs to get more production from Aaron Bowen because he has not been playing well and his minutes seems to be decreasing, but he will be ready all the time