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The Georgetown Hoyas fall to 6-5 on the year after a perplexing loss to the UNC Asheville Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.
Led by four starters playing in double figures including 19 points from freshman guard Dylan Smith, UNC Asheville downed Georgetown 79-73 to pick up their seventh win of the season. The loss gives Georgetown back-to-back losses for the second time this season, the first instance coming in an 0-2 start to the year against Radford and Maryland.
Despite four players scoring in double figures and an 11-point, 16-rebound day by Bradley Hayes, the Hoyas defense was shredded especially at the 3-point line. Georgetown omitted a 3-point field goal percentage of 50.0 percent on 18 attempts by the Bulldogs.
Freshman Kaleb Johnson led the Hoyas in scoring with a season-high 16 points.
Here's what we learned:
1. Georgetown has major defensive woes
It might be Captain Obvious of me to point this out, but Georgetown has a lot of defensive issues that they need to fix. In their last two games, teams have shot 50.0 percent from the 3-point line, going 19-for-38. Simply put: That has to be fixed. It's only going to get worse against even better clubs going forward so the Hoyas have to shore up the perimeter. And fast.
2. The Hoyas' road just got a lot tougher
Georgetown had been skating on thin ice after their 1-3 start to the season. They amassed a couple wins, including one over Syracuse, and looked to be in good shape. Then Tuesday happened... and then so did today. Georgetown has a meat grinder coming in the form of BIG EAST Conference play later this month and with skittish nonconference results, they will have to fight for their NCAA Tournament lives almost on a regular basis.
3. Marcus Derrickson was consistent... in the wrong way
Over the course of the season, Marcus Derrickson had been going through the motions of being a freshman in college basketball. He was pretty inconsistent, playing on and off in the first 10 games of his career. On Saturday, he found consistency... only, it was in the form of a four-point performance. While that's up just three on Tuesday, he'd typically bounced from single digits to double this season. He'll have to look to find his way as the season wears on, and in this case, talent will likely win out.