Syracuse vs. Georgetown final score: Hoyas defeat Orange in renewed rivalry

Ever since it was announced, Saturday's game between the Georgetown Hoyas and Syracuse Orange has been one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season.

It lived up to the hype.

The Hoyas defeated the Orange 79-72 in front of a packed Verizon Center crowd in the first revival of the dormant rivalry.

It felt just like an old-school Big East game, aside from one glaring omission. Syracuse was coached by Mike Hopkins, as head coach Jim Boeheim began his nine-game suspension on Saturday. Of the 91 Georgetown/Syracuse meetings before Saturday, Boeheim had taken part in 80 of them.

Here are three things we learned.

This is the deepest Georgetown team in quite some time

The Hoyas only had four players in double figures, but all 10 players that saw action on Saturday made a contribution.

Georgetown had 11 bench points to Syracuse's five, and Syracuse also only played seven players to Georgetown's 10.

When you have that sort of versatility and depth, ten players that you trust opposed to seven or eight, it opens up all sorts of things on both sides of the ball.

The Hoyas were able to plug and play certain players to fit certain match-ups thanks to their depth, and that went a long way in securing the victory.

Bradley Hayes is here to stay

The Big East's biggest (figurative and literal) surprise of the first month, Hayes has continued his great play so far this season into December. Coming off a 11 point, nine rebound performance in the win over Maryland Eastern-Shore earlier this week, Hayes had 21 points, a career high, and 11 rebounds in Saturday's victory over the Orange.

Of Hayes' 11 rebounds, four were offensive, which led to second-chance looks for the Hoyas.

It's still a bit shocking that a senior who had played very sparingly coming into this season looks like the next great Georgetown big man, but that's where we are at this point in time with Bradley Hayes.

Mike Hopkins isn't Jim Boeheim

It's not entirely Hopkins' fault, but Syracuse wasn't ready for this game. Jim Boeheim's suspension appeal was denied just two days ago, so Hopkins didn't know he'd be coaching today until the last minute, plus he had to do it in a resurrected rivalry game on the road.

The Orange trailed nearly the entire game, didn't take smart shots, and got outrebounded.

Hopkins is taking over as the coach of the Orange after the 2016-17 season when Boeheim retires, and it's likely that both Hopkins and the Orange will be fine, but if this was his first test, he certainly didn't pass.