JUICED ‘CUSE: Georgetown Squeezes Syracuse Down the Stretch, 75-71

Hoyas don’t allow an Orange field goal in last 4 minutes

In their 100th meeting, your Georgetown Hoyas (8-2) battled the Syracuse Orange (5-5) on Saturday afternoon at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday afternoon to a 75-71 finish. Jayden Epps led the way with 27 points (11-15 FG, 4-6 3PT), shooting a perfect 7 for 7 from the field in the second half, including 3 threes. Thomas Sorber had 16 points (7 rebounds), Micah Peavy had 12 points (5-14 FG), and Malik Mack finished with 8 assists (9 pts, 3-8FG). The Hoyas put the squeeze on the Orange and did not allow a Syracuse field goal for the last 4 minutes. It feels good to be a Georgetown fan today, live it up.

The first half saw rough shooting from both sides, with the Hoyas (16-34, 47%) relying on transition buckets (10 fastbreak points) and Syracuse surviving from the charity stripe (11-17) before halftime. Georgetown shot 2-15 (13.3%) from the perimeter in the half and the Orange was only 2-8 from beyond as well. Sorber had 10 first-half points (4-7 FG) and they went into intermission deadlocked at 37.

To start the second, Georgetown scored two buckets before an Adrian Autry timeout. It stopped the bleeding, and Syracuse big Eddie Lampkin fought to keep the Orange in the game with a couple timely scores, assists, but Georgetown continued to a 17-9 stretch to lead 54-46 at 13:45. The Orange battled back with a 6-0 run led by Lampkin again.

Then the free throw game came back. With 10:24 left (56-55 GU), Syracuse had only 2 second-half foul shots; at the 7:59 media timeout they were 8-9 from the charity stripe and leading 64-58. Things looked bleak for your road Hoyas—but then Drew Fielder found daylight for a dunk to kick off a 14-5 run to finish the Orange off.

Jaquan Carlos hit a three pointer for SU with 4:12 left and Syracuse did not score again, aside from two free throws with 16 seconds left, missing their last 6 field goal attempts and only making 2 of their last 10 shots in the game.

In the second half, the Hoyas were 15-31 from the field and 4-10 from three (Epps 3-3) while Syracuse was 11-26 from the floor and 2-8 from three. Syracuse was on life support with 10-12 from the foul line, while the Hoyas shot 4-7 for second-half free throws, including missing a couple front-end-1-and-1 attempts. GU’s 22 second-half points-in-the-paint and 9 fastbreak points in the half were crucial. Each of Mack and Peavy had 4 second-half assists.

Sorber (6 pts in the second) played admirably against Lampkin and Syracuse but did get early foul trouble and guarded other Orange forwards for much of the game. After the foul trouble in West Virginia last week, there was a little timidity, but that is part of the learning experience. Sorber did have a timely second-half block but shot and missed three attempts from beyond the arc in the latter half.

On offense, Epps carried the team to the finish, as he is known to do from time to time, without missing a second-half field goal and draining three three-pointers. He finished with 27 points on 11-15 shooting (4-6 3PT) and had 4 assists in the game. Georgetown’s transition offense stole some easy buckets and the Hoyas had 8 dunks recoded on the stat sheet.

Overall, Georgetown showed they could defend a power-6 conference opponent—let alone a bitter age-old rival—without fouling down the stretch. It was a physical game, as expected, and Syracuse may have been missing their leading scorer, but this still felt like an identity-building signature win for Ed Cooley, thus far—at least on defense.

As it has been said before, three-point shooting may be a problem for Georgetown, but a hot Jayden Epps hitting three threes down the stretch can erase early misses and show potential for the conference season.

The BIG EAST season begins for Georgetown on Wednesday night, hosting Creighton at 6:30PM on CBS Sports Network. Creighton visits #7 Alabama at 7:30pm tonight (Saturday) on the SEC Network.

Enjoy this feeling, Hoyas fans! Georgetown juiced ‘Cuse. HOYA SAXA.