BET Thursday: Hoyas vs. Nova Rubber Match

[DanMcQ]

Let's go Hoyas!!!


Wash Post - Camille Powell: Hoyas Find Not-So-Terrible Two
Georgetown's Side of the Bracket Features Wildcats, Orange


Wash Times - Barker Davis: Wildcats primed to meet Hoyas


GUHoyas.com Game Notes


Pottstown Mercury: Reynolds, Sumpter carry ’Nova to win

Redding turned his right ankle on the play and had to leave for a moment. He did return and is expected to play against the Hoyas.

"It’s fine," Redding said. "It was just one of those things that hurts at first and then goes away."

Nardi hopes to play against the Hoyas, but his status is tenuous at best. "I’ll just have to wait and see," Nardi said. "Hopefully, I’ll be better, but it could be a lot like today."

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Watching the game end right now - a couple of thoughts:

1. Nova takes a lot of shots - most of them not advised. If you can out rebound them and dictate the pace of the game those empty possessions will play a bigger role.

2. DePaul played right into their hands by not rebounding well and also taking some bad shots.

3. Nova is going to be tired - they played the starters over 35 minutes. They also won't have Nardi.

[McBricks]

Man they have been shooting free throws well. Let's win and move on. This will be a tough one.

[doublehoya]

Nova's tired legs + a propensity for jacking up a lot of threes = lots of missed threes = hoyas win

[bostonhoya05]

Interesting to hear what you guys think about the Fatigue Factor. Nova really only went 6 deep today. Digger was saying that it won't matter because they play the 2-3 zone and it's not energy-draining.

I think Fatigue is a Factor, but I've always thought that there's some benefit on THURSDAY to having played on Wednesday. You get the jitters out of your system, have a W under your belt, etc. By Friday or Saturday, I would think that's when the fatigue starts to set in, but not by tomorrow.

This will be a tough game, but if Wallace shows up and Sapp plays like MSG Sapp, we'll be alright.

[jacko]

To answer this question from the other thread - Nardi has an injured calf/ankle. He tried to go this game for two short series, but he came right back out.

[DanMcQ]

Moving posts from other thread:

guru said:

where's nardi?

jpm32 said:

Nova's starters played basically the entire game and they are banged up. As long as they don't make 33 FTs again tomorrow, I don't see them hanging with us.

socalhoya said:

Yeah, what's wrong with him. Did they say in the telecast?

[FOTP]

If we want to win it all we need to win games like tomorrow. Trust in JTIII to have the answers for the 3rd game.

Swarm them with our man-to-man switching defense and force bad shots. Rebound the ball and pound it inside on offense.

We should win...period.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Nardi ankle, Redding knee/ankle. They are going to be short handed. We need to wipe them off the court and get Roy some points early so we can get ready for our next game.

[FOTP]

I want this to be the revenge weekend. I want Nova (check), then Cuse and finish it off with Pitt.

Every team that beat us in the league I want to take on.

[pkhoya03]

After watching the Nova-DePaul game, a few things stuck out:

1 - FT shooting - Nova attempted 25+ FTs (partly due to bad calls/stupid plays), making 90+%. In our 2 games with Nova, they attempted 16/17 FTs. They lead the BE in FT shooting %. We need to keep them from getting these automatic points.

2 - Sumpter and Scottie - Those two were pretty much Nova's entire team. Both are going to come at us hard. We need to try and contain one and/or the other and force the other guys to beat us.

3 - DePaul's ability to drive - Seemed like they didn't encounter any problems getting past Nova's guards. It's just that Nova's interior defense seemed to deny/alter many shots. I can see Jon and Jessie driving and kicking out to open shooters.

I wasn't able to watch the previous 2 games vs. Nova, but from what I've read, they keys will be getting Roy the ball, keeping Jeff/Roy (and everyone else for that matter) out of foul trouble, and locking down Sumpter and Reynolds.

Can't assume they're tired. Can't assume Nardi and Redding are hurt. Need to come out strong and dominate. It's time to ball.

[Big Dog]

Tomorrow will be the most difficult challenge of the tournament. Fatigue will not yet be a factor, or if it is, it will be be trumped by being warm from playing the day before (ask Marquette about this from last year, or Coach Esherick about it from 2001).

The key will be whether for the first time in 3 meetings we can get Roy Hibbert involved. Although Jeff Green hit the game-winner in Philly, you can really argue that Jessie Sapp was the key to that victory because he stepped up where Roy did not.

Our guards need to play far better than they have of late. Hitting a couple of early shots will be key for confidence--their's and our's (the fans).

Be prepared for a very challenging and very close game. Nova is playing as well now as they have all season. They might be the second-best team in the Big East right now depending on where you want to rank Louisville.

[ExcitableBoy]

Reynolds & Sumpter carried that team today. They both looked pretty good but I'm not overly worried about Sumpter and we've proven that we are able to overcome with one player going off.

That said, how on earth did Nova back into the #9 seed? They play us unbelievably tough and then don't bother to get off the bus for most other games?

[Big Dog]

I can't emphasize enough that the seeding means nothing in this game. Take away Sapp's miracle 3 at halftime or JG's huge jumper in the final seconds and we're 0-2 against the team we're playing tomorrow. In Vegas, I don't think we should be more than a 2 points favorite, if that.

In some ways, we might be playing the Big East championship right here in round 2.

Can you tell I'm a nervous wreck about this one?

[hoyatmf]

FOTP, I completely agree with you. Nova puts a lump in my throat, but if we are seriously going to contend for the National Title, we HAVE to beat teams like Nova, Cuse and Pitt. I am done being worried. Either we will show up and win or we won't and lose. It's that simple. I am anxious to see how DaJaun plays; if they take Roy away, he is going to have to pick up the slack. Pat has been playing well, but we will need the guards to step it up again. We have the number one seed. Let's show everyone why we earned the Big East regular season title. Respect is back. Fear is now. Go Hoyas!!! Skin the Cats!

[TBird41]

excitableboy said:

Reynolds & Sumpter carried that team today. They both looked pretty good but I'm not overly worried about Sumpter and we've proven that we are able to overcome with one player going off.

That said, how on earth did Nova back into the #9 seed? They play us unbelievably tough and then don't bother to get off the bus for most other games?

If we hold Reynolds to 6 of 19 shooting tomorrow, I can't say I'd be displeased with our defense against him, so long as he doesn't get as many FTs

[NCHoya]

As many have said fatigue is no factor on the second day, we flat out need to destroy them on the boards. We need to end their possessions quickly and keep ours alive until we can translate it into points. I am carefully confident that we can do just that.

PE Jr needs to get his energy going early and Summers needs to shake that funk he is in. Those two will determine this game. Honestly, I am already discounting Roy as a factor against these guys, they are quicker inside and seem to have confounded our guards entry pass abilities. After our last meeting, they will be focused on stopping Green's scoring, we need our low profile bigs to be the difference. A few timely 3s from Wallace and some dogged defense from Sapp on Reynolds would not hurt either.

[HealyHoya]

Agree with Big Dog. We need to make a point of getting Roy the ball in scoring position to begin this game. If we let the first 5-7 minutes go by without Roy touching the ball in the post we'll be looking at another nail-biter.

Enough with 'Nova already. Let Jeff and Roy go to work on the 'Cats down low.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

<Said while knocking on wood and drinking a yellow gatorade like JTIII>

We have never lost a BET game when ranked #1 in the tournament.

[YB]

We need to send Nova home... This team has inflicted no end of pain on our program, and we need to revisit this pain to them. Let's do it tomorrow!