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Hoyas control Pope and Hazell for easy 85-73 victory

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

WASHINGTON D.C. — This time there was no agita, no late-game strain. If there were white knuckles involved, it was only out of anger not anxiety. As Seton Hall dropped another game to another ranked Big East foe, there was no comparing this one to the rest.

The 85-73 loss to No. 11 Georgetown at the Verizon Center was over way before it ended. The game's final moments were only for stat padding, not straining.

Seton Hall (10-6, 1-4 Big East) fell behind early, doomed by their own devices. They turned the ball over seven times in the first 8:29, and were in a 17-point hole with 8:49 still remaining in the first half.

As coach Bobby Gonzalez put it, against the Hoyas 15-point deficits have a way of feeling like 30.

"I think the ten turnovers in the first half just destroyed us," said Gonzalez. "Georgetown is basically a counter-puncher. Their thing is they want you to come down and take a quick shot, or a bad shot. And they're going to come down and try to take a good shot. They're going to run their stuff and try to take a good shot. It's like ether."

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At least this loss was not like the others, where the Pirates scratched and clawed only to lose their grip at the end. There was nothing to hold onto this time.

The Hoyas (13-2, 4-1) turned 12 turnovers by Seton Hall into 22 points. They forced Herb Pope into foul trouble, limiting the forward to only 22 minutes - although he still grabbed 10 rebounds, six of them offensive. And they shut down Jeremy Hazell.

Hazell had come into the night averaging 23.3 points per game, fifth best in the country. But last night he was rendered ineffective, never finding an opportunity to light up as he has so often this season. His only brief luminance came when it no longer mattered, as he scored seven points in the last minute to prop up the box score.

Still, Hazell finished the night shooting 6-14, only 3-9 from beyond the three-point land. He was shadowed all night by Jason Clark, who seemed tethered to Hazell. Clark, who also scored 20 points, was there with him as he came around every pick, and had a hand in his face on each catch so that there would be no release. When Georgetown intermittently switched to a 2-3 zone, the wings stretched out the zone so that Hazell had to start his possessions further away than usual.

"I wouldn't say it was the toughest defensive effort but they really keyed on me a lot," said Hazell. "They made it hard for me to get my shot off; they switched out on my coming off the screens."

Gonzalez was not pleased with what he saw from his star guard, offering perhaps his harshest rebuke of the season after the game.

"I didn't love Jeremy tonight quite honestly," said the coach. "I didn't think he gave a great effort defensively, that's why I took him out. I thought it was interesting that we made the comeback and the run when he was on the bench. I think sometimes he lets his offense dictate his game, his defense and his rebounding and working hard, moving without the ball. He got frustrated basically."

While the Pirates' poor performance may have come as a surprise to some, especially in light of their recent stretch, Gonzalez had an inkling something like this was coming.

He told his staff prior to the game that he believed his team was due for a letdown, he just didn't know when.

"We've played at a high level, win or loss, we've played intensity wise at such a high level that at some point you're going to have a lull or a letdown," said Gonzalez. "I didn't know if it would be tonight but I'm actually happy it was tonight because the next two games are at home and I'm not saying that they're easy games, you turnaround and you have Louisville, Pittsburgh, but if that was going to happen maybe we got it out of the way."

On the other hand, his team never saw this coming. They had come into the game expecting to create a Big East winning streak, after topping Cincinnati Saturday.

After the victory over the Bearcats their minds were already on the Hoyas because it presented them the chance to finally take down a marquee team, and grab the win that could bring them validation after it had escaped them on several occasions already.

But last night was not that night.

"We just gotta get over this hump," said Hazell. "We came out and beat Cincinnati, Georgetown was going to be a big win for us but we came out first half, we didn't come out ready. They jumped us. The second half we responded but it was too tough for us to come back."