Georgetown bounced back from Thursday’s embarrassing loss to Northeastern in a big way, as they rolled over Kansas State, 90-63, in the consolation bracket of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera led four scorers in double-figures with 25 points as the Hoyas put together a sterling offensive effort, shooting 61.1% from the floor, 6-for-13 from three and committing all of eight turnovers.
It was a far-cry from the disaster that was the second half against on Thursday, when Georgetown got outscored 38-20 by Northeastern while running an offense that could best be described as “tired over-30 rec league”. Friday’s performance is what we expected out of this Georgetown team with Josh Smith eligible.
To be frank, I think that Thursday’s result had more to do with the location and the time of the game than it did with the ability of the Hoyas. Markel Starks and Smith-Rivera combined to shoot 7 -for-26 from the floor, which is something that those two are far-too talented to have happen on a regular basis. Thrown in the packed-in zone that the Huskies threw at Georgetown and the tired legs that come with international travel -- remember, we are now just a week removed from their trip to South Korea -- and Northeastern may have simply been a costly, but necessary, lesson: you cannot overlook any team at any level.
Ever.
Georgetown will likely get No. 10 VCU this weekend in the fifth-place game.
That should give us a real gauge of just what we can expect from this group.