
Maybe we should have told Georgetown about this new pop quiz?
We’re back! But should we be? Your Georgetown Hoyas started the 2021 – 2022 season with a real “yikes” loss to Dartmouth? Yeah, Dartmouth. Eeesh. Even through the pain of perhaps the worst loss in modern history (if not, ever?), it does feel good to have the Hoyas back in a surprisingly full CAP1 arena. That’s about it for feel-goods in this one, though. The Hoyas drop their season opener to a KenPom ranked-289 Dartmouth team. Even without one starter (Timothy Ighoefe) and two (we think?) rotation pieces (Kobe Clark and Collin Holloway), the Hoyas…uh…probably shouldn’t have lost this one.
Final from Capital One Arena.#HOYASAXA pic.twitter.com/DXyQ7i0LyC
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) November 13, 2021
As the media giant that is Casual Hoya continues to expand its vast empire, we will endeavor to give you game grades after each tilt this season. Admittedly, this seemed like a much better idea 24 hours ago. Our first foray into the grading abyss is below, and it was an absolutely black hole of a performance from your Hoyas. But as with any black hole there are some bright stars surrounding it? I don’t know astronomy, that is not my area. Determining mostly arbitrary grades for college basketball players, however, THAT I can do.
If you disagree with any of the below grades. First, you’re wrong. Second, feel free to drop your own grades and analysis in the comments or berate me on Twitter. We’ll include the best re-grade/comment in the next post.
I think Aminu might be good…
— Gideon Hertz (@GMHertz) November 13, 2021
And if you’re wondering why there are no Fs on this list, I vowed that I would not give an F except for an absolutely egregious lack of effort. These are, after all, college players, and they don’t deserve to be dragged. Again, another decision that seemed better yesterday, but I am sticking with it…for now.
Dante Harris – D-
8 PTS, 3-13 (23%), 1-3 3PT (33%), 1-2 FT, 4 REB, 5 AST, 3 STL, 0 TO
Dante looked bad. He missed a lot of shots and just didn’t look confident really at all. If you get anything close to what Dante was last season, I think this game looks very different. He also gave up a bad 4-point play late in the second half that felt like the dagger. It’s one game but if Dante isn’t better, the Hoyas are going to have some problems.
Defense ➡️ Offense @GeorgeTownH is seeing a spark before the end of the first half pic.twitter.com/ouLNNBZdaP
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 13, 2021
Don Carey – D
14 PTS, 4-9 (44%), 3-6 3PT (50%), 0-0 FT, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 TO
Carey was non-existent in the first half (as were a lot of guys) but this team desperately needs his shot-making. He got it going a little in the second half and looked decent until he had back-to-back threes blocked. His stat line doesn’t look too bad, but it felt like his impact all came in about a six minute stretch. Another guy that has to be better or Georgetown is in some deep trouble.
Carey at the top the key to break the drought for @GeorgetownHoops ⛲️ pic.twitter.com/SQfcfIJOCf
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 13, 2021
Aminu Mohammed – C+
17 PTS, 8-15 (53%), 1-4 3PT (25%), 0-0 FT, 6 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 4 TO
Aminu was the best player on the floor for Georgetown, and is the best player on this team. Georgetown fans should be really excited about his potential. During a first half that saw everyone struggle, he struggled the least and actually was pretty good. The Hoyas made 9 shots in the first half, Aminu had 4 of them. He is athletic going to the basket and plays with serious energy and aggression. Yes, his shot is a bit raw, but the tools are there and Ewing seems to know it. Ewing gave him a few opportunities to isolate and go get a bucket – I can’t remember the last time we saw that in Ewing’s offense (if ever). By the way, all those “reports” from open gyms and secret scrimmages that didn’t have Aminu as the clear best player should be taken with a LARGE grain of salt.
The steal…and the finish! Freshman Aminu Mohammed takes it coast-to-coast.#HOYASAXA pic.twitter.com/VPFKJXTkgd
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) November 13, 2021
Kaiden Rice – D
9 PTS, 3-9 (33%), 3-8 3PT (37%), 0-0 (50%) FT, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1 TO
Scoreless in the first half, but he got it going a bit early in the second. He helped bring the Hoyas within range with a couple of back-to-back threes. He can definitely shoot, but didn’t do much else. He needs to make shots more consistently if he’s not going to add much else.
Malcolm Wilson – D
2 PTS, 1-3 (33%), 0-0 (50%) FT, 4 REB, 1 AST, 2 BLK, 1 TO
We got a Wilson game! Malcolm Wilson got a surprise start in place of Ighoefe, who we later learned was out with a concussion suffered earlier in the week. Look, the center spot is going to be one of the biggest question marks on this team in the vacuum that Q left, but I just don’t see it with Wilson. He was largely non-existent despite being the largest human on the floor by like… a lot. He looked pretty lost on defense and didn’t make a lot of winning plays, if any. That said, he didn’t make a ton of losing plays, either. He just didn’t make a lot of plays. He wasn’t the reason the Hoyas lost this game, but they are going to need more from the center spot and I don’t know that Wilson is going to give it to you.
Ryan Mutombo – C-
6 PTS, 2-4 (50%), 2-2 FT, 3 REB, 2 TO
In his highly anticipated Hoya debut, Ryan was fun. After a rough first half (that was rough for everyone), he had a solid second. He really got the crowd going after back-to-back three-point plays on a putback and post up. He looked like a freshman at times, which is not surprising. But the margin of error for all the freshmen is going to be slim given the makeup of this team. It is particularly slim for Ryan given the lack of bodies and talent at the center spot.
Six points in 30 seconds for Ryan Mutombo to bring us within two!#HOYASAXA pic.twitter.com/6H0yA35jyJ
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) November 13, 2021
Jalin Billingsley – C-
0 PTS, 0-1 (0%), 3 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO
Billingsley looks like a really nice piece. The kind of player a program loves to have to compliment their primary options. The problem today was the Hoyas didn’t really get anything from their primary options (outside of Aminu) so Jalin’s stat line, I think, looks worse in context. He’s probably going to have a lot of 4 pts, 5 rebs, 2 assists, 2 steal games. He made a massive steal that led to the Mohammed dunk to tie the game in the second half.
Jordan Riley – C-
4 PTS, 2-5 (40%), 0-2 3PT (0%), 0-2 (0%) FT, 4 REB, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 4 TO,
One game, two massive dunks. He is crazy athletic. He had a huge steal and runout dunk that gave the Hoyas their only lead about midway through the second half. At that point it felt like they had finally gotten over the hump and were going to run away with it. Four turnovers is not good, and going 0-for on non-dunks is not ideal, but he’s another promising freshman who’s going to need to play like an upperclassman here real soon.
Jordan Riley with the steal and the monster slam on the break!#HOYASAXA pic.twitter.com/nCSXTsEjU8
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) November 13, 2021
Tyler Beard – INC
0 PTS, 0-0 (0%), 0-0 3PT (0%), 0-0 (0%) FT, 1 REB, 1 TO
Not a lot to react to really. Didn’t play much and didn’t add much. He looked engaged from the bench. But there’s not enough from this game to really evaluate. With the Hoyas down the entire game, he didn’t get a lot of opportunities.
Coaching – D-
Look, this is pretty obviously the worst loss in quite awhile. It’s bad. Real bad and, in the end, I think you have to put that on the coach. But I am not sure there was a lot that Ewing could have done differently in this one. The preparation was a problem and I guess they just weren’t ready to play, but the problem in the first half was mostly just missed shots.
The team came out in the second half looking really sharp and you thought Ewing had them rolling. Then Dartmouth responded to the Hoyas’ run with a couple of threes and it was over. There’s a lot to blame Ewing for in preparing for this game and the fact that this was even close to begin with. Yet another three-point fest at the CAP is undoubtedly troubling. But I don’t have a lot of answers to what Ewing could have done to change the result, once this got going, other than get his guys to just play better. That said, you lost to Dartmouth so… this one would likely be an F (if I were giving them!)
Crowd – A
The one positive! It seemed loud and, from all accounts, it was. There was legit noise when the Hoyas took the lead in the second half. The students showed out and there were even folks in the upper levels. Which, by the way, I thought we were getting rid of? Keep showing out, students.
Refs – C
Yeah, I’m going to grade the refs. And I think C is probably the highest grade they are going to get this year. I didn’t notice them once in this game, which is quite literally the best thing that can be said about officiating. The refs had zero impact on this game. Hooray!
Next up, American on Tuesday.