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Georgetown’s strong shooting leads to comeback win against Virginia Commonwealth

dvauntes-smith-rivera

painttouches.com

Georgetown used a blistering hot shooting performance from all three departments -- two-point field goals, three-point field goals, and free throws -- to defeat Virginia Commonwealth in the consolation game of the San Juan Shootout, 84-80.

Despite turning the ball over 26 times against VCU’s havoc defense, the Hoyas made the most of their opportunities when they had them as they shot 56.1% from the field (23-41) and 86.5% from the line (32-37) en route to the comeback win. They trailed 50-43 midway through the second half, but scored 41 points in the final 12:32 of the game to earn a solid early-season victory.

The guard play of Markel Starks D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera combined to score 49 points, and they out-dueled Briante Weber and Rob Brandenberg of VCU.

What may go unnoticed though was Josh Smith’s performance, especially at the free throw line. Smith notched 17 points, but hitting nine of then free throws -- all of which came in the second half -- helped in the Hoyas comeback win. Entering the game, Smith was just a 50% free throw shooter (13-26).

One of the major themes in the early weeks of the college basketball season has been the enforcement of rules on the defensive end that limit hand-checking and physical play that limits the movement of the offense. There may be no team in the country that has had this adversely effect them as much as VCU. The game is slowed down by the added whistles, which greatly limits Shaka Smart’s strategy of wearing an opponent down through relentless defensive pressure.

In their two losses to Florida State and Georgetown, both teams eclipsed the 80 point mark -- very uncharacteristic for a VCU team.

Of course, it doesn’t help that in today’s loss to Georgetown, VCU starters not named Briante Weber combined to shoot a woeful 7-30.

From Georgetown’s perspective, this was a much needed bounce back win after losing to Northeastern in the first round of the San Juan Shootout. The emergence of Smith-Rivera adds another dimension to the Georgetown offense and is a welcome sign, especially with someone needing to step up and fill the void Otto Porter left. In the first game of the season against Oregon, Smith-Rivera totaled just five points, but since then he is averaging 22.5 ppg.

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