WASHINGTON -- Put the commander in chief on the front row, andGeorgetown beats Duke with its best shooting game in 30 years.
With President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden munchingpopcorn in some of the best seats in the house, the No. 7 Hoyas puton a couldn't-miss performance against No. 8 Duke, shooting 71.7percent in Saturday's 89-77 win.
'The crowd was pumped up, Obama was there, so it was exciting,'Georgetown guard Chris Wright said. 'I think we all came out with alittle bit more energy than usual. We were all over the place,defensively and offensively.'
It couldn't have been a much bigger day for Georgetown: thepresident attending his first Hoyas game, the first sellout of theseason in the 20,000-seat Verizon Center, a crowd mostly sporting'We Are Georgetown' T-shirts in a school-sponsored 'gray out,' the200th win for coach John Thompson III, the launch of an initiativefor Darfur schools, and, of course, the much-detested empire fromthe Atlantic Coast Conference in the building.
'It was good, everything about it -- from who was there, to howwe played against a terrific team, against a well-coached team,against a team that's one of the best teams in the country,' saidThompson, who is 200-97 over six seasons with Georgetown and four atPrinceton, 'So the stars were aligned properly.'
Wright seemed pumped for it all, scoring 21 points on 8-for-9shooting and making two defensive plays that helped ignite an 18-3run that gave the Hoyas the lead for good in the first half. GregMonroe also finished with 21 points, and Austin Freeman added 20 forGeorgetown (16-4), which shot 77 percent in the first half.
The 71.7 shooting percentage for the game tied the third highestmark in school history and was the best since the Hoyas shot 71.9against St. John's in 1980. Georgetown nearly had the best shootinggame ever against Duke, just shy of a 73.3 percent game by UCLA in1965.
'We could never match their emotion,' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewskisaid. 'The place was electric. Their team was electric, and theyplayed that way for 40 minutes.'
Nolan Smith scored 19 points, Kyle Singler had 18 before foulingout with 2:10 to play, and Jon Scheyer added 17 for the Blue Devils(17-4), who shot only 37 percent.
Duke committed 15 turnovers -- actually one fewer than Georgetown-- but five of them came in a two-minute, first-half meltdown whilethe Hoyas were pulling ahead to stay.
First, Wright blocked Smith from behind on an outside jump shot,then seconds later stole the ball from Smith under the basket. Thencame turnovers by Miles Plumlee, Smith and two by Scheyer, includinga charging call. Jerrelle Benimon and Hollis Thompson each got asteal during the run, a needed boost from the thin Georgetown bench.
By the time the run was over, Duke had gone nearly four minuteswithout a field goal, and Georgetown was ahead 34-20. The lead was46-33 at the half.
The Blue Devils tried in vain to make a game of it in the secondhalf. A pair of early 3-pointers cut the lead to seven, but two moreturnovers led to a 6-0 run and restored Georgetown's 13-point lead.
'When a team's playing that well, sometimes they put you in aposition where you hurry, or you scurry,' Krzyzewski said. 'It's notjust their defense that does it, but the presence that that team hasthat day that forces you to make quick decisions.'
The Blue Devils cut the deficit to seven again at 52-45, butMonroe stopped that momentum with a spin move in the paint and a bigpump of the arm to celebrate. There were plenty of free throws therest of the way in a game that had nearly as many fouls (52) asrebounds (54).
