January 25th, 2019: Georgetown at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A strong second half powered St. John's to a 59-51 win over Georgetown. Curteeona Brelove had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Red Storm. Brianna Jones came off the bench to lead Georgetown with 14 points.

For defensive stands, ill-advised behind-the-back decisions, grinding on the glass, power games, and fanny packs, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

Good evening! We're coming to you on our usual tape delay from Carnesecca Arena, where the Red Storm start the front end of the Eastern Seaboard pod by hosting Georgetown. Your intrepid blogger has a two-bus commute now, so pregame notes will be thin on the ground.

We're at halftime, and St. John's up 24-23. Alisha Kebbe and Akina Wellere have provided the bulk of the offense for the Johnnies, while Georgetown's offense is a bit more diffuse. The Hoyas are relying mostly on their swarming defense and a lot of motion that frees up shots in the lane.

The Hoyas are getting hosed by the refs- they've had two fouls that should have been three-shot fouls instead of two-shot fouls. The refs have been letting both teams play, for the most part.

Georgetown's bench is noisy. Objectively I don't object. Subjectively I don't want to hear it in my building and we need to get louder.

Kadaja Bailey ended the first half with a phenomenal defensive play wherein she deflected the ball right back into the would-be inbounder, and almost topped it with a halfcourt shot, but the shot went off the rim.

Huh. The Hoyas just came out of the locker room doing stretches. I'm not used to this sort of a reset.

I'm not actually quite sure how we pulled away in the fourth quarter, only that it happened. I'll be satisfied with that for now.

I'm assuming that Brianna Jones did not start for non-basketball reasons, because she played heavy minutes and started the second half. She's very determined and demonstrated a nice midrange game. Anita Kelava's height in the post caused us some problems, as she blocked a few of our less well-thought-out shots and picked off boards at the rim.

Tatiana Thompson gave Georgetown a little heft in the post, though she's not terribly mobile. Her power was a little bit of a problem for us, but we were able to keep up with her. She seemed to be one of the loudest people on Georgetown's bench- and I respect that. I may not like it, but I take it as a challenge to shout down any cheering or chanting coming from the visiting bench. Cassandra Gordon got most of her run in the first half. She seemed okay, I guess. Nothing too terrible, nothing too exciting.

Nikola Kovacikova started the game, subbed out fairly quickly, and then disappeared until the fourth quarter, where she committed a foul and took an ill-advised three-pointer. It seems like she still needs a lot of work, or that her coach was doing some experiments with his lineup that weren't working. Morgan Smith was present on the glass, a big-bodied guard who boxed out well. Dorothy Adomako demonstrated dubious shot selection and fantastic defensive skills. She had a couple of nifty blocks and a steal that led to a fast break. I keep wondering what she could have been if not for the injury last year and for the cavalcade of coaches that has run in and out of Georgetown. She's got a lot of natural tools and a nose for defense; if she'd been able to hone her offensive skills a little more, she'd probably have a really good chance at an overseas career, and I can still see her being that player who gets it together after a few years overseas and surprises the WNBA in training camp. I mean, Georgetown's almost due for their next W player, right?

Mikayla Venson got off to a pretty strong start, and seemed pretty solid for the Hoyas. I can't put my finger on what she did, precisely, but she always seemed to bein the right place. Dionna White was ridiculous on the offensive glass- there was one sequence where she had two of the three offensive rebounds that eventually got Georgetown a bucket. She's so quick, and she's so relentless. Defense has been Georgetown's calling card through multiple coaching changes, and she and Adomako are exemplars of that philosophy.

Georgetown presents a lot of of length and a lot of defensive intensity- most of how they stayed in the game for the first few quarters was by hassling us and leaping on loose balls They forced us to take gambles, and then took advantage of the mistakes we made on those gambles. But they didn't have an offensive go-to player, or at least not one that showed herself in this game.

I don't understand what Joe is doing with Kayla Charles's minutes. We have, like, two post players and she's one of them, and Joe sat her the entire second half. I don't know if she's not putting in the work in practice, or he's dissatisfied with something she's doing, or if she's giving him lip, or if he's getting ready to run her off, or he just doesn't like the color of her socks, or what. Yes, her touch around the rim needs work and she makes some terrible life choices sometimes. But she's got potential and she can rebound. What are you even doing, Joe? Kadaja Bailey had a rough time with her handle in this one, but she did amazing work on the offensive glass to secure rebounds on loose balls and tips from her teammates, and when she finished, she finished with style. She seems a little more sure of who she is now, and I feel a little more confident about her future here. Jasmine Sina left one shot short, but not the other, and we all went a little crazy for her. She's a nice kid, as far as I can tell, and I wish her the best. With Machi Duncan's injury keeping her out of the rotation for the nonce, it's good to have a guard with some experience to spell the crew for a couple of minutes. I mean, yes, I'd rather Joe have actually brought in players he trusts so our starters aren't all playing 30+ minutes every night, but I'm starting to understand I should set my expectations low in that regard.

Qadashah Hoppie understands that she doesn't have to do it all herself, right? As much as I like that take-charge and can-do attitude, sometimes she's got to slow down and maybe not try to force a 1-on-4 fast break. She showed handles and she showed moves, but she just couldn't finish. Tiana England strangled the shot clock for a while, which we're all used to by now, but there were occasional moments where she was willing and able to accelerate to the basket, and I cherish those moments when she does that.

Akina Wellere got off to a pretty good start inside. There was one possession where I think the only people who knew that she was open in the corner were here and Shenneika, because no one else seemed to notice, either her teammates or her opponents. She did have a couple of "oh no what is you doing" moments on defense. Curteeona Brelove came out in the second half like a house on fire, hitting inside and out (something tells me that foot-on-the-line jumper was a "no, no, YES!" moment for Joe). The power of her game really gives us a different dynamic when she gets going. Alisha Kebbe was intense She's killing it on the glass. I think she might be getting a little too amped on offense, because so many of her shots are going too long, too hard, or too strong. Her scrappiness on the boards cannot be understated. She's found another gear this year.

I was not expecting a higher-tempo offense to serve us well against Georgetown's defense, but it seemed like once we were able to get through the first wave of pressing and trapping, and get the ball in motion, we were able to really be most effective.

There were some really weird ref calls in this game, and we got the benefit of most of them. This crew was especially fond of long continuations. It was a physical game. Georgetown's not afraid to push the limits, and while there was one moment where I thought Adomako slue-footed someone, most of the time their limit-pushing isn't egregiously dirty.

Dance should have won Nationals. Delaware can go pound sand.

Sponsor pens are very nice. Actual name brand!

The fanny pack is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about this, other than "can't sleep 80s will dress me".

I'm honestly not sure what's going to happen with Villanova. I don't know if I want to know.