NFL
All it took was skill, coaching, effort, and belief. With their win, the 8th seeded team in the Big East Conference Tournament will make their way to the Big Dance after their 73-48 win over the Creighton Bluejays in the Conference Finals Saturday night.
There was a serious concern for the program this season after losing their top three players to transfers as the team got off to a rugged start. But much like their coach, the Hoyas held tight, came together and gave their Patrick Ewing another reason to not be forgotten at Madison Square Garden.
The Creighton Bluejays were one of the favorites to walk away with the At-Large big from winning the tourney but they ran into a brick wall Saturday. Here’s a number just to prove how dreadful of a night it was for the Bluejays. 48 points. No, that wasn’t the halftime score, that was their total for 40 minutes of play.
This was a throwback game for the ages for Ewing and his team. The defense was suffocating and the offense was clicking on all cylinders. If there was a game to be called ay halftime, this was the one.
The game began well for Creighton as they jumped out to a 13-6 advantage but from there, everything just fell apart. The Hoyas closed the half with 18 unanswered points while Creighton went scoreless for the remaining 5:52 minutes of the first half. From there, it was just a matter of not letting up for Ewing and his gang.
The Bluejays were led by Marcus Zegarowski with 17 points but he didn’t receive much help. While connecting from deep all season, the Bluejays started out 3-17 from beyond the arc. With that, the Hoyas were able to manipulate the Bluejays’ defense.
Only two players reached double figures for the Bluejays while the Hoyas were able to balance out their scoring with four players going over single digits.
While the three-point shooting was horrible for both sides, the teams combined to shoot 19-62. The Hoyas crushed the Bluejays on the glass with an advantage of 49-33.
With Covid wreaking havoc last year on the tournament, it was a welcomed site to not only get these games underway but to be able to have them finished. Georgetown took care of business and with 4 wins in as many days, they have earned the right to be labeled Champions.
And as for Patrick Ewing, no one outside of Georgetown will ever know if his treatment at the Garden this week was a rallying cry or what. But what that worker and the rest of the Big East found out this week was that The Garden was, and always will belong to Patrick Ewing.
