It’s going to be a while until Georgetown play Syracuse inside the Carrier Dome once again, so Otto Porter made sure it was a game neither side were going to forget, almost outscoring the Orange by himself, while the Hoyas took sole control of the lead in the Big East.
With football and the money coming from it ruling the land, the Big East is going to look completely different very soon. Syracuse moving to the ACC is going to be one of those major shifts, and in a season where everything seemed to be going so well inside the conference came Georgetown with their fantastic Sophomore and made it a night to remember.
This Carrier Dome rivalry is officially over. I’m sure you’re waiting for a Manley Field House statement. You’re not going to get it. We don’t get frazzled too much. It’s good to win here. We were the last team to win here, but there’s still a lot of ball to play. It’s one win.
Syracuse didn’t lose at home for 38 straight games, the longest streak in the nation, but their streak ended in front of 35,012, the largest ever to see a college basketball on a school campus. Georgetown (#11) won 57-46, keeping Syracuse on their second lowest scoring numbers since the Carrier Dome was opened in 1980, with their 45 points against Pitt in 2004 being the all-time low. The 2/3 defense the Hoyas employed kept Syarcuse at their lowest scoring efficiency in four years, with only .78 points per possession, well below their 1.096 average this season, which is on pace for their worst over the last four years. It was the tenth time this season that Georgetown has held its opponent under 0.80 points per possession.
But individual stories always make for better ones, and Otto Porter, with 33 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals, makes for the best one. had career highs in points, field goals made (12), field goal attempts (19), 3-pointers made (5), 3-point attempts (10) and steals. The rest of his team scored just 24 points, shooting a combined 7-35 from the field (20%) and 2-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc.
It was special. That’s the only way to categorize it. You saw the show that I saw. To play up here against that opponent, that’s what players do, and he’s a special player.Â
Porter, averaging 15.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season, has scored in double figures for 12 consecutive games, and in 18 of his last 19. He was that good, that even the opposition had to give it up for the performance that closed the Carrier Dome, although no one said such a thing.
He just dominated the game. He really won the game. He had to make plays and made them all day. Offensively, the games that we have lost we have struggled shooting the basketball, and today was no exception. I thought the game got away from us early.
It was 33 years ago when Georgetown won 52-20 on the final game of Manley Field House before ‘cuse moved on to their current arena. John Thompson Jnr famously said – Manley Field House is now officially closed. The teams have played 88 times since 1930 and 20 of those games were decided by one or two points, and 12 were settled in overtime.
The two will meet again, but it won’t feel the same way again. All that will be remembered from their final Big East game in Syracuse, was Otto Porter putting on the performance of his life (so far) in one of the toughest arenas in the nation, which might have given Georgetown the Big East regular season title.