WASHINGTON -- Only a couple of Coach Thompsons could manage to find anything to complain about after this sort of performance.
Georgetown beat American University 73-49 on Saturday, coasting late after a dominant first half in which the 20th-ranked Hoyas hounded the Eagles into 20 percent shooting, more than twice as many turnovers as field goals, and only 12 points.
At halftime, however, John Thompson III didn't lavish his players with praise. Instead, he told them what to work on over the final 20 minutes.
"It's hard to come out of a half where they scored 12 points and be upset," Georgetown's coach said, then paused before adding, "but I was."
As his postgame news conference came to a close, a baritone voice piped up from the back of the room. It was his father, former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr., asking whether the man known as "JT3" finds it frustrating that his team's defense doesn't get enough attention.
This, after the session's first question was, in fact, about defense.
It was a taste of "Hoya Paranoia" from days gone by, and the son answered his father this way: "I learned a long time ago, from a guy who used to sit in my chair, we don't worry about what people say or don't say."
The younger Thompson already had offered more negative thoughts about his team's day, saying, "Overall -- you know, I just had a bottle of Pepto-Bismol -- we did not play well."
There was more where that came from.
"Particularly this time of year, it's not about the opponent, it's not about the score. It's us trying to prepare, us trying to get better," the current Coach Thompson said. "Regardless of what the numbers were, regardless of what the score is, I'm a little disappointed in how we played today."
Riiiiiight.
Georgetown (5-1) began the game on a 13-0 run, then closed the first half on a 16-0 run. American (4-4) was shut out for more than 5½ minutes during the first stretch, more than 6½ minutes during the latter.
The halftime score was 40-12, the fewest points allowed in a first half by Georgetown since Thompson III became coach in 2004.
AU's first five possessions ended with the Eagles turning the ball over. The sixth ended with Georgetown's 6-foot-11 freshman Greg Monroe blocking a shot by American's 5-11 Garrison Carr. That was part of a rough game for Carr, who entered the day averaging 18.7 points but scored only nine on 2-for-17 shooting.
American had 12 turnovers and five field goals (out of 25 attempts) in the first half. It finished the game 18-for-52 (35 percent) with 20 turnovers.
Good defense is nothing new for Georgetown, of course. The Hoyas led the nation in opponents' field-goal percentage last season at 36.6, and Thompson's team entered Saturday holding foes to 34.4 percent this season.
"They're so long. They're athletic. Aggressive. They anticipate very well," American coach Jeff Jones said. "It's not just that they're good athletes. They're coached to know when situations are there for them to gamble. They're not just running around with no ideas."
Things went pretty well for the Hoyas on offense, too, at least as far as anyone could tell from those pesky numbers Thompson dismissed so cavalierly. Georgetown made half of its 20 attempts from 3-point range and shot 59 percent overall.
Chris Wright was 8-of-10 from the field and scored a career-high 22 points, while Jessie Sapp and DaJuan Summers added 14 each. Still, their coach complained about "the flow" on offense.
AU just might want to reconsider this rivalry. Georgetown beat American by 27 points last season, when the schools resumed their in-city series after not having played since 1986.
American made its NCAA basketball tournament debut last season and currently has five seniors in its starting lineup. But the Eagles are now on a three-game losing streak.
"We're not playing as a team as well as we're capable of," Carr said. "We have to figure out what it is."
