Dec. 10, 2007
Hoyas Triumph in the Heart of Dixie
As a student, I have grown accustomed to arriving at Georgetown basketball games hours before tip-off. It felt rather strange, then, to finally enter the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center with only a few minutes to spare before the start of Georgetown's match with Alabama, the first game of the inaugural Pizza Hut SEC/BIG EAST Challenge. My own late arrival was dictated by the wait for a Birmingham-based friend who would also be attending the game. For quite a number of Alabama fans, however, tardiness appeared to be a choice.
The crowd at the start of the match was certainly sizable, and decidedly pro-Alabama, but it was not especially vocal and engaged. Empty seats were apparent throughout the lower bowl of the arena. With each minute of the game, and thus each minute that Alabama hung tough with the Hoyas, more Crimson Tide fans appeared and more voices could be heard. The cheerleaders and pep band were pretty good indicators, but it was the halftime ovation given to the Tide players as they jogged off the court with a 35-33 lead that made it truly feel like an Alabama home game.
This trend would only continue. By the time Mykal Riley hit a three-point shot with 8:49 left to give Alabama a 49-48 edge, the Tide faithful were boisterous and loud. Even the efforts of a few members of the Auburn Yell Team, located behind one of the baskets, could not make Hoya supporters heard over the din. Fortunately, actions speak louder than words, and the Hoyas on the court did what needed to be done. After Riley drained another three with 4:02 left in the game, necessitating a Georgetown full timeout - which set off a veritable eruption from the crowd - DaJuan Summers sank a trey of his own at the 3:34 mark. A three-pointer from Jessie Sapp, a bucket from Roy Hibbert, and a succession of free throws from DaJuan Summers and Jonathan Wallace followed. And that, as they say, was that. Georgetown had once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to create margins of victory that are disproportionately large when compared to how the game actually went.
But no matter. The AP and ESPN/USA Today poll voters who saw the game will see that Georgetown went up against an SEC team playing a de facto home game and won. Those who did not watch it will see the 10-point margin and draw their own conclusions. Either way, the Hoyas survived their toughest test so far, represented the BIG EAST admirably in the challenge, and made this Georgetown (and reflexively anti-Alabama) fan very happy indeed. I will be kicking around Tuscaloosa for a couple of days after the game, visiting old friends at their university. The victory reminds me of why I made the college choice I did (I actually did apply to Alabama, though I never had any intention of going there) - and why it was the right one.
- Dmitriy Zakharov (SFS/GRD '09)
Hoya Blue Communications Officer
