Georgetown 88 - Syracuse 74: Box Score of the Day

CHN now features a live scoreboard, stats, standings, etc.. here. Occasionally, we'll be featuring a box score of the day, with some commentary on why the box score is interesting. It might be involve a huge upset, a big personal effort, some odd statistical occurrences, or other intriguing tidbit.

Box Score of the Day:

Today's pick is.. Georgetown's 88-74 Win Over Syracuse.

Nothing terribly surprising about the result of this game. Although Syracuse was ranked higher than the Hoyas, that was simply a matter of schedule difficulty in the season's opening months.  The Hoyas were/are the slightly better team, so a win at home was expected. However, what wasn't a lock was the ridiculously efficient offensive performance Georgetown  threw on the board. Look at the percentages below: 59.3% from the floor, and 57.1% from three. Amazingly, Georgetown's FG & 3-pt %'s were well above Syracuse's FT%.. which was only 43.5%. Rick Jackson (1-8) was the main culprit here, as his poor showing from the line offset what was a solid overall performance from the sophomore forward.

Syracuse didn't play badly last night. They shot relatively well from the floor, and from three, they outrebounded the Hoyas, dominated the offensive glass, and got to the line frequently. But this game was decided by two numbers: Georgetown's lucky three-point barrage, and Syracuse's missed free throws.

The next time these two teams meet, the two key numbers mentioned above will average out to each team's mean, setting up a highly competitive and close affair.