Georgetown Manhandles UC Irvine

Handcuffed by Georgetown’s trapping defense and handicapped by illness, UC Irvine rolled over as the Hoyas rolled up a 93-64 victory in front of 6,483 Saturday at USAir Arena.

The Anteaters (2-3), who have spent the last few days passing a flu bug, shot just 41% from the field. Senior guard Lloyd Mumford, who has played on this floor in the past with Villanova, paced all scorers with 15 points despite his flu symptoms.

Irvine’s top scorer, sophomore guard Todd Whitehead, also was bothered by the flu. He missed Friday’s practice and scored only three points Saturday. In his last game, a 93-82 victory over Cal State Northridge, Whitehead had a career-high 21 points.

Point guard Zuri Williams had a fever and reserve forward Elzie Love missed the trip East with a bruised right foot.

Irvine made only eight of 27 first-half shots and turned the ball over 24 times.

“A lot of those (turnovers) were unforced and came after we had already broken their press,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “There’s nothing in today’s game that we would want to build on.”

Saturday’s performance was a far cry from last year’s game, when the Hoyas beat Irvine by only four points (64-60) in the Disneyland/Freedom Bowl Classic. Baker credited Georgetown’s experience on this day.

“They’ve all gotten better,” Baker said. “Every one of these guys is now in his second year in the Big East. They’re significantly better.”

Thirteen players scored for Georgetown, which shot 51% from the floor and improved to 5-2. Senior forward Robert Churchwell, who has been up and down this season, led the Hoyas with 14 points, while the team’s leading scorer, community college transfer George Butler, added 13.

Five minutes into the game, Irvine found itself trailing, 7-4, after center DeForrest Boyer (10 points, 10 rebounds) scored on a follow shot.

But Georgetown, working on a more uptempo style of offense to go with its usual attacking, full-court defense, went on a 20-4 tear and led at the intermission, 44-23.

“It takes time to get used to,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said of his team’s more aggressive offense. “I’m trying to get people to play harder in fewer minutes. If we play harder in fewer minutes, we’ll be more effective.”

Indeed, no one on the Hoyas’ roster played more than 27 minutes, with 10 players in the game for at least 10 minutes. One surprise was freshman center Cheikh Dia, who had a career-high 12 points to go with six rebounds. And senior guard Joey Brown scored 10 points to give him 1,001 in his Hoya career.

The Anteaters scored six of the game’s first seven points after halftime, closing to 45-29 with 18 minutes remaining. Boyer was strong inside and Mumford started to find his range on the perimeter.

But Whitehead did not score until there was 13:57 left to play and Georgetown continued to force turnovers and Irvine could not close the gap to within 24 points at any time after that.

“They were relentless in some of their pursuits and made some pretty good hustle plays on defense,” Baker said. “We still think we’re a pretty good team. We just picked the wrong afternoon not to be at full strength.”

The Anteaters finish their three-game road trip on Tuesday at St. Mary’s before returning home to play host to Iowa on Dec. 29.