Battered, Not Beaten
By GORDIE JONES
Basketball Times Online
Basketball Times Online
New York — Georgetown guard Austin Freeman wears a what-me-worry expression on his face during games, seemingly never allowing anything to excite or unnerve him.
“I want to be the calm one,” he explained.
That appears to be the case off the court, too. Diagnosed with diabetes on March 2, he played his third Big East tournament game in as many days Friday, scoring 12 points and collecting eight rebounds while logging over 36 minutes in the Hoyas’ 80-57 semifinal rout of Marquette.
“I don’t feel like anything is wrong with me right now,” he said.
Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody, on the other hand, freely admits that something is wrong with him, that he is not all the way back from the knee injury he suffered against Seton Hall on Feb. 11, causing him to miss five games late in the regular season.
As he put it, “I don’t feel like my old self out there.”
Which, probably, makes him the candid one.
Hey, different strokes.
Harangody, who like Freeman leads his team in scoring, also played his third game in as many days Friday, scoring 10 points in nearly 26 minutes off the bench as the Fighting Irish fell to West Virginia in the other semi, 53-51.
That he was able to do the back-to-back-to-back thing alleviated any remaining concerns he might have about his health — the kind of concerns Freeman will not even acknowledge having, by the way. Playing such a tight schedule was, Harangody said, “a great progression” that he hopes will allow him to get in game shape for the NCAA tournament.
And certainly it appears the Irish (23-11) are a lock to get there, that they have played themselves off the proverbial bubble in recent weeks; their showing here was confirmation of their worth.
In Harangody’s absence they have changed their approach, spreading the floor, milking the clock and finding shooters and cutters. That helped fuel the six-game winning streak they carried into Friday — the first three victories were without Harangody — one they seemed bent on extending when they erased most of a 10-point deficit down the stretch.
Guard Tory Jackson was short on a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds that would have won it, and Harangody swatted at the rebound, sending it in the general direction of teammate Tyrone Nash. But it was the Mountaineers’ Wellington Smith who gained control as the buzzer sounded.
“Proud of our group,” coach Mike Brey said. “Boy, we made a run at it.”
Now Harangody can only hope to get up to speed. He declined to put a percentage on where he is physically, or how his injury — a bone bruise to his right knee — affects him most. He shot 2-for-6 against WVU, his field goals a 3-pointer in the first half and a layup off Jackson’s penetration in the second.
He was also credited with three rebounds and a blocked shot, that coming when West Virginia star Da’Sean Butler attempted to turn the corner against him in the closing seconds of the first half, but could not.
“I just tried to keep going at it out there and help my team,” Harangody said. “At the defensive end, especially.”
And now, he said, the “main key” is getting his wind back — something he will have ample time to do, between now and the end of next week.
“Three games in three days will help that immensely,” he said.
Freeman’s third-in-three saw him assume a supplemental role to center Greg Monroe, who accumulated 23 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists against the Lilliputian Golden Eagles. Freeman, who always plays an economical game anyway, took but nine shots, making five.
As always his blood sugar was monitored before, during and after the game. And, he proclaimed much later, “These three days have been great. I’m feeling good.”
He has been heartened by the support he has gotten from his family and teammates, and is flush with the knowledge that others have played basketball with his condition. The Lakers’ Adam Morrison is doing so right now. Another diabetic, Chris Dudley, played 16 NBA seasons.
Freeman acknowledged that he has had to “adjust certain things,” especially in his diet, but nothing has changed on the court. After missing one game -- an 81-68 loss at West Virginia on March 1, significantly — he played in the season finale against Cincinnati, scoring 24 points in a one-sided victory, and has logged his usual minutes in this tournament.
“There’s no lingering concern,” he said.
Well, maybe one. During the postgame news conference a reporter asked the Georgetown contingent, seated side by side at the podium, if there was any added motivation to beat teams here that had beaten them during the regular season, such as the Mountaineers. Freeman, Monroe and point guard Chris Wright all said “yes” in unison.
“With capital letters,” Freeman added softly.
Meaning that tonight’s championship game is something of a grudge match, where the Hoyas are concerned.
“I wasn’t there (for the regular-season loss at WVU),” Freeman said. “I felt like I had a chance to help them out, if I was there.”
Now he will be, poker face and all. Photo Credit:
www.guhoyascom
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