Donlon: Raiders need to slow down Georgetown in transition

TODAY’S GAME

Wright State at Georgetown, 7 p.m., Fox Sports 1, 106.5

Georgetown needed an opponent for its home opener, a team good enough that Fox Sports 1 would want to televise the game. Wright State wanted one more game against a BCS opponent and was having a hard time finding that game.

That’s how Georgetown and Wright State got together to schedule a 7 p.m. game tonight in Washington, D.C. Coach Billy Donlon said the game wasn’t scheduled until August.

Donlon has not shied away from scheduling BCS programs: Cincinnati in each of the last two seasons, Ohio State and Florida two seasons ago and Indiana in Donlon’s first game as head coach.

Georgetown is no stranger to upsets. It lost to Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA tournament last March. Also, the Hoyas played Saturday in South Korea against No. 19 Oregon, losing 82-75 to Oregon, which is now ranked 18th. Maybe the Hoyas will be jet-lagged. The Raiders can hope.

No matter what, this is a tall challenge for the Raiders. They go from playing a Division III team, Mount St. Joseph, to a team picked to finish second in the Big East in three days.

“We’ve got to try to find a way to slow them down when they run the ball in transition,” Donlon said. “Georgetown doesn’t get enough credit for how fast they try to play on offense. They push tempo. They play multiple defenses. They run the Princeton. (Joshua) Smith inside is a big boy. He’s talented. But they’ve got (Markel) Starks and (D’Vauntes) Smith-Rivera out there on the perimeter. They’re very athletic. If you don’t contain them in transition and don’t defensive rebound, you have no chance.”

The Raiders won their opener 82-49 on Sunday. Donlon got an extended look at freshmen like Mark Howell and Steven Davis.

“I’m really excited about the improvement of both Steven and Mark,” Donlon said. “It’s going to be hard on those guys, I tell them, when we have everyone back. Minutes are going to be difficult. We have (Butler transfer) Chrishawn Hopkins sitting over there waiting to play. Guys got to understand, when you get a chance to perform on the stage, it’s your audition — and that’s everyone on the team.”