COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jason Clark concedes he felt like he wasn’t living up to the hallowed Georgetown tradition.
The tradition of John Thompson Jr., Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning.
“Definitely, you feel that way because Georgetown has a tradition of winning, so when you do lose in the first round it’s kind of tough,” Clark, a first-team All-Big East pick, told SNY.tv in the Georgetown locker room at Nationwide Arena.
Entering Friday’s second-round game against Belmont, Clark and fellow senior Henry Sims had never won an NCAA or NIT game. Neither had any of the younger Georgetown players.
The last two years the Hoyas were bounced by No. 14 Ohio (2010) and No. 11 VCU (2011) in their first NCAA Tournament game. During Clark’s freshman year, Georgetown lost to Baylor in the first round of the NIT.
But the No. 3 Hoyas finally got over the hump with a 74-69 victory that snapped No. 14 Belmont’s 14-game winning streak.
Clark scored a game-high 21 points, Otto Porter added 16 points and eight rebounds and Sims, the team’s senior center, had 15 points and five assists.
After the game, John Thompson Jr., the architect of Georgetown’s mid-80s dynasty, came into the locker room and shook hands with the players.
It was a reminder of the program’s rich and storied past.
Clark and the other Hoyas picked Georgetown, in part, because of all the tradition.
“When you walk into our gym, you see all those banners and you want to be a part of something like that and you want to have a banner — an Elite Eight, a Final Four, a national championship. So when you’re constantly around that, you want to be a part of that,” sophomore guard Markel Starks told SNY.tv.
As recently as 2007, John Thompson III led the Hoyas to a Final Four but that was followed by three years of frustrating first-game exits.
Entering this game, Belmont was a trendy upset pick because of the Georgetown’s checkered past.
“Of course, you hear all that stuff but it only works if you listen to it, ” Starks said.
Despite all the chatter, they didn’t listen.
And now they’ve advanced to play a tough No. 11 N.C. State that looked very impressive in knocking off No. 6 San Diego State.
Clark and company didn’t come here to win just one game.
They want to keep playing, keep trying to write a new chapter in the storied history of Georgetown basketball.
“It feels really good [to win], it’s like a monkey off your back,” Clark said, “but we got more work to do.”
Photo: AP
