Georgetown's tournament hopes are alive and well after escaping a trip to Syracuse with a 78-71 win on Saturday. On a day when Syracuse went all out in tribute of the late Pearl Washington, it was a big win, and loss, for varying reasons.
Here are four things to know:
1. This was a big road win for tournament seeding
Had Georgetown left Syracuse with a loss, it may have doomed their tournament hopes. Their biggest win to date was a Maui Invitational win over Oregon, a preseason top-10 team, but they followed that up with losses to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State and didn't look good in either.
But they're now riding a five-game winning streak, highlighted by this notable win that the committee should and will consider in come March. This win will look a heck of a lot better in a few months if we know anything about Syracuse, who we expect to put together a nice resume of its own.
2. That was a bad home loss for Tournament seeding
The same game will be seen through different lenses come March. This wasn't a terrible loss for Cuse, but it wasn't great after the Orange already lost to a shorthanded UConn team a week ago. Maybe this loss ends up looking better if Georgetown puts things together come conference play, but right now, the Orange came in as 7.5-point favorites and lost on their home floor. KenPom gave the Hoyas just a 22-percent chance of winning. So while this certainly doesn't doom Syracuse, the climb to the Dance just got a little steeper.
3. The old Big East rivalry is renewed again
There are rivalries, then there is Syracuse and Georgetown. The two teams despise one another. Both teams have a rich history.
Georgetown and Syracuse played one another last season, but without Jim Boeheim, who was serving a suspension at the time. The last time the two teams played at the Carrier Dome, Otto Porter messed around and dropped 33 points to lead them to a win. This time, it scoring by committee for the Hoyas: L.J. Peak had 23, and Rodney Pryor dropped 20 points. Even though they aren't in the Big East, it's awesome to see the rivalry continue.
4. Tyler Lydon's big day was minimized
This was probably Lydon's biggest game of the season. He had 29 minutes, and kept the Orange in the game down the stretch. It was tight in the final minutes, and he continued to pound and show aggression down low. He is not timid.
He was everywhere in 36 minutes of play. He scored 12-of-13 from the floor. He was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. And he had 9 rebounds -- 4 of which came on second chances on the offensive glass. Every time the ball went up, Lydon had his nose stuck in the business.
Georgetown's ability to somehow hold him off enough to come out with a win says volumes about the depth of the Hoyas.