The No. 16 Georgetown Hoyas, as always, are serious national championship contenders. Based on the way they dominated No. 9 Missouri in the first half of Tuesday's game in Kansas City, perhaps things will get much more serious.
Despite nearly blowing an 18-point lead, the Hoyas lead the Tigers 54-47 at halftime.
Austin Freeman leads the Hoyas with 19 points, while Chris Wright has 10 points and Jason Clark eight points. The Hoyas are shooting the lights, hitting 20 of their 28 field goal attempts (71.4%), including eight three pointers.
Georgetown got off to a fast start against the run-and-gun Tigers. Wright scored seven of Georgetown's first nine points and the Hoyas led by as many as 18 points. But once the Hoyas led 38-20, things began to change fast.
Marcus Denmon and Ricardo Ratliffe combined for 28 points for Missouri, who went on a 27-16 to close the half. Freeman hit a controversial three pointer as time ran out on the shot clock to push the lead to 54-45 with less than a minute left. Replays showed that he did not get the ball out of his hands in time. Matt Pressey would hit a layup, but missed a free throw to end the scoring.