- Admin
- #1
Whereas most August college basketball exhibitions on foreign soil draw sparse crowds and scant media coverage, Georgetown's first post-brawl matchup in China attracted far more attention than usual.
Fans packed the bleachers at an outdoor venue in Shanghai 30 minutes before tipoff. Reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News and The Associated Press covered the game in person. And among the celebrities in the crowd were NBA stars Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.
"That was exactly what we anticipated," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "If you looked at the events that happened the other day, that's not the norm. The reception that our team got today and the atmosphere here today was much more consistent with what we anticipated and what we experienced in every game and event since we've been here."
The uneventful game had to be a relief to a Georgetown contingent that endured a brawl Thursday featuring raised fists, opponents toting folding chairs and water bottles hurled from the crowd. It was bad enough that Thompson pulled his team off the court with the score tied in the fourth quarter and then sought a police escort back to the team hotel.
Georgetown and the Bayi Rockets have since made peace, exchanging handshakes and autographed basketballs the following day.
"We both felt that our team and their team that it was important that we got in a room and sit down and acknowledge it's time to move on," Thompson told ABC News. "At the end of the day it was a competition that turned into a conflict. You can use that to grow and learn."
Fans packed the bleachers at an outdoor venue in Shanghai 30 minutes before tipoff. Reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News and The Associated Press covered the game in person. And among the celebrities in the crowd were NBA stars Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.
Any observers hoping for a repeat of Thursday's wild melee between Georgetown and the Bayi Rockets likely left Shanghai disappointed Sunday because the Hoyas this time played without incident. They easily dispatched of the Liaoning Dinosaurs 91-69, a much-needed return to normalcy for a program that has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons the past few days.
"That was exactly what we anticipated," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "If you looked at the events that happened the other day, that's not the norm. The reception that our team got today and the atmosphere here today was much more consistent with what we anticipated and what we experienced in every game and event since we've been here."
The uneventful game had to be a relief to a Georgetown contingent that endured a brawl Thursday featuring raised fists, opponents toting folding chairs and water bottles hurled from the crowd. It was bad enough that Thompson pulled his team off the court with the score tied in the fourth quarter and then sought a police escort back to the team hotel.
Georgetown and the Bayi Rockets have since made peace, exchanging handshakes and autographed basketballs the following day.
"We both felt that our team and their team that it was important that we got in a room and sit down and acknowledge it's time to move on," Thompson told ABC News. "At the end of the day it was a competition that turned into a conflict. You can use that to grow and learn."