Georgetown takes down Duke with President Obama in attendance

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

With the added pressure of having President Barack Obama seated courtside, the Georgetown Hoyas picked up a crucial home victory over Duke on Saturday afternoon at the Verizon Center.

But instead of the wire-to-wire game that so many predicted, Georgetown literally ran the visiting Blue Devils out of the gym. John Thompson III's Hoyas quickly took command of the game with hot shooting in the first half (77%), and Duke was never able to mount a serious comeback.

The second half is where things really started to get out of hand. The versatility of sophomore Greg Monroe in the post and the scoring punch of guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman started to embarrass Duke's lackadaisical defense as their lead ballooned as high as 23 points. Georgetown's 89 points were the most that a Duke opponent has scored all season.

President Obama's presence for this particular game was slightly ironic, mainly because it was Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski who gave that awesome quote about the President last spring:

Somebody said that we’re not in President Obama’s Final Four. As much as I respect what he’s done, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably, more than the brackets. So why would I care about that?”

It's worth noting that Obama sat directly across from Georgetown's bench with Vice President Joe Biden on his side. Viewers who tuned in around the 15 minute mark of the second half also got a brief preview of Obama's color commentary skills, as he joined CBS analysts Verne Lundqvist and Clark Kellog on the live broadcast. The President broke down a key replay, talked about his affinity for March Madness, and even lauded Kellog for being "the best color guy in the business".

While today's loss doesn't impact Duke's chances in the ACC, it only strengthens the notion that they are a vastly different team on the road. For a roster comprised of mostly juniors and seniors, that's not a good thing to be known for. The Blue Devils still have road games against North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Boston College and Miami (FL) remaining. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski needs to figure things out in a hurry.

For Georgetown, this win should serve as a huge momentum-builder after being blown out by Syracuse last week. The Hoyas are now 16-4 and likely to make the top 10 in both polls on Monday. The difference today was the play of Monroe, who had arguably his best all-around game of the season. If he can keep on playing like this then the Hoyas should have no problems winning 12+ Big East games.

Boxscore (Georgetown 89, Duke 77)