Back in 1989, Georgetown still carried the aura of Patrick Ewing. Ewing graduated in 1985, but he was so ferocious in his Hoya days that everyone just assumed that Alonzo Mourning could do the same things, and that in particular, he was as ferocious a defender as Ewing had been.
It wasn’t a wild thought.
In high school, Mourning blocked 27 shots in a single game.
But he was smaller than Ewing and not as athletic, and not nearly as much of a warrior as Ewing turned out to be.
That became obvious in retrospect,
but in 1989, as noted above, Georgetown’s aura was still strong, so when Duke’s Phil Henderson took the ball in on Mourning and did this…well, no one did that to Mourning.
Like Ewing, he had a fearsome reputation and people were intimidated. Henderson’s willingness to challenge Mourning may have changed the trajectory of his career.
Brotherhood Bonus: Grant Hill got into it with Mourning when they were both in the NBA, and after a confrontation at Mourning’s end of the court, Hill came down and got his vengeance.
