Hoya Basketball at the Moment

via Georgetown Hoops

In the 2020-2021 Season, despite being an 8 seed in the Big East at 13-13, the Georgetown Hoyas would go on a miraculous run to end the season beating Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall, and Creighton, two of which by double figures, to win the Big East tournament and get a spot in the NCAA March Madness Tournament, in which they would fall to 5-seeded Colorado. Dante Harris, freshman point guard at the time, proved himself down the stretch in big games in addition to seniors Jahvon Blair and Jamorko Pickett, who could not have been sent off in greater fashion. Qudus Wahab, who now plays at Maryland, made his presence felt down low with the help of backup center Timothy Ighoefe, both rebound machines. Deeper in the lineup Donald Carey helped towards the success of the Hoyas by adding more of a presence to the second unit. As for the current Georgetown Hoyas, things have not looked up. Carey, Harris, Ighoefe, and Holloway are the only significant returners, and as for recruiting, Patrick Ewing landed 5-star Aminu Mohammed, as well as picking up Kaiden Rice and Tyler Beard. Going into the season the Hoyas did not have big expectations and have seemed to match that by falling to Dartmouth in the season opener and then to an up-and-coming San Diego State team, followed by a dreadful loss to a St. Joes team in the consolation game of the Wooden Legacy Basketball Tournament held in Southern California. After losing essentially their whole starting lineup except Harris from the 2020-21 season to the current one, the team did bounce back after starting the season 4-4, while also falling to South Carolina 80-67. They beat their long-lost rivals, the Syracuse Orange, who have been an up and down team all season. They ended their non-conference stretch with wins over UMBC and Howard, and in addition a tight loss to a good TCU team. The Team then experienced almost a 3-week absence after their games with Providence, St. Johns, and Xavier were postponed due to Covid protocols. After what some thought the team was amidst a mid-season turnaround, the Hoyas have been blown out their first two in-conference games back. They let up 92 points at home to a good Marquette team and could not find a way to catch up to a very average Butler team. Despite Carey missing both contests and Harris missing the Butler game, Aminu, Beard, and Rice struggled leading the Hoyas to victory. Georgetown now sits at 6-7, 11th in the Big East and is on a bit of a road stretch being at St. Johns the 16th and Providence the 20th. Can the Hoyas pull off another run like they did last season, or will the team’s lack of playmakers hurt them down the stretch? Patrick Ewing has more work to do if he wants to put his team back in a position to compete in the Big East Tournament.