Early years (1907–1943) Founded in the fall of
1906, the Georgetown men's basketball team played its first game on February 9, 1907, defeating the
University of Virginia by a score of 22–11. In its first 60-some years, the program displayed only sporadic success. Until
McDonough Gymnasium opened on campus for the
1950–51 season, the team changed home courts frequently, playing on campus at Ryan Gymnasium and off campus at
McKinley Technology High School,
Uline Arena, and the
National Guard Armory, as well as playing individual home games at the
University of Maryland's
Ritchie Coliseum and
The Catholic University of America's Brookland Gymnasium, among others. The downtown locations of these venues was also influenced by the number of
Law School students who played on the team in this era. From 1918 through 1923, while on campus at Ryan Gymnasium, Georgetown managed a 52–0 home record under coach John O'Reilly. A large on-campus arena was proposed in 1927, but it was shelved during the
Great Depression. , and returned to coach the
1929–30 team. The team recruited its first
All-American, Ed Hargaden, in
1931. In 1942, a Hoya went pro for the first time, when three seniors,
Al Lujack,
Buddy O'Grady, and
Dino Martin, were drafted professionally upon graduation.
John Thompson era (1972–1999) and
Patrick Ewing meet with
Ronald Reagan after winning the 1984 National Championship.|alt=Two tall African-American men, one in a suit, one in a gray basketball uniform, stand behind a shorter elderly white male in an ornate room, with each man holding a basketball.
John Thompson Jr., played two seasons with the
Boston Celtics before he achieved local notability coaching St. Anthony's High School in Washington, D.C. to several very successful seasons. Thompson was hired to coach Georgetown in 1972, and with recruits from St. Anthony's like Merlin Wilson, quickly and dramatically improved the team. Georgetown, while still independent, participated in the
Eastern College Athletic Conference′s 1975 postseason
ECAC South tournament, and after
a 16–9 regular season found itself facing
West Virginia in the conference tournament championship. Derrick Jackson's
buzzer beater won Georgetown its first tournament championship, and a bid to the
1975 NCAA tournament.
1979-80 Season: birth of a historic rivalry and champions of the inaugural Big East regular season and tournament Prior to the
1979–80 season, Georgetown joined with six other schools,
Providence,
St. John's,
Syracuse,
Seton Hall,
Connecticut, and
Boston College to found a conference focused primarily on basketball. The
Big East Conference provided Georgetown increased competition, and several of its longest rivalries. For example, prior to the formation of the Big East, Georgetown had only played national powerhouse Syracuse 18 times in the
previous 51 years, and only twice in the prior decade. After the start of the Big East, they played Syracuse 27 times in the next 10 years. On February 13, 1980, Syracuse had won 57 straight games on its home court of
Manley Field House: the longest winning streak in Division 1 basketball. The team was about to move to the new Carrier Dome. Its last game of the Big East regular season and its final ever at Manley was supposed to be a celebration of the winning streak and the school's success. With Syracuse ranked #2 in the country and almost invincible at Manley, they were expected to readily beat Georgetown. Syracuse seniors had never lost a home game in their entire careers. Hoyas radio announcer Rich Chvotkin said, "Everybody was pointing to Syracuse continuing that streak, and closing Manley Field House on a high note." Years later, Thompson said in the lead-up to the game, he was extremely nervous because of how crazy the crowd would be: “My nerves were at the height at that point saying: ‘What the hell am I doing closing this place? The place is going to be, you know, going mad.’” Behind by 14 points at the half, and by many points late in the game, Georgetown mounted a surprise, rapid comeback. After Georgetown star
Sleepy Floyd scored two last-second free-throws to win, Coach Thompson grabbed a microphone and declared "Manley Field House is officially closed" to an audience of stunned, silent Syracuse supporters. ESPN columnist Eamonn Brennan, wrote that Manley Field House “is most famous for its service to the Georgetown-Syracuse blood feud.” He said: “Before 1980, the Hoyas and Orange were competitors, and little more. When John Thompson delivered his famous 'Manley Field House is officially closed,' he managed to pack so much ether into six words that a rivalry was born on the spot. It's been that way ever since." Syracuse professor Lawrence Mason said, "There was no rivalry at all until that Manley Field House game." Chvotkin agreed: "I think the rest of that Georgetown-Cuse rivalry was predicated on closing Manley Field House." Doug Logan, the Syracuse radio announcer for 24 years, said: "It was Syracuse and Georgetown and that hated, bitter rivalry that made the Big East a national phenomenon." ESPN analyst and Syracuse graduate
Mike Tirico commented: "Without John’s larger than life personality, his great players, his steadfastness in the John Thompson way of doing things, it wouldn’t have built the rivalry and wouldn't have built the Big East to what it became for the 80s and the 90s." The Manley upset also made Georgetown co-champions of the first Big East regular season. Three weeks later, Georgetown faced Syracuse again in the finals of the
first Big East tournament. With Syracuse ranked #3 in the country and Georgetown #20, the Hoyas were again the underdogs. But they pulled off another upset, winning 87–81 behind 21 points from Floyd to become the first Big East tournament champions.
1981-82 Season The team moved its home arena in the
1981-82 season to the
Capital Centre in
Landover, Maryland, to accommodate its growing fan base. It also marked the arrival of heralded recruit,
Patrick Ewing, who became one of the first college players to start and star on a varsity team as a freshman. That year, Ewing led the Hoyas to their second Big East tournament title in school history, and a No. 1 seed in the
NCAA tournament. In the tournament, the Hoyas advanced to their first Final Four since 1943, where they defeated the
University of Louisville 50–46, to set up a showdown in the NCAA Final against the
University of North Carolina. In one of the most star-studded championship games in NCAA history, Ewing was called for
goaltending five times in the first half (later revealed to be intentional at the behest of coach Thompson), setting the tone for the Hoyas and making his presence felt. The Hoyas led by one point late in the game, but a jumpshot by future NBA superstar
Michael Jordan gave North Carolina the lead. Georgetown still had a chance at winning the game in the final seconds, but Freddy Brown mistakenly threw a bad pass directly to opposing player
James Worthy, and North Carolina won 63–62.
1982-83 Season For the
1982-83 season, Georgetown began the season as the No. 2 ranked team in the country. The early season included a highly anticipated matchup with No. 1
Virginia, and highly regarded center
Ralph Sampson. Arenas nationwide jockeyed to host the matchup but Georgetown insisted on hosting it at the Capital Centre.
WTBS won the rights to broadcast the game with a $550,000 bid, and it was billed as the "Game of the Decade". It became the first major college sports event telecasted exclusively on cable television. In the game, held on December 11, 1982, Virginias veteran team won, 68–63. The Hoyas went on to post a 22–10 record for the season and made another NCAA Tournament appearance, but were defeated in the second round of the tournament by
Memphis State. This was the only season in Ewing's four-year Georgetown career where the team did not make it as least as far as the National Championship game.
1983-84 Season: National Champions In the
1983-84 season Georgetown again won the Big East conference regular season title, and faced Syracuse for the
Big East tournament championship. In a physical and tightly contested contest, Georgetown won 82–71 in overtime, securing their third tournament title in the first five years of the newly formed conference. In the
NCAA tournament, the No. 1 seeded Hoyas ultimately advanced to the
Final Four for the third time in school history to face
Kentucky, a team which had never lost a national semifinal game and was led by the "Twin Towers,"
Sam Bowie and
Melvin Turpin. Georgetown was able to turn an early 12 point deficit into a 53–40 win to advance to the National Championship game. In the final, the Hoyas faced the
University of Houston and future Hall of Fame center
Hakeem Olajuwon, who were making their second straight National Championship game appearance. Georgetown led comfortably throughout the final, and went on to an 84–75 victory, giving the school its first NCAA Championship. Ewing was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Thompson became the first
African-American coach to win an NCAA Division I title. Freddy Brown, who made the key turnover in the title game two years prior, was given the chance to raise the trophy first.
1984-85 Season To begin the
1984-85 season, the defending champions opened the season as the No. 1 ranked team and won their first 18 games. On January 26, 1985,
St. John's University snapped the Hoyas' 29 game win streak (dating back to the prior season), in what was the first of an unprecedented four contests this season. Their next meeting on February 27, 1985, was one of the most anticipated games in college basketball history, with Georgetown and St. John's ranked No. 2 and No. 1 respectively. Coach Thompson entered
Madison Square Garden wearing a shirt under his blazer in the same sweater pattern as St. John's coach
Lou Carnesecca, and as a result the game became known as "the sweater game." The Hoyas easily won the game 85–69, and then defeated the Redmen again just a few weeks later in the
1985 Big East tournament finals, capturing their fourth title in six years. The teams met one more time, after both advanced to the Final Four in the
NCAA tournament. Again No. 1 Georgetown was victorious, easily handling St. John's 77–59. In the title game the Hoyas found themselves matched up with another conference rival in
Villanova, whom they had beaten twice that season. An overwhelming favorite going into the game, Georgetown was upset by the Wildcats 66–64, who shot a record 78.6 percent (22 of 28) from the floor, denying Georgetown back-to-back titles. Ewing graduated, having helped his team to a 121–23 record in his four years, and was the first player in school history to be drafted with the first overall pick. in the first round of the
1989 NCAA tournament Continued Success Under Coach Thompson Following the enormous heights of Ewing's four-year run, the program continued its success in the years that followed. Senior
Reggie Williams led the Hoyas to both Big East regular season and tournament championships in the
1986–87 season. Freshman
Alonzo Mourning and sophomore
Dikembe Mutombo helped win both titles in the
1988–89 season. Mourning and Mutombo were both excellent
shot blockers; Mourning led the nation in 1988–89, and fans created a "Rejection Row" section under the basket. They repeated both championships in the
1989–90 season and won the regular season title in the
1991-92 season. In the
1994–95 season, newcomer
Allen Iverson won the
Big East Rookie of the Year award. During his two years at Georgetown, Iverson scored a Georgetown-record 22.9
points per game. In
1995–96, he propelled the Hoyas to a major upset over the
Connecticut Huskies during the season, but Georgetown later lost to the Huskies in the final seconds of
that year's Big East tournament. Thompson retired abruptly in the midst of the
1998–99 season on January 8, 1999, citing marital problems, and was replaced by his assistant
Craig Esherick. Under Thompson, 26 players were chosen in the
NBA draft, eight in the first round, including two players selected first overall; Ewing by the
New York Knicks in 1985 and Iverson by the
Philadelphia 76ers in 1996. Over his seasons, Thompson's Hoyas went an impressive 596–239 (.714), running off a streak of 24 postseason appearances with 20 in the NCAA tournament and four in the
NIT. the Hoyas lost in the second-round game to
California.
2000-01 Season In
2000–01, led by future top NBA Draft pick
Michael Sweetney, they made the
NCAA tournament after finishing 23–7 in the regular season. In the opening round of the NCAA tournament the 7th-seeded Hoyas advanced past 10th-seeded
Arkansas on a game-winning shot at the buzzer by Nat Burton. The Hoyas subsequently beat
Hampton, and then lost to third-seeded
Maryland in the Sweet Sixteen.
Esherick's Final Years In
2001–02, the Hoyas went 19–11, barely missing an NCAA tournament bid. The team rejected a bid to the
2002 NIT bid because of travel-arrangement issues associated with the players' ability to attend classes, resulting in their first season without a postseason tournament since
1973-74. In
2002-03, the Hoyas finished the regular season with a 19–15 record, and accepted a bid to the
2003 NIT, where they made it to the final but lost to Big East rival
St. John's. Sweetney was named a second-team All-American and was drafted with the ninth pick in the
2002 NBA draft by the
New York Knicks. In Esherick's final season,
2003–04, the Hoyas struggled to a 13–15 overall record and a dismal 4–12 Big East record, and for the first time since the 1973–74 season received no invitation to either the NCAA tournament or the NIT. The 13 wins were the team's fewest since the 1973–74 season and Esherick was fired after seasons as head coach on March 15, 2004, five days after an opening-round loss in the
Big East tournament to
Boston College. He had posted a 103–74 (.597) record during his tenure as head coach. Georgetown began a national search for a new coach after Esherick's firing that resulted in the hiring of
John Thompson III. Thompson brought with him an adaptation of the
Princeton offense as an offensive philosophy to Georgetown. He had learned it under the tutelage of legendary coach
Pete Carril at Princeton and began to adjust the strategy to the more athletic players he would be coaching at Georgetown. Thompson III also immediately brought two new assistant coaches to Georgetown in Robert Burke and Kevin Broadus. Thompson inherited four players that Esherick had recruited:
Jeff Green,
Roy Hibbert, Tyler Crawford and
RaMell Ross. He also brought with him a former Princeton recruit,
Jonathan Wallace and saw the return of two major contributors from the previous Georgetown team in
Brandon Bowman, Ashanti Cook, and Darrel Owens. John Thompson III's first notable win with the team took place on January 21, 2006, in the 16th game of the
2005–06 season, when unranked Georgetown upset No. 1
Duke. This was Georgetown's first win over a No. 1 ranked team in 21 years. being presented with the trophy for the East Region Championship in the
2007 NCAA tournament.
2006-07 Season The
2006–07 season marked the centennial of Hoya hoops, which was celebrated by honoring some of the team's most famous alumni at the Georgetown-
Marquette game on February 10, 2007. Led by juniors Green, Hibbert, Wallace,
Patrick Ewing Jr., the son of the Georgetown player from the elder Thompson era, the Hoyas won their first regular-season Big East Championship since 1992 and defeated
Pittsburgh to win their first
Big East tournament championship since 1989.
Jeff Green was named the Big East Player of the Year and the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. In the
NCAA tournament, the Hoyas beat
North Carolina in the Regional Final when their defense caused North Carolina to suffer an improbable collapse in which UNC missed 22 of their final 23 field goal attempts. The Hoyas then advanced to the Final Four where they fell to an
Ohio State team led by
Greg Oden. in the
Big East tournament final in
2007 and
2008.
2007-08 Season The
2007–08 Hoyas finished with a regular season record of 27–5, and again won the conference regular season title. They lost to Pittsburgh in the
Big East tournament championship game. They received a No. 2 seed in the
NCAA tournament, where they lost their second-round game. After the season, Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, and Patrick Ewing Jr. all graduated, while Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers both transferred from the school.
2008-09 Season The Hoyas began their
2008–09 season ranked No. 22 AP/No. 18 Coaches, however, college basketball's toughest
strength of schedule eventually wore down a team that was also one of the youngest. The Hoyas were 7–11 in Big East play for a 12th-place finish, followed by a first-round loss in the
Big East tournament. The Hoyas accepted a bid to the
NIT, but lost in the first round to
Baylor.
2009-10 Season In
2009–10, the team finished the season 23–11, and 10–8 in Big East play. They advanced to the championship game of the
Big East tournament before losing to
West Virginia. They received an at–large bid to the
NCAA tournament, earning a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, where they were upset by No. 14 seed
Ohio in the first round. Standout center
Greg Monroe entered the NBA draft as a sophomore and was selected by the
Detroit Pistons.
2010-11 Season The
2010–11 team was led by
Austin Freeman and
Chris Wright. The team scored multiple early wins over ranked teams, including an overtime win at No. 9
Missouri, but their stumbles at the end of the season coincided with Wright breaking his hand and missing three games. The team received an at-large bid as a No. 6 seed, but lost in their first game of the
NCAA tournament to No. 11-seeded and eventual Final Four participant
VCU.
2011-12 Season Prior to the
2011–12 season, the Hoyas made a goodwill trip to
China for several matches with local teams.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden attended their first game, a win over the
Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons. Their second game against the
Bayi Rockets, however, ended in a brawl, causing the team to leave the court while Chinese fans threw garbage and debris. Georgetown won its final games, against the
Liaoning Dinosaurs and the
Taiwanese national team without incident. The Hoyas finished the season in fourth place in the Big East and received a bid to the
NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed in the Midwest. After a win in the second round, they were upset by No. 11-seeded
NC State.
2012-13 Season The
2012–13 season saw the Hoyas as the top overall seed in the
Big East tournament based on a tiebreaker, but lost in the semifinals. Georgetown received a bid as a No. 2 seed in the South bracket in the
NCAA tournament, facing tournament newcomer
Florida Gulf Coast University in the second round. Georgetown lost to the 15th-seeded Eagles 78–68, the seventh number two seed to lose to a 15 seed. It was the fourth consecutive season the Hoyas were eliminated by a double-digit seed in the NCAA tournament.
2013-14 Season The
2013–14 season was the team's first after Georgetown and six other schools left the original
Big East Conference and joined
Butler,
Creighton, and
Xavier in forming the new
Big East Conference – part of a
major conference realignment in which several other teams moved to the
Atlantic Coast Conference from the old Big East and the old Big East became the
American Athletic Conference. Like the previous year, the 2013–14 season started abroad, with the Hoyas playing in the
Armed Forces Classic at
Camp Humphreys near
Pyeongtaek,
South Korea. After a 17–13 regular-season record followed by an upset in the first round of the
Big East tournament at the hands of last-place
DePaul, the team received a No. 4 seed in the
NIT, losing in the second round to top-seeded
Florida State.
John Thompson III's Final Years In
2014–15, the Hoyas rebounded from their previous season's performance. Ranked as high as No. 21 at times, they completed the regular season with a 20–7 record and a second-place finish in the Big East, and advanced to the semifinals of the
Big East tournament before losing to
Xavier. Ranked No. 22 in the country, they received a No. 4 seed in the
NCAA tournament, but lost to
Utah in the third round. The Hoyas under Thompson III struggled for the next two years. They began their
2015–16 season with a four-game exhibition trip to
Italy and
Switzerland, and early in the regular season defeated No. 14
Syracuse, but then staggered to a 15–18 finish. They failed to receive an invitation to either the
NCAA tournament or the
NIT for the first time since
2004 and only the second time since
1974. During the
2016–17 season, Georgetown defeated three ranked teams—No. 13
Oregon, No. 16
Creighton, and No. 11
Butler—as well as their former Big East rivals
Syracuse and
Connecticut, but they finished ninth in the Big East with a 5–13 conference record—the most losses they had ever suffered in a season in either version of the Big East Conference—and lost to
St. John's in the first round of the
2017 Big East tournament to finish 14–18. They missed both the NCAA tournament and the NIT for the second straight year, the first time they had missed the postseason in back-to-back seasons since 1974. Thompson became the first Georgetown head coach to preside over consecutive losing seasons since
John "Jack" Magee in
1970–71 and
1971–72. On March 23, 2017, Georgetown officials announced that Thompson had been
fired.
Patrick Ewing era (2017–2023) returned to Georgetown as head coach in 2017. On April 3, 2017, Georgetown University announced that it had hired
Patrick Ewing, who stands alongside
Allen Iverson as arguably the school's most decorated player, as its head coach. In his four years as a player at Georgetown, Ewing led the Hoyas to three Big East championships, three Final Fours, and the 1984 National Championship on his way to become the #1 pick in the NBA draft. Prior to taking over as the program's head coach, Ewing had spent the previous thirteen years as an assistant coach in the NBA, working for four different franchises under the tutelage of coaches such as
Pat Riley,
Jeff Van Gundy,
Stan Van Gundy, and
Steve Clifford.
2017-18 Season In
2017–18, Georgetown finished with a 15–15 record and 5–13 in the Big East. The Hoyas won the first eight games of Ewing's tenure and finished their non-conference schedule with a 10–1 record, but struggled in conference play. The season ended with a 88–77 loss to
St. John's in the first round of the
Big East tournament. The team did not participate in any postseason tournament. One bright spot, however, was the play of freshman
Jamorko Pickett, who was unanimously named to the Big East All-freshman team.
2018-19 Season In Ewing's second season, the
2018–19 team finished 19–12 and 9–9 in the Big East, in a four-way tie for third place in the conference, their highest finish since 2015. At the conclusion of the conference schedule, Jesse Govan was named First Team All-Big East,
James Akinjo was named Big East Freshman of the Year, and
Mac McClung and Josh LeBlanc were named to the All-Big East Freshman Team. The Hoyas lost their first game in the
2019 Big East tournament to
Seton Hall 73–57. They were selected to play in the
2019 NIT, their first postseason appearance since 2015, but dropped their first-round game 71–68 to
Harvard.
2019-20 Season The following season the
2019–20 Hoyas finished 15–17 and 5–13 in the Big East. In November, the team participated in the
Empire Classic at
Madison Square Garden in
New York City where they beat No. 22
Texas 82–66 and moved to the final to face No. 1
Duke. Despite having a double-digit lead in the first half vs Duke, the Hoyas ultimately fell 81–73. Playing with only 9 scholarship players following several defections and injuries, the Hoyas lost their final 7 games, including a 75–62 loss in the opening round of the
2020 Big East tournament to
St. John's. All postseason tournaments were subsequently cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
2020-21 Season The
2020–21 Hoyas finished the season 10–13 and 7–9 in the Big East. Before the season started, leading scorer Mac McClung announced his decision to transfer to
Texas Tech. Because of COVID-19 protocols, the team played all of its home games on campus at
McDonough Arena without fans. After a 74–69 loss at
Syracuse, the team went on a 21-day pause due to COVID-19 protocols. After the hiatus, the team returned to win six of its next ten games. The Hoyas' 7–9 record resulted in an eighth-place finish in the conference. At the
2021 Big East tournament, the team won its first tournament game under Ewing, with a 68–49 victory over
Marquette in the opening round, then followed that up with wins against top-seeded
Villanova and
Seton Hall, sending them to the title game where they defeated
Creighton 73–48 for their first title since 2007, and the eighth in school history, extending their own conference record. The Hoyas earned a 12 seed in the
NCAA tournament, where they lost their opening round game to
Colorado 96–73.
Ewing's Final Years as Coach: Historic Struggles The following season, the
Hoyas were unable to build off their unlikely March run the prior season and suffered their worst season in school history. Georgetown lost all 19 conference games they played in 2021-22. They also set a school record for most losses in a season with 25, finishing the year at 6–25. The season ended with a 57–53 loss in the
2022 Big East tournament to
Seton Hall. Despite some rumblings about his job security, Ewing was retained by the university for the following season. Despite high hopes for a team led by 5-star freshman
Aminu Mohammed and several highly-touted transfers, the
2022–23 Hoyas failed to improve from the prior year's low. The team would lose its first 9 conference games, extending the record of consecutive conference game losses to 29, until they eventually beat
DePaul 81–76 on January 24, at Capital One Arena. The Hoyas would only win more game after this point and finished the year at 7–25, matching the program's high water mark for losses, just set the previous season. The team lost in the
2023 Big East tournament 48–80 to Villanova. The following day, the university announced that Ewing would not return as coach, ending his six-year run at his alma mater. His Georgetown coaching career ended with a record of 75–109 (.408) and 28–81 (.257) in the Big East; both are the lowest winning percentages for a coach in the modern era of the program. Much of the relative failure of the Ewing era can be attributed to the coach’s outdated recruiting ideology. Ewing had a penchant for recruiting international players, specifically centers. This strategy can yield excellent results, such as when Ewing himself was signed out of Jamaica, and
Michael Olowokandi, who (regardless of how his NBA career turned out) was a game changer as a walk on at Pacific. However, this strategy has inherent risks, and the Hoyas ended up holding the bag on players such as
Qudus Wahab. Additionally, Ewing prioritised acquiring the top 4-5 star freshmen rather than developing depth, and thus wound up with rosters with considerable high-end talent but questionable depth. As a result of this policy, as well as some strategic ineptitude, the Hoyas would send several players to the NBA but never find sustained success. The most egregious example may be the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons, where over which span the Hoyas sent 5 players to the NBA;
Omer Yurtseven,
Mac McClung,
James Akinjo,
Myron Gardner, and
Jamorko Pickett. Over the same span, the Hoyas went 14-22 in the Big East.
Ed Cooley era (2023–present) took on the role of head coach in March 2023. On March 20, 2023,
Ed Cooley accepted an offer to become the new head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team after 12 years in the same role at conference rival
Providence College. The decision to hire Cooley was praised as a move likely to strengthen the program.
2023-24 Season The
2023–2024 Hoyas started the season 7–4, with a notable last second win at
Notre Dame, its first victory over the Irish on the road since the 2013 season (when they were a fellow member of the Big East). The team lost several close games in conference play, including its much anticipated matchup against
Providence, one of the most watched college basketball games of the season. Ultimately Georgetown finished 2–18 in the league and 9–23 overall. The two league wins however matched the number of wins the Hoyas had the prior two seasons combined in Big East play.
2024-25 Season The team's roster was completely overhauled before the
2024–2025 season. Headlined by Top 50 high school recruit
Thomas Sorber, reigning
Ivy League freshman of the year
Malik Mack (from
Harvard), and highly regarded graduate transfer
Micah Peavy (from
TCU), the recruiting class was ranked as the 29th best in the country. The Hoyas got out to their best start in over a decade, as they began the year 12–2. The strong start included Cooley's first win at rival
Syracuse in the 100th matchup of the storied rivalry, and a 3–0 record to begin Big East play with wins over
Creighton,
Seton Hall and
Xavier. Georgetown struggled with injuries down the stretch, most significantly losing Sorber for the season in early February. Georgetown was selected to play in the inaugural
2025 College Basketball Crown postseason tournament in
Las Vegas, Nevada. The Hoyas won their opening round game versus
Washington State, 85–82 before losing in the Quarterfinals to
Nebraska 81–69. The finished the year 18-16 (8-12 in the Big East). In June, two Hoyas were selected in June at the
2025 NBA Draft. Sorber was chosen 15th overall by the
Oklahoma City Thunder, and Peavy went 40th overall to the
New Orleans Pelicans. Sorber's selection made him the first player in program history to be drafted directly into the NBA as a freshman. The 2025 draft marked the sixth time since 1980 (and the first time since 2008) that a pair of Georgetown teammates were selected in the same draft.
2025-26 Season After taking large strides in 2024-25, 2026 was a bit of a letdown in comparison. Despite a strong 5–0 start, the team's best since the
2017-18 season, the Hoyas struggled for the remainder of the year. Key players like sophomore center
Julius Halaifonua, who many hoped would fill the void left by Sorber, failed to take significant strides and the squad ultimately finished in last place in the Big East for the third time in six seasons. Playing as the 11th seed in the
Big East tournament, Georgetown concluded its season with upset victories over
DePaul and
Villanova before being defeated in the semifinals by
UConn. ==Awards and honors==