A 101-69 defeat at the hands of DePaul. There are no words to describe how bad this game was. I am quite literally at a loss. To give some perspective, here is a list of things that are better than Georgetown’s performance: watching paint dry, Georgetown University Facilities’ response time, losing to UMBC (sorry Virginia), Georgetown’s teal jerseys, Trey Mourning’s three-point percentage (he’s a 17.6% career shooter if you were wondering), or literally anything other than this.
On a night when the Blue Demons shot 50% from three-point range, Max Strus led all scorers with 30 points. Additionally, four DePaul starters reached double-figures, compared with just two for the Hoyas, as Georgetown allowed their opponents to eclipse the century mark for the first time this season. Jessie Govan was virtually invisible, a common thread between many of the team’s losses, scoring only six points on 1 of 6 shooting as he was limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble.
This Georgetown Hoyas team has found ways to let us down before, (see blowing leads vs. St. John’s, at Xavier, etc.) but this blowout loss at the hands of the worst team in the Big East is unequivocally the most painful. For my sanity, and likely for that of all Hoya fans, perhaps it would be best to skip the usual brief play-by-play and instead focus on the implications of the loss. Coming into the game, the Hoyas appeared to be on the upswing, winning two games in a row to move into solo 3rd place in the conference and jump into the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation. With the loss (even ignoring the fact that it was by 32 points), Georgetown now slides into the cluttered mess in the middle of the conference, a 5-way tie for 3rd place at 8-9. In terms of NCAA tournament hopes, those dreams seem a distant fantasy now, as the Hoyas will have vanished from bubble consideration come tomorrow morning.
Beyond the simple mathematical outcomes of the defeat, this thorough thrashing raises questions regarding the very character of this team. Such lackluster energy is almost inexplicable, especially given the fact that this was a game in which Georgetown needed a victory. Coming out of the gate, the Hoyas were disorganized, sloppy and a step slow in virtually every aspect of the game. Even more brutal was the lack of fight when DePaul rattled off a 22-0 run in the second-half to put the game away for good. One can only hope that Ewing will be able to rally the troops and prepare to bounce-back in a tough matchup on the road at Marquette. However, given the futility of Georgetown’s efforts to stop the Blue Demons offense Wednesday night, it seems entirely likely that the Hoyas will be unable to recover this late in the season.
So, what’s next? Though a win at Marquette would now hold little leverage in terms of NCAA Tournament consideration, it is of the utmost importance that, win or lose, Georgetown puts forth a respectable effort and erases the memories of this disaster. Beyond that, the Hoyas still have a lot to play for, especially when it comes to the Big East Tournament. As always, an unexpected title run at Madison Square Garden would supersede these failings and earn Ewing and Co. an automatic bid to the Big Dance. While that seems unlikely at the moment (that being the understatement of the century), there should be a lot of fight left in this (bull)dog and leave it to Coach Ewing to get it out of his players over the next week and a half.
For now, Georgetown fans are left to wallow in the misery of what was the worst loss of the Patrick Ewing era. The worst of it all? Rest assured that this man will be haunting our dreams tonight.
