It’s been a rough year—to put it mildly—for the Georgetown Hoyas (6-22), losers of 18 straight heading into Wednesday night’s showdown at Seton Hall. Georgetown’s current 18-game slide, which began with a loss to TCU on December 18th, is the program’s longest dry spell since 1972. The Hoyas have yet to win a conference game this season, entering Wednesday 0-17 against Big East opponents. Barring a miracle at next week’s Big East Tournament, Georgetown will miss March Madness for the fourth time in five seasons under head coach Patrick Ewing, who has largely struggled since returning to his alma mater in 2017 (68-81 record).
Ewing is Georgetown royalty—he led the Hoyas to a national championship in 1984 and almost won another the following season (Villanova upset them in that year’s title game). Despite Ewing’s legacy as arguably the greatest player in program history—not to mention his NBA accolades with the Knicks and decorated international career as an Olympic gold medalist for Team USA—that success hasn’t translated on the court with just one winning season to show for his five years at Georgetown. Even last season, the Hoyas needed to run the table in the Big East Tournament just to score a 12-seed in March Madness, finishing with a .500 record at 13-13 overall.
Disappointing as the early returns have been, Georgetown remains committed to Ewing as its head coach, a sentiment expressed by athletic director Lee Reed. “Coach Ewing’s dedication as well as his success in last year’s Big East Tournament is a testament to his leadership,” wrote Reed in a statement released Wednesday. “This gives us confidence that he can strengthen our program going forward.”
Ewing, who landed his dream job after years of honing his skills as an assistant coach for the Wizards, Rockets, Magic and Hornets, said earlier this week he plans to stay at Georgetown for as long as they’ll have him. “Of course I want to be back here,” said Ewing after Sunday’s home finale versus UConn. “But in this position, in this job, whatever happens will happen.”
Georgetown will need to win one of its final two games—Wednesday at Seton Hall or Saturday at Xavier—to avoid going winless in Big East play for the first time in school history.
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