At Capital One Arena on Saturday, Senior Day proved to be a typical Hoyas-Friars matchup in the modern Big East: ugly, gritty, often rough to watch and, in the end, a loss for Georgetown.

For the eighth consecutive matchup between the two programs, the Georgetown Hoyas (15-12, 5-11 Big East) fell to the Providence Friars (18-11, 9-7 Big East) 74-69.

The first and second halves could not have gone more differently for Georgetown.

The Hoyas came out ready, running their offense through their dynamic frontcourt of junior forward Marcus Derrickson and junior center Jessie Govan.

Govan was efficient in the paint early on, making his first four shots while underneath the basket. Providence had no immediate answer.

Govan reached his 1,000th point as a Hoya on Saturday, becoming one of only 20 players in program history to achieve that many points, along with 500 rebounds. He finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

“It’s an honor,” Govan said to GUHoyas. “There are a lot of great names on that list, from the Sleepy Floyds and Patrick Ewing to L.J. Peak, so it’s an honor to join it. I obviously wish my team had won the game, but it was definitely a goal I had at the beginning of the season that was realistic, so I was glad I was able to do it.”

Derrickson found less individual success. From the get-go, the Hoyas tried to get Derrickson the ball on the block and make plays from there. The Friars came prepared, fronting him with senior guard Jalen Lindsey with steady backside help from freshman center Nate Watson and sophomore forward Kalif Young.

However, Derrickson was able to take advantage of the mismatch on the boards, where he led with 15 rebounds. Overall, the Hoyas outrebounded the Friars 43-31.

The Hoyas led 40-35 at halftime. However, as the second half rolled around, Providence changed its approach down low.

“I guess their coach told them to change it up in the second half because I was pretty efficient in the first half,” Govan said. “He just gave them a game plan to body up on me and it worked for the most part. It made it hard for me to get clean looks off so they did a good job of disrupting my rhythm.”

The game was refereed with a clear “let the guys play” mentality, drawing the ire of Head Coach Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85), who said he felt the Friars did more than just “body up” down low.

“The whole game, they tried to switch. They tried to front,” Ewing said. “I think all those things played a factor. … They were walking onto Jessie, and weren’t getting those calls, and they were getting those calls down on the other end. I had enough.”

In the two teams’ last meeting, Georgetown attempted 33 free throws at Providence. On Saturday, the Hoyas had just 10.

Providence was able to use its defense to lead to offensive opportunities. For the first nine minutes of the second half, the Hoyas managed only a single field goal. A five-point halftime lead slowly became a 10-point deficit with 10 minutes to play.

The Hoyas turned to a press to get the game back. Although they gave up a few three-pointers to Friar’s senior forward Rodney Bullock, the press swayed the momentum.

“[The press] got us back in the game,” Ewing said. “I’m not sure how many points they were up. … The lead was getting away from us. I thought it was something to do to try to speed it up and get them to play a little bit faster than they wanted to.”

Ewing said the press put the Hoyas back in the game and gave them a chance to win.

“We got a couple steals, they were able to get a couple threes, but it was a balance. It got us back in the game, and it got the game within striking distance. We were within two points, and we just didn’t get the stop,” Ewing said.

Down one with a minute to play, Georgetown forced a Providence miss but was unable to secure the loose ball. The ball found Providence sophomore guard Alpha Diallo, who was fouled while making a layup. Diallo missed the free throw, and Georgetown got the ball with 42 seconds left.

Down three on the other end, a broken-down play led to a Georgetown miss in the lane. The Friars knocked down two free throws to finish the game.

“The play broke down,” Govan said, referring to the Hoyas’ chance to tie the game. “So I just tried to set a high ball screen for [freshman guard] Jahvon [Blair]. They wound up switching it, so Jahvon just tried to create and he wound up missing it.”

“We had our opportunities to pull away from them or come up with that loose ball at the end, or make a play at the end to either block a shot or give up a three-point play. But, we just didn’t get it done,” Ewing said about the final minute.

Govan agreed about the Hoyas’ inability to secure boards in the closing minutes.

“Defense ends with securing the rebound,” Govan said. “That’s been hurting us all year.”

Georgetown has a quick turnaround, as it faces the Marquette Golden Eagles (16-12, 7-9 Big East), who come off a rough loss to DePaul (11-17, 4-12 Big East), on Monday.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Capital One Arena. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.