Dan Gelfand/The Hoya Senior guard Gerald Riley maneuvers around a screen at Seton Hall last Saturday. Riley had eight points in Georgetown’s sixth straight loss, 75-48 – its worst offensive showing this year.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Late February is the time in college basketball when prognosticators, coaches and commentators begin in earnest to predict and discuss the NCAA tournament field of 65.

But at Georgetown this year, where the men’s basketball team lost its sixth straight Saturday, falling to Seton Hall 75-48, there is little new to talk about.

“I thought Seton Hall came out like they wanted to play in the NCAA tournament this year, and we didn’t,” Head Coach Craig Esherick said. “They have a lot more to play for than we do right now. Seton Hall clearly needed this game and wanted this game . I don’t know if there’s much I can say about my team.” Seton Hall is favored to make the tournament, boasting a 19-8 record for the season and a 9-6 conference record.

It was Georgetown’s (13-12, 4-10 Big East) biggest loss of the season, worse than the 24-point beating they suffered at then-No. 1 Connecticut.

“This hurts. This hurts very much. Seton Hall’s a good team,” sophomore point guard Ashanti Cook said. “That was a tough game to play.”

Georgetown is still waiting for a win that would put them over the .500 mark for the season and make them eligible for the NIT. There are two chances left: at Notre Dame on Thursday and home against Virginia Tech Saturday.

Cook said the team is aware of the need to win at least one more game, although Riley said they have not discussed postseason plans, including the possibility of an NIT bid, specifically. Two seasons ago, Esherick turned down the NIT invitation, and last year, Georgetown lost to St. John’s in the final.

The Hoyas are at least close to ensuring a Big East tournament berth; any Miami loss or Georgetown win will guarantee that. The Hurricanes (13-5, 3-11 Big East) play at Villanova tonight and against West Virginia on March 6.

That postseason possibility has produced optimism in at least one player.

“If we play up to our capabilities, we could take the Big East, run the table and get in [the NCAA tournament],” Cook said.

But against Seton Hall, Georgetown did not come close to the level of play needed to win a regular season game, let alone the Big East tournament.

In a stunning display of futility, nearly every shot Georgetown took in the first half missed. Sophomore forward Brandon Bowman was the only Hoya who could make even a single field goal in the first half. He sunk three, while everyone else was 0-of-19, adding up to a frightful 13.6 shooting percentage.

The 14 points scored by the Hoyas in the first half was a record low this season, though they had 15 points in the first half of a miserable loss at West Virginia in January and 18 in the first half of a blowout at No. 12 Providence.

Without such limited offensive production, especially from leading scorer senior guard Gerald Riley (0-of-11), Georgetown’s only option for climbing back into the game was on the defensive end.

But even the Hoyas’ full-court pressure defense, which at times this season has been a success, was in vain against Seton Hall. Pirate standout senior guard Andre Barrett, playing his final home game, blew right by the Hoyas.

“Every time we picked them up full-court and tried to get back in the game on defense, it seemed like Barrett would get a fast break layup or he’d get somebody else a fast break layup,” Esherick said. “So pressing them ended up being counterproductive.”

Barrett, whose name was chanted often by the 11,302 at Continental Airlines Arena, finished with 25 points and five assists in 27 minutes.

“I felt like how I felt the first exhibition game of the year,” Barrett said. “A lot of adrenaline.”

Even in its half-court defense, Georgetown could not stop strong outside shooting from Seton Hall. The Pirates were 10-of-21 from beyond the three-point line; Barrett was 5-of-6.

“Seton Hall’s a better team than we are. They certainly played like it. There’s no two ways around it,” Esherick said.

Tip-off against Notre Dame (14-11, 7-7 Big East) at the Joyce Center is at 7 p.m.