For the last two weeks, Georgetown has repeatedly stated that its focus is not on the Big East tournament, but on each game remaining in the regular season. Tuesday night suggested otherwise.

The No. 8 Hoyas (20-6, 10-5 Big East) suffered their worst loss of the season Tuesday night, a 73-55 drubbing at Seton Hall (19-9, 9-8 Big East), bringing the Pirates one step closer to an NCAA tournament berth and pushing Georgetown farther away from a Big East tournament double-bye.

The Hoyas failed to put a single player in double-digits, due to a combination of poor shot selection and tough defense by the Pirates. The Blue and Gray were unable to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit, which slowly ballooned into a double-digit lead as Seton Hall senior guard Jordon Theodore caught fire.

“They played a terrific game. Jordan Theodore played one of the best games that

I’ve seen him play all year,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “To tell you the truth, he didn’t make any mistakes and I’m not just talking about the shots he made. He totally controlled everything, and tonight we just didn’t have any answers for him.”

Theodore scored 29 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including a 5-of-5 mark from three-point range, and torched the Hoyas from beyond the arc at key moments in the game. After freshman guard Jabril Trawick hit a pair of free throws to give the Pirates a 49-38 lead, Theodore hit a long, fadeaway three-pointer with a defender in his face to extend the lead to 14. That kick-started an 11-4 run that stretch Seton Hall’s lead to 18, and the Pirates never looked back.

“Watching them on film, that is one of the best defensive teams in the country, by far,” Seton Hall Head Coach Kevin Willard said. “To play the way we played and execute the way we did was reallygood.”

The Pirates shot 60.9% for the game, the best shooting performance by a Georgetown opponent since Baylor shot the same percentage against the Hoyas in the 2009 NIT opening round. Seton Hall also committed just eight turnovers and limited Georgetown to 5-of-15 shooting from three-point range. Georgetown boasted the Big East’s best defense coming into the game, allowing just 58.7 points per game and holding opponents to 38.4 percent shooting.

Seton Hall made that defense look futile — especially from the perimeter, where the Pirates were 8-of-13 from long range.

“We have had pretty good perimeter defense but we were atrocious today,” Thompson III said. “They hit a couple shots early and our frustrations set in and carried over. That’s something that we haven’t done, nor haven’t shown but we will fix that.”

Freshman forward Greg Whittington led the Hoyas with nine points, and junior forward Hollis Thompson added eight points, six rebounds and two assists.

Georgetown will return home from its two-game road trip for a noon match against Villanova Saturday at Verizon Center. Seniors Jason Clark and Henry Sims will be honored in the annual Senior Day celebration.