The Georgetown University men’s basketball team fell to the DePaul University Blue Demons 56-50 in Chicago on Jan. 6, starting the new year with a weak offensive performance in which the Hoyas shot a calamitous 12-for-53 from the field and gave up 13 turnovers.
Georgetown (9-6, 1-3 Big East) played solid defense but was let down by an offensive lemon for the ages. DePaul (10-6, 2-3 Big East) also struggled offensively but capitalized on Georgetown’s mistakes more successfully than the Hoyas’ response to the Blue Demons to come out on top for DePaul’s second consecutive Big East victory.
Senior center Vince Iwuchukwu made his long-awaited return Tuesday night following a two-month hiatus because of a medical procedure. Iwuchukwu played a huge role in Georgetown’s strong start to the season, especially in the team’s win over Clemson University Nov. 15 when he scored 14 points.
The Hoyas won the tipoff, but junior guard KJ Lewis could not connect on a three-point effort on the first possession. Both teams failed to score on their first few chances before junior guard Malik Mack opened the scoring with a fadeaway jumper as the shot clock expired two minutes in.
The Blue Demons responded quickly, flying around the court early on. DePaul got out to a 14-4 lead on the back of a 9-0 run after five minutes of play.
Lewis flipped the moment with a steal and layup before the 13-minute mark, and graduate guard Langston Love drove back down the court and laid another one in, cutting the deficit to 14-8 going into the under-16 timeout.
After the break, DePaul guard RJ Smith nailed a three, the Blue Demons’ fourth of the night.
Georgetown grabbed the lead for the first time with an Iwuchukwu layup — the first and only points of his 20-minute return — to put Georgetown up 21-20, but DePaul converted an and-one to retake the lead 23-21 after the under-eight media timeout.
The game remained tight as the teams traded baskets to close out the half. The Hoyas ended on a high note on the back of free throws from Mack and sophomore forward Jayden Fort, taking a 35-32 lead into the half despite trailing by 10 early on. Despite struggling from three, the Hoyas’ near-perfect 12-for-13 free-throw shooting, 14 second-chance points off the back of 9 offensive rebounds, and some improved defense, aided by Iwuchukwu’s presence, helped them creep back into the half.
Georgetown won the tip again to start the second half, but Lewis missed a layup before DePaul went down and converted an alley-oop. Lewis then airballed a jumper at the other end, but sophomore forward Caleb Williams recovered an offensive rebound and got to the foul line, where he made both free throws for his first points of the game.
DePaul’s star guard CJ Gunn only had 1 point in the first half, but started the second half with a step-back jumper to tie the game 38-38 with 16:25 left on the clock. On the shot, Gunn hit Hoya sophomore forward Isaiah Abraham in the sternum. Abraham had to be escorted to the locker room and returned to the game for only the last minute of play.
After the Hoyas’ 0-for-9 start to the half from the field, Lewis made a second-chance layup through contact and converted the and-one to give the Hoyas a 45-43 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Things remained sloppy offensively for both teams — only 6 field goals were made in the half’s first 11 minutes.
Lewis missed a jumper at 4:43, rendering the Hoyas an astonishing 1-17 from the field in the half before DePaul guard Brandon Maclin drew a foul and sank another free throw, giving DePaul a 48-45 lead with 4:16 left. Following a Lewis free throw, the Blue Devils sank a three-pointer, their first of the half to extend their lead to 5.
With 64 seconds left, Head Coach Ed Cooley called a timeout with Georgetown trailing 52-46. Out of the timeout, Gunn picked up his fourth foul of the night on Lewis, who crucially went 2-for-2 from the line to cut the lead to 4. Iwuchukwu then stole the ball, but Mack could not convert a clean look from the top of the arch, leading to a free dunk for DePaul.
Lewis answered with two more free throws, but DePaul forward Kaleb Banks scored two of his own in kind, giving the Blue Devils a 56-50 lead with 16 seconds left, which they held for the win.
Cooley said the Hoyas are in a precarious spot following recent results.
“We’re in crisis management right now with my group because they’re emotionally beat up, coming off a couple really tough losses,” Cooley said at a postgame press conference. “We have some soul searching, we may have to make some adjustments.”
Cooley said the team’s defense remained strong, but pointed out Georgetown’s offensive collapse.
“Overall, really proud of our defense, disappointed in our offense,” Cooley said. “We didn’t complete offensive plays today.”
For a team that grew into the game in the first half and ended it strong, Georgetown’s offense looked especially weak after the break. In the second half, the Hoyas turned the ball over 8 times and shot 1-23 from the field, aided by Lewis’ 1-for-7 line and Mack’s 0-for-7 line. Mack’s plus-minus ratio, which tracks the point differential while he is on the court, was a team-low -13 over his 33 minutes. Georgetown’s final basket came with 10 minutes left in the game. The team scored only 15 points in the entire second half.
Georgetown will look to avoid a third consecutive home conference loss and a 1-4 start to their Big East season — which would be a death blow to their March Madness hopes — Jan. 10, when the in-form Seton Hall University Pirates (13-2, 3-1 Big East) come to Washington, D.C.
Ray O • Jan 8, 2026 at 12:01 pm
The Hoyas are a disaster. Cooley reportedly is being paid $6MM a year and he has 6 or so assistants. Couple this with abysmal attendance and the cost is disgraceful.