The 2009-2010 season was one of paradoxes for Georgetown. At times, the Hoyas looked like they could challenge for first place in the Big East but then struggled to finish in the top half of the 16-team league. When another late-season collapse seemed inevitable, Georgetown thrilled Madison Square Garden with a run to the Big East tournament title game. On the upswing, the Hoyas earned a three seed in the Big Dance but then bowed out in the first round. Here’s a look at the peaks and valleys of the puzzling year.
**High: Dec. 8 – No. 15 Georgetown 72, No. 20 Butler 65**
On the way to an 8-0 start, the Hoyas got their first signature win against the Bulldogs, the Horizon League champions that would come within a few inches of winning the National Title in April. In front of a national audience at Madison Square Garden, sophomore center Greg Monroe put on the first of many performances that proved he would soon be ready for the NBA, scoring 24 points and grabbing 15 rebounds – both career highs.
“[Monroe] was playing with a real authoritative presence,” Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens said. “He’s a player.”
**Low: Dec. 19 – Old Dominion 61, No. 11 Georgetown 57**
Coming off a thumping of No. 17 Washington, the Hoyas showed the first signs of the inconsistency that would plague them throughout the year. Though they were 7-5 against ranked opponents on the season, the Hoyas had trouble with unranked foes at home.
During a December blizzard, the Monarchs stormed into McDonough Arena and dominated the Hoyas for most of the night. Georgetown turned the ball over 18 times and gave the crowd of mostly students little to cheer about.
**High: Jan. 20 – No. 12 Georgetown 74, No. 9 Pittsburgh 66**
After a 4-2 start in the Big East, the Hoyas stole a win from the league-leading Panthers at the Petersen Events Center, snapping their 31-game home winning streak.
Junior point guard Chris Wright scored 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting, including a layup off an inbounds play with one second on the shot clock that gave Georgetown a 68-60 edge late in the second half.
“We have different guys on any given night who can step up,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “It was just [Wright’s] night tonight, and his teammates kept finding him.”
**Low: Jan. 25 – No. 4 Syracuse 73, No. 7 Georgetown 56**
Playing at fourth-ranked Syracuse in front of 26,508 fans and a national audience on ESPN’s Big Monday, the Hoyas were world-beaters for a fleeting three minutes. They scored the first 14 points of the game but then looked listless for the rest of the evening, never responding to the Orange’s counterpunch.
“We had one of – if not our worst – game[s] of the year,” Thompson said.
Three weeks later Syracuse would jump out to a big lead when it visited Washington, D.C., outscoring Georgetown by 54 points over a 65-minute span.
**High: Jan. 30 – No. 7 Georgetown 89, No. 8 Duke 77**
President Obama and Vice President Biden were courtside for Georgetown’s second top-10 matchup in six days, and the Hoyas’ did not disappoint the First Fan, shooting a blistering 71.7 percent from the field in a rout of the eventual National Champions that was not as close as the final score indicates.
The Big Three of Monroe, Wright and junior guard Austin Freeman combined for 62 points on 23-of-31 shooting and 12 assists.
“Our fans, our students, the city was terrific,” Thompson said. “[The President] always brings energy. It was good to have him here. It was good to play well when he was here.”
**Low: Feb. 3 – South Florida 72, No. 7 Georgetown 64**
With the Hoyas leading the unranked Bulls by nine at halftime, few could have predicted that USF’s Dominique Jones would be flexing his muscles and taunting the sparse Wednesday night crowd at Verizon Center after the final buzzer.
Jones scored 22 of his 29 points in the second half as the Bulls became the second of three unranked teams to beat the Hoyas at home.
“I don’t know what happened tonight,” Monroe said afterwards. “As a team, we have to be more focused to win games like this.”
**High: Feb. 6 – No. 7 Georgetown 103, No. 2 Villanova 90**
A snow storm was rocking the nation’s capital, and the forecast for Saturday was low attendance with a chance of a loss to Villanova. Hoyas all around refused to let it happen, as 10,387 people trudged through the 20 inches of tundra in D.C. to see the game.
Georgetown didn’t let them down. After jumping in the stands to thank fans before the game, the Hoyas jumped on the Wildcats, opening a 50-27 lead and held on for a 103-90 victory. Freeman paced the Hoyas with 25 points while Jason Clark added 24.
“We’re as good as we want to be,” sophomore center Greg Monroe said. “Coach always stresses that in games it’s always about us. Other teams are going to do things, different things are going to happen, but it’s about what we do.”
**Low: Feb. 14 – Rutgers 71, No. 7 Georgetown 68**
Every peak has a valley and the Hoyas fell into a big one on Valentine’s Day when they shot up I-95 to take on Big East basement dweller Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights were hardly the ideal Valentine’s date as Jonathan Mitchell went for 24 points and freshman Dane Miller added 13 points, 10 rebounds and the game-winning tip-in with 19 seconds left to down the Hoyas 71-68
“There was definitely more intensity [from Rutgers],” Monroe said. “They came out and they just wanted it more than us.”
**High: Big East Tournament**
Having stumbled down the stretch, losing four of their last six games, and with Freeman diagnosed with diabetes just days before, the Hoyas were long shots to win the Big East tournament championship. In their path stood a slew of teams that had beaten them during the regular season. A first round matchup with South Florida would be followed by a potential date with regular season champ Syracuse.
A lot of concert tours had come through the Garden, but on this week in March it was the Georgetown revenge tour.
First, the Hoyas dispatched South Florida thanks to 16 points each from Monroe and Clark and 15 from a surging Wright. The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead, and unlike their previous meeting they kept it, cruising to a 69-49 win.
The next day was a noon matinee against rival Syracuse, the top seed which had taken two from the Hoyas during the regular season. The Orange jumped out to an early lead, but a 19-2 burst in the second half gave the Hoyas a commanding 70-61 lead. Despite some poor free throw shooting, the Hoyas held on down the stretch. Wright led the way with 27 points and Monroe added 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“Georgetown is capable of beating anybody, any night. They’ve proven that this year,” Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim said.
A highly-anticipated primetime matchup against Marquette turned into the Greg Monroe show as the sophomore dominated the Golden Eagles with 23 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. The Hoyas led 37-34 at the half and jumped out of the gates fast in the second before finishing off a dominating 80-57 win to put them in their third Big East championship final in four years.
The revenge tour finally came to a halt against West Virginia in a final for the ages. A back-and-forth battle came down to the final seconds as Da’Sean Butler hit a pullup in the lane with 4.2 seconds left to win the game. A spirited Hoya effort was led by Wright’s 20 and seven assists, but it was not enough to capture the title.
“I like where we are going into the NCAA tournament,” Thompson said. “We did some things tonight that we have to do better, obviously.”
**Low: NCAA Tournament**
The Hoyas Big East run earned them a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament and a date against Ohio in Providence, R.I.
What was supposed to be a tuneup for a second-round game against Tennessee turned into a huge upset. The Bobcats, who had to run the gauntlet in the MAC tournament to even make the tournament, shot the lights out, draining 13-of-23 three-pointers to stick a dagger in the Hoyas. Wright once again led the Hoyas with 28 points, but Armon Bassett’s 32 were too much and the Hoyas’ up-and-down season ended on an unceremonious low.
“This is a team with no seniors,” Thompson said afterward. “It’s the first time I said that: we didn’t use that as an excuse. But you have to go through some growing pains. And this group went through some growing pains this year.”
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