New York, NY—
We certainly have seen some up’s and down’s by the Georgetown Hoyas this season, but this has to rank very high on all time downs on the list tonight against DePaul, who came into this game with just two victories in conference play and a 11-20 record.
In the old Big East, they may have not even made the tournament, perhaps Georgetown wished the old Big East was still around as their 60-56 loss tonight was the worst since losing to Northeastern in Puerto Rico way back in the beginning of the season.
The Hoyas had strong games from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera who scored 21 points. Markel Starks added 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting for the Hoyas, who now have dropped five of their final seven games, following a four-game winning streak that included a victory over then-No. 7 Michigan State.
Forrest Robinson made all the difference for the Blue Demons, who snapped a second-half tie with consecutive 3-pointers and had 14 points for the 10th-seeded Blue Demons. After ending a 14-game losing streak to the Hoyas, DePaul will play Thursday night in the quarterfinals against second-seeded Creighton, ranked No. 14 in the nation.
“This is disappointing to us, but you’ve got to give a whole heck of a lot of credit to Oliver and his team and his staff. They played a very good game,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. “They were poised when they had to be poised, and they made the plays when they had to make the plays.”
Tonight may mark the end of the 2013-14 whirlwind season for the Hoyas. They certainly have had their fair share of ups and downs that included more downs than ups. With the dismissal of Greg Whittington from the team and Josh Smith sitting the second half of the season with academic issues, and Jabril Trawick out with the jaw injury, the Hoyas have never been able to put together a starting five that would pack a punch each night . Should the Hoyas be considered for the NIT? Some say they just need to pack it in for the season and rebuild for next season with the top recruits they have committed.
DePaul’s only other win in eight Big East tournament games came against Cincinnati as a No. 16 seed in 2009. Of course, the conference has a much different look following the departures of past powers such as Syracuse, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Louisville before this season.
