The 2019–20 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hoyas, led by third-year head coach Patrick Ewing, played their home games at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., as members of the Big East Conference. They lost to St. John's in the first round of the 2020 Big East men's basketball tournament, finished with a record of 15–17 overall and 5–13 in Big East play, and had no postseason play.
Previous season The Hoyas finished the 2018–19 season at 19–14, 9–9 in Big East play, to finish in sixth place in the conference. As the No. 6 seed in the Big East tournament, they lost in the first round to Seton Hall. Invited to the National Invitation Tournament, they lost in the first round to Harvard. Georgetown finished the season with a winning record, a non-losing conference record, and an invitation to a postseason tournament, all for the first time since 2014–15.
Offseason
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason Antwan Walker 5 F 6'9" 230 Sophomore Washington, D.C. Dismissed from team; transferred to Rhode Island Greg Malinowski 11 G 6'5" 215 RS Senior Chantilly, VA Graduated Jessie Govan 15 C 6'10" 270 Senior Queens Village, NY Graduated Kaleb Johnson 32 G/F 6'6" 205 Senior South Hill, VA Graduated Trey Mourning 33 F 6'8" 200 RS Senior Miami, FL Graduated Grayson Carter 35 F 6'8" 200 Freshman Dallas, TX Transferred to UT Arlington
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school Galen Alexander 11 F 6'6" 227 Junior Breaux Bridge, LA Jones County Junior College Terrell Allen 12 G 6'3" 180 Grad Upper Marlboro, MD UCF
2019 recruiting class
Roster
Notes: 1) Chuma Azinge was a recruited walk-on. 2) On December 2, 2019, Patrick Ewing announced that James Akinjo and Josh LeBlanc were no longer a part of the team and would transfer. 3) On December 13, 2019, Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner announced that they had left the team and would transfer.
Season recap
In addition to sophomore forward Antwan Walker – dismissed from the team in October 2018, he subsequently had transferred to Rhode Island – Georgetown had lost five players since the conclusion of the previous season: guard Greg Malinowski, guard/forward Kaleb Johnson, forward Trey Mourning, and center Jessie Govan all had graduated in 2019, and freshman forward Grayson Carter had transferred to UT Arlington in search of greater playing time after a single season as a Hoya. However, a core of veteran players – sophomore James Akinjo at point guard, senior Jagan Mosely, junior Jahvon Blair, and sophomore Mac McClung at guard, and junior Jamorko Pickett and sophomore Josh LeBlanc at forward — returned. Senior forward George Muresan, the son of former NBA player Gheorghe Muresan, made the team as a walk-on for the fourth straight season. Sophomore guard Jaden Robinson also returned, making the team as a walk-on for the second straight year.
An addition for 2019–2020 was center Ömer Yurtseven, a transfer from North Carolina State who joined the team as a redshirt junior after sitting out the previous season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules. Also arriving were guard Terrell Allen, a graduate transfer from Central Florida who had spent a season at Drexel before two years at UCF, and junior small forward Galen Alexander; recruited out of high school, Alexander had signed with LSU, was dismissed from the team there without ever playing a game amid allegations that he had fired paintballs at other students, and subsequently spent two years at Jones County Junior College.Brad D, "Georgetown team preview: Does Patrick Ewing have the Hoyas on the right track?," bannersontheparkway.com, October 29, 2019, 11:57 a.m. EDT Retrieved March 20, 2020 Retrieved March 20, 2020 Five freshmen — centers Timothy Ighoefe, Qudus Wahab, and Malcolm Wilson, forward Myron Gardner, and recruited walk-on Chuma Azinge,Whipple, "LINKS: Chuma Azinge, Roster & Recruiting News," casualhoya.com, May 7, 2019, 8:30 a.m. EDT Retrieved March 19, 2020 a guard — rounded out the team.
There were nine returning players from the previous season including four of that year's five starters, freshman standouts Akinjo, LeBlanc, and McClung among them,Swinton, Elizabeth, "Big East Preview: Villanova, Seton Hall Lead Intriguing Group of Challengers," si.com, October 18, 2019 Retrieved March 14, 2020 as well as Yurtseven, replacing the departed Govan and Alexander.
2019 Bahamas Foreign Tour
Under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, the Hoyas were allowed to make an overseas preseason trip to play exhibition games against foreign teams once every four years, and the 2019–2020 team followed up recent trips to China in August 2011 and Italy in August 2015 with a trip to the Bahamas — dubbed the "2019 Bahamas Foreign Tour"Anonymous, "Georgetown Men’s Basketball Opens Foreign Tour with 103-77 Win," guhoyas.com, August 12, 2019, 10:14:00 p.m. EDT Retrieved August 17, 2019 — from August 10 to 17.Anonymous, "Georgetown Heads to Bahamas for 2019 Summer Tour," guhoyas.com, May 15, 2019, 11:00:00 a.m. EDT The Hoyas held 10 team practices prior to the tour, the number permitted before an overseas tour by NCAA rules.Anonymous, "Georgetown Previews ‘Business Trip’; Hibbert Coaching in NBA?," casualhoya.com, August 9, 2019, 4:30 p.m. EDT Retrieved August 17, 2019 Before departing, the team characterized the Bahamas visit as a "business trip;" Patrick Ewing said that he wanted to use the trip to test different line-ups and gain insight into which of his players were sharing the ball and playing as a team, while James Akinjo and Mac McClung both expressed a desire to get to know their new teammates and learn how best to work together with them on the court, Josh LeBlanc said he wanted to focus on ball-sharing and team play, and Ömer Yurtseven planned to use the Bahamas games to get back into his competitive basketball routine after sitting out the 2018–2019 season.
During the Bahamas tour, Georgetown played three exhibition games against local professional and international teams as part of the "Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) Summer of Thunder 2019" event. The games took place at Kendal G. L. Isaacs National Gymnasium at Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau using International Basketball Federation (Fédération Internationale de Basketball or FIBA) rules which included the new NCAA three-point arc distance of , a 24-second shot clock, a FIBA-compliant basketball that differed from the regulation NCAA ball, and games divided into four 10-minute quarters with five-minute overtime periods.Retrieved Anonymous, "Georgetown Hoyas vs NBPA Select," casualhoya.com, August 14, 2019, 11:41 a.m EDT August 17, 2019 There were no overtime periods as the Hoyas won all three games by wide margins, scoring at least 91 points in each game and twice scoring over 100 points.fibalivestats.com Box Score Commonwealth Bank Giants vs. Georgetown Hoyas, August 12, 2019 Retrieved August 17, 2019Anonymous, "Georgetown Defeats NPBA Select 112-67 to Continue Foreign Tour," guhoyas.com, August 14, 2019, 10:39:00 p.m. EDT Retrieved August 17, 2019fibalivestats.com Box Score Georgetown Hoyas vs. NPBA Select, August 14, 2019 Retrieved August 17, 2019Anonymous, "Georgetown Completes Three-Game Sweep in Bahamas," guhoyas.com, August 15, 2019 9:29:00 p.m. EDT Retrieved August 17, 2019fibalivestats.com Box Score Bahamas National Team (men) vs. Georgetown Hoyas, August 15, 2019 Retrieved August 17, 2019 While in Nassau, the Hoyas also hosted a youth basketball clinic attended by 50 Bahamian children, met with Chargé d'Affaires Stephanie Bowers of the United States Embassy, and attended a luncheon with Georgetown fans who had traveled to the Bahamas to see the games.guhoyas.com #BAHAMASBUSINESSTRIP DAY FOUR Retrieved August 17, 2019
Nonconference schedule
In October, the Big East's coaches picked Georgetown to finish sixth in the 10-team conference in their annual preseason poll.Anonymous, "Akinjo Tabbed Preseason Second Team at BIG EAST Media Day", October 10, 2019, 2:20 p.m. EDT Retrieved March 14, 2020 Akinjo — who the previous season had become the seventh Hoya to be selected as Big East Freshman of the Year — was selected to the Preseason All-Big East Second Team, and Yurtseven — who had averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game during his last season of play in 2017–2018 with North Carolina State — won Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention. In a preseason evaluation of the Big East for 2019–2020, Sports Illustrated picked the Hoyas to finish fifth in the Big East and identified the Georgetown squad as a solid mid-tier team in the conference with the potential to make a surprise run at the conference championship.
The Hoyas opened the season on November 6 at Capital One Arena by shooting only 30 percent from the field against Mount St. Mary's in the first half, falling behind 37–25 at halftime. In the second half they shot 65.6 percent and finished with a 20–1 run, winning 81–68.Anonymous, "Georgetown defeats Mount St. Mary's 81-68," Associated Press, November 6, 2019 Retrieved March 14, 2020 Ömer Yursteven had a double-double in his Georgetown debut with 20 points on 7–for–9 shooting and 12 rebounds, while James Akinjo also finished with 20 points and Mac McClung scored 16.Mount St. Mary's vs. Georgetown – Box Score – November 6, 2019 – ESPN Retrieved March 14, 2020 Georgetown then began play in the Empire Classic, meeting Central Arkansas in an unbracketed game at Capital One Arena and defeating the Bears behind another Yurtseven double-double (17 points and 15 rebounds), 13 points by Jagan Moseley, and 10 by Jamorko Pickett.Anonymous, "Yurtseven carries Georgetown past Cent. Arkansas 89-78," Associated Press, November 9, 2019 Retrieved March 14, 2020Central Arkansas vs. Georgetown – Box Score – November 9, 2019 – ESPN Retrieved March 14, 2020
Georgetown made its fourth appearance in five seasons in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, an annual series of meetings between Big East and Big Ten Conference teams begun in 2015. In the 2019 edition, the Hoyas faced Penn State at Capital One Arena. Georgetown had won the past six meetings between the schools and had not lost at home to Penn State since 1972;Anonymous, "Jones scores career 21 as Penn State beats Georgetown," Associated Press, November 14, 2019 Retrieved March 14, 2020 their first loss of the season was to the Nittany Lions. With McClung shooting just 1-for-7 from the field — following a 1-for-10 performance against Central Arkansas five days earlier — and Nittany Lions sophomore guard Myreon Jones scoring a game-high and career-high 21 points, the Hoyas fell behind early by as many as 18 points and lost by 15, dropping their season record to 2–1, their Gavit Tipoff Games all-time record to 1–3, and their record against Power Five teams during Patrick Ewing's tenure to 1–3. Yurtseven had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds,Penn State vs. Georgetown – Box Score – November 14, 2019 – ESPN Retrieved March 14, 2020 and Akinjo added 13 points in a losing cause.