Winless Hoyas Drop Penultimate Game to Seton Hall, 73-68

On a day when Athletic Director Lee Reed gave Coach Patrick Ewing a vote of confidence to return next season, Georgetown lost their 19th straight game on Wednesday against Seton Hall, 73-68.

The Hoyas kept it close in the first half on the back of 5 first-half threes from Kaiden Rice. He broke Allen Iverson’s single season record of 88 threes in doing so. Yet, the Hoyas were still down 42-36 at halftime. The defense has been mostly non-existent all season, and the first half was no exception.

Georgetown also kept it close in the second half. This time, the team played much-improved defense and fought hard. The Hoyas were down only 62-57 with 5:08 to play. Carey cut the score to 66-62 with a 3 with 3:50 remaining. The teams continued to trade baskets, and Carey later added two free throws to cut the lead to 68-66. Holloway missed a crucial layup that would’ve tied the game with 90 seconds left. Georgetown had a chance to tie in their final possession, but a Rice air-balled three-point attempt ended the Hoyas effort.

The same ills that have plagued Georgetown reared their head in the final minutes. Missed layups by Holloway and Mohammed. Not boxing out and giving up multiple offensive boards down the stretch. The Hoyas were outrebounded 45-30 in this one.

Georgetown’s leading scorers were Rice (17 pts), Holloway (14 pts), Harris (12 pts, 6 assists), and Carey (11 pts, 8 reb). Tyler Beard was healthy but did not play. Recent sparkplug Kobe Clark logged 2 minutes of action.

Seton Hall was led by Jared Rhoden (16 pts), Kadary Richmond (10 pts, 10 reb), and Jamir Harris (12 pts). In the second half, Rhoden was held to 3-11 from the field and the Pirates missed all eight three-point attempts. Perhaps that’s something to work from heading to Cincinatti this weekend and New York in six days.

AD Reed’s statement in support of Ewing was not well received by Hoyas fans earlier in the day. Georgetown’s last win was on December 15th. The Hoyas have lost every single conference game this season. They have not shown any real signs of life for a full 40 minutes in their losses save for a couple games like tonight. It’s hard to fathom another season like this, or what the coaching staff or roster could even look like next year, but it looks like Georgetown is going to run it back.

After the loss, Ewing was asked about Reed’s statement. “I’m not worrying about that right now,” Ewing replied. “I was worried about this game tonight and the game Saturday, and then the Big East. I’ll let the other stuff work itself out.”

The Hoyas play Xavier in Cincinnati to conclude their regular season on Saturday night.