The 2016–17 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Hoyas, led by 13th-year head coach John Thompson III, played their home games at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., and were members of the Big East Conference.
The season saw the return of Jonathan Wallace, the Hoyas′ standout point guard from 2004 to 2008, to the basketball program as a special assistant after eight seasons playing professional basketball in the NBA Summer League, the National Basketball Association Developmental League, Belgium, Germany, and Angola.
The Hoyas finished the season at 14–18, 5–13 in Big East play, to finish in ninth place in the conference. As the No. 9 seed in the Big East tournament, they lost in the first round to St. John's. Georgetown finished the season with a losing record for the second straight year, the first time that had happened since the 1972 and 1973 seasons, and without an invitation to a postseason tournament in consecutive years for the first time since 1972 and 1973.
On March 23, 2017, Georgetown officials announced that John Thompson III had been fired. On April 2, it was reported that Basketball Hall of Famer and Georgetown alumnus Patrick Ewing would replace Thompson as head coach.
Previous season The Hoyas finished the 2015–16 season 15–18, 7–11 in Big East play to finish in eighth place. They defeated DePaul in the first round of the Big East tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Villanova. For the first time in John Thompson III's twelve years as head coach, the Hoyas did not make a postseason tournament.
Preseason Prior to the season, Georgetown was picked to finish in a tie for fourth place in a poll of Big East coaches. Isaac Copeland was named to the preseason All-Big East second team and L. J. Peak received an Honorable Mention.
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 4 G 6'3" 215 Senior Indianapolis, IN Graduated Paul White 13 F 6'8" 230 Sophomore Chicago, IL Transferred to Oregon Riyan Williams 21 G 6'4" 185 Senior Dunkirk, MD Graduated; transferred to Goldey–Beacom
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Jonathan Mulmore 2 G 6'4" 185 Junior New Orleans, LA Junior-college transfer from Allegany College; eligible to play immediately. Rodney Pryor 23 G 6'5" 205 RS Senior Evanston, IL Transferred from Robert Morris. Eligible to play immediately because he had graduated from Robert Morris.
Incoming recruits
Future recruits
2017–18 team recruits
Season recap
Georgetown had lost three players since the conclusion of the previous season. Little-used walk-on senior guard Riyan Williams – the son of Georgetown great Reggie Williams – had graduated with a year of college eligibility remaining and chose to transfer to NCAA Division II Goldey-Beacom College to play his final year of college basketball, and sophomore forward Paul White, the team's leading scorer off the bench during his freshman year but limited by a hip injury to seven games during the 2015–2016 season, had transferred to Oregon at the end of August 2016. By far the team's biggest loss, however, was guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, whose graduation in 2016 left the Hoyas without their leading scorer of the past three seasons. Although a natural shooting guard who finished his college career as Georgetown's fifth-leading all-time scorer and with more three-pointers made than any previous Hoya, Smith-Rivera had also served as the team's point guard for the past two seasons, and the team keenly felt the loss of both his scoring ability and his in-game leadership.
At forward, senior Reggie Cameron, juniors Isaac Copeland, Trey Mourning, and L. J. Peak, and sophomores Marcus Derrickson and Kaleb Johnson all returned for 2016–2017. Junior guard Tre Campbell and sophomore center Jesse Govan also came back for another season. Forward Akoy Agau, who had transferred from Louisville in January 2015 and had planned to begin play for Georgetown in January 2016 after sitting out the two full semesters the National Collegiate Athletic Association mandated for transferring players, had missed the entire 2015–2016 season while recovering from knee surgery, but he finally would make his Georgetown debut in 2016–2017 as a redshirt junior. A surprise returnee from the previous season was fifth-year senior center Bradley Hayes; he was due to graduate in 2016, and virtually everyone, including Hayes himself, believed as the 2015–2016 season came to an end that his college career was over. However, John Thompson III applied for an NCAA waiver that would allow Hayes to return for a fifth year as a redshirt senior in 2016–2017 because he had played in only nine games and for only 14 minutes during his freshman year and had a semester to go to complete his degree. The NCAA granted the waiver, provided that Hayes sat out the first four games of the 2016–2017 season. The team's former student manager, junior guard Ra'Mond Hines, who had made the team for the first time as a walk-on late the previous season, also returned to the team for 2016–2017, again as a walk-on.
Two freshmen joined the team, guard Jagan Moseley and walk-on forward George Muresan, the son of former National Basketball Association center Gheorghe Muresan. Also arriving for the year were two upperclassmen. Guard Rodney Pryor had transferred from Robert Morris and was eligible to play for Georgetown immediately as a redshirt senior because he had graduated from Robert Morris the previous spring. Junior guard Jonathan Mulmore, a junior college transfer from Allegany College of Maryland, also joined the team.
The 2016–2017 squad's athleticism raised the prospect of Georgetown playing a more uptempo game than had been the custom during the 12 previous seasons under John Thompson III, who favored the more deliberate "Princeton offense"; during the offseason, Thompson had revamped his coaching staff and discussed at length the idea of adopting his system to accommodate a new style of play, promising a faster team. Although the shadow of the losing season the previous year hung over the returning players, the 2016–2017 season began with qualified optimism because of the number of experienced players on the roster and Georgetown's size relative to other teams in the Big East, which had lost a number of notable "big men" over the offseason. At least some observers considered Georgetown's frontcourt a strength and deemed it unlikely that Georgetown would suffer through another uncharacteristically mediocre season because of the Hoyas′ pattern of recurring success over many years and quick recoveries from the occasional poor seasons. But the Hoyas faced a particularly challenging early nonconference schedule, and the departure of Smith-Rivera left questions as to how well the backcourt would perform and who would step up to lead the team.
Nonconference schedule
Georgetown began its season by defeating South Carolina Upstate in a game at the Verizon Center in which the Hoyas started only one player (Isaac Copeland) who had started their final game of the previous season. Georgetown displayed a very different style of play from that seen previously under John Thompson III, with frequent presses and more running, and won 105–60. It was Georgetown's greatest offensive output since the Hoyas scored 111 points against Missouri in an overtime victory on November 30, 2010, the fifth time the Hoyas had scored 100 or more points in a game during John Thompson III's 13 seasons as head coach, and the third-highest scoring output of Thompson's tenure. It was the highest-scoring season opener under Thompson, the first 100-plus-point season opener for Georgetown since they beat NCAA Division III Marymount 108–47 to start the 2001–2002 season, and the first time the Hoyas had scored 100 points or more in a season opener against an NCAA Division I opponent since defeating Colgate 106–57 to begin the 1995–1996 season. Making his Hoya debut, Rodney Pryor sank a career-high six three-pointers on eight attempts from beyond the arc. and shot 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the field overall on the way to a 32-point game. Pryor scored 26 points in the first half alone, and the 68 points the Hoyas scored by halftime set a school record for first-half points, eclipsing the 57 points they scored in the first half against Savannah State on December 8, 2008, and it was the highest-scoring half for Georgetown in the 21st century to that point. Overall, the Hoyas shot 66.7 percent from the field, and L. J. Peak scored 14 points against the Spartans, Jesse Govan had 11, Isaac Copeland scored 10, and Tre Campbell came off the bench to add 10.
Three days later, Georgetown took part in the annual Gavitt Tipoff Games, a series of eight games per year between teams of the Big East Conference and Big Ten Conference. For the second straight year, Georgetown drew Maryland as its Big Ten opponent, hosting the Terrapins at the Verizon Center – the first time the Hoyas had hosted the Terrapins since 1993. The Hoyas made 37 of their 42 free throws but blew a 68–59 lead with 2:21 remaining as Maryland went on a 17–7 scoring run the rest of the way to win the game, 76–75, defeating Georgetown for the second season in a row. Maryland's players stormed the court to celebrate the victory. Scoring 21 points, L. J. Peak led a balanced Georgetown attack which also saw Rodney Pryor score 14 points, Isaac Copeland finish with a double-double (13 points and 13 rebounds), and Jesse Govan add 12 points.
Next up for the Hoyas was the Maui Invitational Tournament. Georgetown began the tournament by hosting a non-bracketed opening-round game against Arkansas State at McDonough Gymnasium, the Hoyas′ first game on campus since the 2014 National Invitation Tournament. The Hoyas shot only 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) from three-point range and, despite Jesse Govan's 20 points, L. J. Peak's 18, and Isaac Copeland's 11, the Red Wolves led by double figures for much of the game and held off a 22-7 late-game Georgetown rally to upset the Hoyas 78–72. Thanks to the surprising loss, Georgetown opened its season with a 1–2 record for the second straight year.
Four days later, the Hoyas were in Hawaii at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Maui, to open the bracketed championship round of the tournament with a quarterfinal match-up against their first ranked opponent of the year, No. 13 Oregon. The Ducks struggled against a strong Hoya defense and did not score a field goal for the first six minutes, shooting 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) from the field in the first half. Rodney Pryor, meanwhile, led Georgetown through Oregon's pressure defense during the half, and his buzzer-beating three-pointer gave the Hoyas a 38–21 halftime lead. In the second half, however, the Ducks′ pressure defense was far more effective, and it allowed them to force turnovers and make easy transition baskets. While Georgetown missed its first 12 shots of the second half, Oregon opened the half with a 22–4 scoring run that gave the Ducks a 43–42 lead. The Hoyas then staged a 10–2 scoring run of their own to pull out to a 52–45 lead with three minutes to play. Oregon responded with a late run and, with 3.8 seconds remaining, closed to a 63–61 deficit on a long three-pointer by junior forward Dillon Brooks, but L. J. Peak hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds to play to secure a 65–61 upset Georgetown victory. Pryor had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Peak finished with 17 points. The Hoyas evened their record at 2–2, but had begun to show a tendency toward inconsistent play during their first four games, sometimes playing dominating basketball and then struggling mightily during other stretches of their games.