In the coming years, many a Hoya will look back on the 2005-2006 season as the year the Blue and Gray put themselves back on the national map. Last year’s squad built upon the respect garnered the previous year and instilled fear in their opponents just like the teams under John Thompson had done.
A win over then-No. 1 Duke, a defeat of arch-rival Syracuse for the first time in four years, cracking the top 25 for the first time since December of 2001 and a run to the Sweet 16 were the highlights for a Georgetown team that challenged its opponents with more bite than bark.
The Hoyas opened their season by clobbering the Naval Academy 72-49 in Annapolis, Md. In a sign of things to come, Georgetown was led by the Big East’s new beast, sophomore center Roy Hibbert. Hibbert dropped in 20 points to go along with seven rebounds and four blocks in an extremely efficient 25 minutes of action. Three days later, on Nov. 21, the Hoyas opened up the season for James Madison, and Hibbert again topped his freshly-minted career high in points by torching the Dukes for 23 points on seven of eight from the field and nine of nine from the charity stripe for another astonishingly efficient 17 minutes. Georgetown moved to 2-0 on the season with the 73-66 win.
The Hoyas suffered their first loss as they dropped a 68-61 decision to the Vanderbilt Commodores on Nov. 26, the first game of the season at the MCI Center. Georgetown squandered a seven-point halftime lead and was outdone by Coach Kevin Stallings’ similarly motion-based offense.
“Most games are won in the second half,” sophomore guard Jonathan Wallace said after the game. “[This] challenge up front at the beginning of the season will always help us at the end of the season.”
Hibbert and Co. bounced back in the middle contest of a tough stretch of out-of-conference games and downed the Oregon Ducks 71-57 in Eugene, Ore. Senior guard Ashanti Cook poured in 25 points, a career high, ending the Ducks’ 35-game out-of-conference winning streak at home. Georgetown fell to 3-2 overall, losing 58-48 to Illinois at Assembly Hall on Dec. 8. The Illini scored the first 10 points and withstood a late charge led by sophomore forward Jeff Green’s 20 second-half points to remain undefeated on the year.
The Hoyas tore through the obligatory exam-time patsies on the schedule, ripping off five consecutive wins against Fairfield, Stetson, Savannah State, Colgate and UTEP before starting off their Big East season with a 72-62 win over Providence at the MCI Center on Jan. 5. Senior forward Brandon Bowman (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Hibbert (16 points, 10 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles as the Hoyas scored the first 12 points coming out of the half to improve to 9-2 overall.
Georgetown then traveled to Madison Square Garden for the first of three consecutive Big East road matchups and downed St. John’s 79-65 behind the deadly three-point stroke of senior guard Darrel Owens. Owens nailed six three-pointers, netting 24 points, as the Hoyas used a 16-0 run midway through the second half to put the game out of reach for the Red Storm
Losses at West Virginia and Connecticut in the middle of January gave the Blue and Gray their first losing streak of the year. On Jan. 11 Georgetown lost to then-No. 16 West Virginia 68-61. The Mountaineers rode the hot hand of senior center Kevin Pittsnogle (23 points) to overcome a double-digit first-half deficit and end the Hoyas’ seven-game win streak. Three days later the Hoyas fell to No. 4 Connecticut 74-67 as the Huskies shot 60 percent from the field and withstood late charges led by Bowman (20 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals) to drop Georgetown to 10-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big East.
On Jan. 17, Georgetown played its first home game after winter break and scratched out a hard-fought 50-47 win against South Florida. In a sloppy game, with more turnovers than field goals over 12 minutes into the game, Owens’ 20 points saved the Hoyas from an ugly defeat. Bowman, Green and Hibbert combined for only 11 points in a game that served as a wake-up call before the undefeated No. 1 Duke Blue Devils invaded the MCI Center.
Jan. 21, 2006 will be remembered as the first marquee win for John Thompson III and a game that forced the entire NCAA to take notice of what improvements had been taking place on the Hilltop. Georgetown handed Duke its first loss of the season, 87-84, in front of 20,035 students and fans that stormed the court to form a sea of gray in front of a national television audience after the upset. The Hoyas held Duke to only 28 first-half points, their lowest output of the season, and let sharpshooter J.J. Redick get his points, 41 of them, while shutting down the rest of the Blue Devils and holding them to only 29 percent shooting. Characteristically, the Hoyas shared the ball, with five players in double figures, and burned Duke on a relentless wave of backdoor cut after backdoor cut. Bowman dropped in 23 points while Green added 18 but more importantly shut down All-American center Shelden Williams (four points).
“It wasn’t so much their offense, but the unity of that offense,” a humbled Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the loss. “Their offense was playing as one, and our defense wasn’t.”
The win was Georgetown’s first over a No. 1-ranked opponent since the infamous “sweater game” against Lou Carnesecca and the St. John’s Red Storm on Feb. 27, 1985. When the dust had settled, Duke fell to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll while Georgetown rose to No. 21 and would not fall out of the top 25 for the rest of the year.
Three days later, the Hoyas almost suffered a huge letdown as they eked out an 85-82 victory in double overtime over Notre Dame and gave Thompson III his 100th career win. Georgetown won four more games in a row, including a 61-58 win over No. 9 Pitt after overcoming a 15-point deficit, to run their win streak to seven games for the second time of the year.
Georgetown then dropped three in a row to West Virginia, Marquette and Villanova and fell to No. 23 in the national rankings before smoking Quincy Douby and the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights 66-50 on Feb. 22. Hibbert neutralized 29 points from Douby with 25 of his own to go along with eight rebounds as the Hoyas bounced back from the three losses against eventual tournament teams.
On Feb. 25 Georgetown did something it hadn’t accomplished since 2002 and beat the hated Syracuse Orange. Led by Green’s 18 points, seven boards and four assists the Hoyas knocked off the Orange 68-53 and gave their seniors their first win over the rival.
“The Duke win was nice. This was nicer,” Thompson III said after the game. “This is Georgetown-Syracuse. That’s what it’s all about.”
After a 63-56 letdown at South Florida, the Hoyas beat Notre Dame 67-63 and Marquette 62-59 to advance to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament and a rematch with Syracuse. Syracuse came back from a 15-point halftime deficit and a four-point deficit with under a minute to go to beat Georgetown 58-57. Senior guard Gerry McNamara hit a three, forced a turnover and then fed Eric Devendorf for a driving layup on three consecutive plays to give the Orange the win.
On Selection Sunday Georgetown was awarded with a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a first round tussle with Northern Iowa in Dayton, Ohio. In front of a crowd of 12,945, Hibbert showed just how far the Hoyas have come as he poured in 17 points to compliment nine boards as Georgetown notched its first tournament victory, 54-49, since March 17, 2001.
“The jitters are out. Now it’s time to play basketball,” Cook said after the win. “We’re not here to participate; we’re here to win the whole thing.”
As a reward for their efforts, Georgetown was forced to play No. 2 seed Ohio State in front of a hostile Ohio crowd of 12,945, almost all of whom were clad in scarlet and gray. In the much-hyped matchup between Hibbert and the Big Ten Player of the Year, forward Terrence Dials, the 7-foot-2-inch center dominated his Buckeye counterpart and helped the Hoyas hand Ohio State their most lopsided loss on the year, 70-52. Hibbert dropped in 20 points and secured 14 rebounds, and Green poured in 19 points, pulled down eight boards and dished out six assists. Dials, on the other hand, only registered 19 points and four rebounds, well below his season average.
“He has had some other very good games against quality opponents, but it’s March, and you’re playing for a lot more than you were earlier in the year,” Thompson said of Hibbert’s inspired play. “You work all year to get here. You work all year to put yourself in a position to win now. So was this his biggest game? Yes. No doubt.”
The Hoyas advanced to face No. 3 seed Florida in their first Sweet Sixteen since 2001 in the Minneapolis region semifinals the next weekend. Georgetown fell to the eventual national champion 57-53, giving the Gators their toughest contest of the entire tournament. In a game that saw seven ties and 13 lead changes it was Corey Brewer’s heave while falling away that somehow found the bottom of the net with 27.5 seconds to go. Brewer made the free throw after Bowman was whistled for a foul as well to give the Gators a 55-53 advantage. With seven seconds left Owens’ wide-open three-point shot hit the back of the rim, and Georgetown’s dreams of playing for a national title came crashing down.
“It starts now,” Owens said in the locker room after the game. “They don’t want to have the same feeling again that we have this year.”
“We came here to win. We are not satisfied with just being in the Sweet 16 or being in the NCAA Tournament,” Hibbert said. “We are going to have to work twice as hard next year.”
That time is now.
