For the first time in a long time, last year’s Hoyas gave fans a glimmer of hope.
Jumping up to seventh in the BIG EAST conference, the team held a conference record of 8-12 and an overall record of 18-16, marking the first time since 2019 that the Hoyas managed more wins than losses.
Post-season, the Hoyas continued their grind in two exhibition tournaments. In late March, FOX’s inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament featured a victory over Washington State University and a decisive loss against tournament winner University of Nebraska. Rocking the 2025-26 roster, the Hoyas then secured a second-place tournament finish in Canada’s GLOBL JAM, losing to a Japanese national team.
It’s no secret that the losses of star-studded recent recruits like Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy to the NBA and standout Jayden Epps to Mississippi State University are a dynamic setback. However, if GLOBL JAM showed the Hilltop anything, it’s that the Hoyas shouldn’t be counted out.
The August tournament cemented junior guard Malik Mack’s status as a strong offensive asset, which is expected to continue into the regular season. Mack has proven that he can adapt to the team’s needs, stepping into different roles whenever required.
At the College Basketball Crown tournament, Georgetown secured a victory over Washington State despite missing several key players, including Epps. Mack was instrumental in this win, taking on a primary scoring role, something he rarely did with Epps on the floor, and finishing with 37 points, his highest-scoring game as a Hoya.
Beyond scoring, Mack excels at facilitating the game, connecting teammates, and creating opportunities for others.
Accompanying Mack is 7-foot-1 senior center Vince Iwuchukwu, a St. John’s University transfer, fit to take on Sorber’s role as the Hoyas’ paint presence. Sophomore forward Caleb Williams, who showed a new skill of aggressively grabbing rebounds in the tournament, joins the pair to fill Peavy’s defensive guarding position.
Sophomore forward Jayden Fort, who redshirted last year, and incoming junior transfer guards KJ Lewis and DeShawn Harris-Smith are also anticipated to be strong contributors, as Coach Ed Cooley aims to compete in the BIG EAST championship and NCAA tournament this season.
In an October interview with the Voice, Cooley said that this season he aims to have “the most hard-playing and connected team in America.”
The 2025-26 season also marks another significant change for the roster: the team won’t include any undergraduate freshmen. Cooley decided to fill all open spots with players from the transfer portal.
The Hoyas were one of the youngest high major basketball teams in the nation last year, with six freshman recruits. As multiple of these freshman athletes in the 2024-25 season were redshirted—kept out of play for a year to extend their eligibility—Cooley said he hopes to utilize academically sophomore members who are still “athletically freshman.” With a higher age comes a more experienced and developed team that will hit the court this year, according to Cooley.
With the new season starting on Nov. 3, the men’s basketball team can’t afford to focus on past players they lost to the NBA or the transfer portal. It’s time to lock in.
Shooting—especially free throws—should be a top priority this season. Accuracy aside (where the Hoyas sat in the bottom half of the conference at 70.4%), last season saw the Hoyas attempt the fewest free throws on average across the BIG EAST, indicating that Georgetown wasn’t forcing opposing defenses into tough positions. As the famed Wayne Gretzky quote suggests, the Hoyas are indeed missing 100% of the shots they aren’t taking.
The shots they are taking, though, could use some work, too. Last year’s Hoyas sat in the top half of the conference for field goal attempts, but remained below average in terms of accuracy. While they aren’t scared to shoot threes, they only make around 32% of them, again sitting in the bottom half of the conference. With some focus on improving accuracy and bravery at the free-throw line and from beyond the arc, the Hoyas could make strides in the rankings.
This year, the Hoyas can also look forward to a game against George Washington’s men’s basketball team for the first time in over 40 years. With the geographic rivalry between the two universities, we can expect this game to have a lot of attention on both sides.
The Georgetown men’s basketball team will take on GW in an exhibition game ahead of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Oct. 18, at GW’s Charles E. Smith Center. The last time the two teams played each other was Dec. 16, 1981, which resulted in a win of 61-48 for the Hoyas.
As we look ahead to the start of the regular season, the Hoyas will go against Morgan State University on Nov. 3 for their first regular season game and face Marquette University on Dec. 17 for their first conference game.
