Last Tuesday night, eight Georgetown Hoyas experienced their last regular season game at the Verizon Center against the No. 13 Creighton University Bluejays. Motivated by an accumulation of Senior Night and an unknown NCAA tournament fate, the Hoyas left nothing but emotions on the court, defeating the Bluejays 75-63.
Senior guard Markel Starks had one of the best performances of his entire four years at Georgetown, with 17 points and a career high of 11 assists. As he humbly waved and thanked fans after the game, the tears in his eyes said almost as much as his performance that night.
“The more and more I talk about it, the more sentimental I’m going to be,” said Starks. “I’ve worked my entire life to get here and for that to be my last home game in a Georgetown uniform is emotional.”
Consistent sophomore guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera led the team with 18 points and a career high 12 rebounds. Junior Jabril Trawick, who missed the first meeting between the two due to a broken jaw, added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Defensively, Georgetown rotated junior Mikael Hopkins — who had ten points — and senior Aaron Bowen and Trawick on Creighton’s biggest threat, senior Doug McDermott.
“I thought we did an outstanding job on him and he ends up with 22 points,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III. “The few times you make a mistake, the few times you fall asleep, it’s like bam, bam, bam, he’s making a few buckets in a row.”
Although this recent victory means a lot for Georgetown, not only emotionally but also in rankings, there is still one more Senior Day that the team must prove itself on… this time in Philadelphia against Villanova University.
Win or lose, the Pirates are unchallenged for the Big East regular-season championship and are the top overall seed for the Big East Tournament. And the Hoyas still must face them. This factor may have been a slight advantage for Georgetown had it not been any other day. However, on Saturday, the Pennsylvania school will honor three seniors, all whom would love to end the 15-2 record and last home regular season conference game with a victory.
Georgetown’s chance at having any post-season life is dependent on a victory in Saturday’s game. One factor that goes unsaid is this: a win will be far from easy.