Georgetown parts ways with Ewing
San Jose State tops Alford’s Nevada
NEW YORK — Georgetown parted ways with men’s basketball head coach Patrick Ewing on Thursday, the school announced.
The moves comes a day after the Hoyas (7-25) suffered a 32-point loss to Villanova (17-15) in the first round of the Big East tournament.
“I am very proud to be a graduate of Georgetown University,” Ewing said in a statement. “And I am very grateful to President [John J.] DeGioa for giving me the opportunity to achieve my ambition to be a head basketball coach. It is particularly meaningful for me to be in charge of the basketball program at my alma mater. I wish the program nothing but success. I will always be a Hoya.”
The Knicks legend spent six seasons coaching the Hoyas and was unable to achieve the success he did as a player. Ewing was 75-109 as coach with just one winning season (2018-19) during his tenure, amassing just 13 wins in his final two seasons.
Before parting ways with the program, Ewing said Wednesday that he had “no thoughts” about his future.
“It has been a privilege to work with Patrick over these past years and I deeply appreciate all of his hard work and efforts to support our student-athletes and the men’s basketball program,” Lee Reed said, the school’s athletics director. “We are grateful to all those who have supported this program through this time. We will immediately launch a national search for our next coach and look forward to a bright future for Hoya basketball.”
Ewing got the program into the big dance for the first time since the 2014-15 season after defeating Creighton in the Big East final in the 2020-21 season. The Big East title awarded the Hoyas an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament but the team lost to Colorado in the first round.
“Patrick Ewing is the heart of Georgetown basketball. I am deeply grateful to Coach Ewing for his vision, his determination, and for all that he has enabled Georgetown to achieve,” Georgetown president DeGioia said in the statement. “Over these past six years, he was tireless in his dedication to his team and the young men he coached and we will forever be grateful to Patrick for his courage and his leadership in our Georgetown community.”
AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WEST:
At the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Lamont Butler scored 16 points and San Diego State (25-6) held on to beat Colorado State 64-61 in the tournament quarterfinals. John Tonje led Colorado State (15-18) with 17 points while Stevens added 16 points and eight assists.
■ In the second game, Omari Moore scored 26 points and Alvaro Cardenas Torre added seven in overtime as No. 5 San Jose State beat No. 4 Nevada 81-77 in overtime in the second quarter final.
Jarod Lucas finished with 28 points and two steals for the Stevve Alford-coached Wolf Pack (22-9, 0-1). Kenan Blackshear added 16 points.
■ In the third quarterfinal, Naje Smith scored six of his 18 points in overtime and No. 2 seed Boise State outlasted seventh-seeded UNLV 87-76. The Broncos (24-8) advanced to meet the Utah-State New Mexico winner. Elijah Harkless finished with 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists to pace the Rebels (19-13).
NCAA BUBBLE: No. 13 Virginia was ready when its moment came, from a strong second-half offense to a big man pressed into duty due to an injury.
North Carolina had its moment, too — one that merely underscored a season-long set of problems that might have finally put an NCAA Tournament bid out of reach.
Jayden Gardner had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers as they dealt a damaging blow to the Tar Heels’ already shaky NCAA hopes, beating UNC 68-59 in the ACC quarterfinals.