March Madness 2021: Georgetown defeated by Colorado in opening round

Somber feelings came over Hoya Nation on Saturday afternoon.

A week after capturing the eighth Big East Tournament championship in program history, Georgetown dialed in to face 5-seeded Colorado. A Hoyas upset over the Buffs was the most popular 12-5 upset pick on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. But, the Buffs refused to make that a reality. Colorado took Georgetown to the woodshed, handing the Hoyas a 96-73 defeat.

Eli Parquet’s 3-pointer at the 17:20 mark wound up sparking the story for the game. Colorado made 16 3-pointers, 11 falling in the first half. There was little the Hoyas could do, as CU’s buckets were dropping one after another from deep. Though typically strong themselves, Georgetown didn’t meet to standard. While their second-half mark of 7-of-15 played well, it was their 1-for-9 mark in the first 20 minutes that did them in.

It seems Georgetown picked the poorest of times to go cold from deep. And that’s a reminder of how unforgiving March can be. You have an off 20 minutes? Your season could be, and in the Hoyas’ case is, over.

D’Shawn Schwartz and Jabari Walker were chiefs among the 3-point sharpshooters Saturday afternoon. Schwartz and Walker each made five, with the latter going a perfect 5-for-5 from deep. Schwartz wasn’t shabby himself, missing on just two of his attempts. It’s bad enough when the team shoots 64.5 percent from the perimeter. When two players themselves combine to go 10-for-12? Then you’re tough to beat.

Georgetown picked up four double-figure performances in the loss. Qudus Wahab led all Hoya scorers with 20 points on the day. Donald Carey trailed with 17, while Jamokro Pickett and Chudier Bile had 11 and 10. Wahab also recorded another double-double with 12 rebounds. Pickett, meanwhile, led in assists with six.

It’s the end of the road for Georgetown. Despite that though, the last week for the program has been captivating. There is promise in the future as well, as a highly-ranked recruiting class is coming to D.C. this coming autumn. So while this will be tough to swallow, Hoya fans felt a swath of energy this week that was rewarding enough, and now bigger and perhaps brighter things might be ahead.