1989–90 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team


The 1989–90 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 1989–90 NCAA Division I basketball season. John Thompson, coached them in his 18th season as head coach. They played their home games at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. They were members of the Big East Conference and finished the season with a record of 24-7, 11-5 in Big East play. Their record earned them a bye in the first round of the 1990 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, and they advanced to the semifinals before losing to Connecticut. They were the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region of the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament - the 12th of 14 consecutive Georgetown NCAA Tournament appearances - and advanced to the second round before losing to Midwest Region No. 6 seed Xavier. They were ranked No. 8 in the seasons final Associated Press Poll and No. 6 in the final Coaches' Poll.

Season recap

The team opened the season with 14 straight wins. The loss at Connecticut that broke the streak on January 20, 1990, was only the second Georgetown loss to the Huskies since 1981.
Sophomore center Alonzo Mourning, touted by many observers upon his arrival the previous season as "the next Patrick Ewing," built upon the great success he enjoyed during his freshman year. He started all 31 games this season, scoring in double figures in 30 of them and averaging 16.5 points per game despite an average of only 8.6 shots per game. He also averaged 8.5 rebounds a game for the year. Against Hawaii Pacific in the second game of the season, he shot 13-for-14 from the free-throw line, the beginning of a school-record-setting season in which he scored in double figures in free throws alone in ten different games and made 220 free throws on the year as opposing defenses fouled him time and again in an attempt to stop him from scoring inside. In his best games of the year, he had 27 points and 11 rebounds against Virginia Tech, 26 points and 14 rebounds against DePaul, and 20 points and 12 rebounds against Connecticut.
Junior center Dikembe Mutombo, a reserve player the previous season while he became accustomed to the American college game, played in all 31 games this season and started alongside Mourning in 24 of them, and his average playing time increased from 11 to 26 minutes per game. He averaged 10.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game for the year. He scored 10 rebounds and blocked 10 shots in the North Carolina game, scored 17 points and had 15 rebounds against Pittsburgh, and scored 22 points and had 18 rebounds against Villanova. In later games of the season, his scoring and rebounding performance increased as he averaged shot 68% from the field and averaged 15 points and 13 rebounds a game.
Although much national attention focused on Mourning and Mutombo, the star of the team arguably was senior guard Mark Tillmon. A starter in his freshman and sophomore years, he had slumped during his junior season and been relegated to the bench. This year, he returned to form, starting all 31 games. In December 1989, he scored 27 points against North Carolina and 29 against Virginia Tech. During the five-game stretch from the victory over Northern Iowa on December 29, 1989, through the defeat of DePaul on January 13, 1990, he averaged 26 points a game, including a career-high 39 points against Providence. As the season wore on, he had 26 points at Villanova, 25 versus Seton Hall, and 20 at St. John's. In the rematch at Providence in February, he tied the career-high 39-point performance he had set against them a month and a half earlier, including connecting on a Georgetown-record seven three-point shots - a record destined to be matched only once over the next 18 years. He scored in double figures in 10 of his final 11 games.
Back from touring with a Big East all-star team during the summer of 1989, senior guard Dwayne Bryant returned as a team co-captain this season and started all 31 games. With freshman David Edwards playing point guard, Bryant was free to play shooting guard, and he responded with the best offensive season of his collegiate career. He scored in double figures in 21 games, and in the later games of the season averaged 16 points per game, including a 20-point effort against Connecticut and nine rebounds and a career-high 25 points against Syracuse consecutively in the last two games of the regular season. For the year, he averaged a career-best 12.3 points per game.
The season finale in which Bryant had his career-high scoring performance at the Carrier Dome before 33,015 against archrival Syracuse - the largest on-campus crowd in NCAA basketball history - was a wild game. Thompson was ejected - only his third ejection since taking over the Georgetown program in 1972 - and the Hoyas clung to a two-point lead with five seconds left in the game and Syracuse having little prospect of making even a long-range shot to tie. However, senior forward and team co-captain Sam Jefferson unnecessarily fouled Syracuse sophomore power forward Billy Owens, who sank both of his free throws to tie the game. Syracuse prevailed in overtime, beating the Hoyas 89-87.
Beginning with the regular-season-finale loss at Syracuse, the Hoyas stumbled in their final five games, losing three, each of them by five or fewer points. After a bye in the first round of the 1989 Big East Tournament, Georgetown defeated Providence in the quarterfinals but lost to Connecticut in the semifinals. The Hoyas were the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region of the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament - the 12th of 14 consecutive Georgetown NCAA Tournament appearances - and defeated Texas Southern in the first round before the Midwest Region No. 6 seed, 25th-ranked Xavier, upset them in the second round. In the final seven games of the year, Mourning had been limited to an average of just over six shots per game, and that had hurt the Georgetown offense.
The 1989-90 Hoyas were ranked No. 8 in the seasons final Associated Press Poll and No. 6 in the final Coaches' Poll. Mark Tillmon and Dwayne Bryant graduated in May 1990, Tillmon having had the best season of his career, averaging 19.8 points per game for the year and 12.7 for his career, and Bryant with a school-record shooting average from three-point range of 39.9%. During their four seasons on the team, the Hoyas had posted a record of 102-24 overall and 53-5 at home.

Roster

Source
Sophomore guard Ronny Thompson was the son of head coach John Thompson, Jr.
#NameHeightWeight PositionClassHometownPrevious Team
10David Edwards5'10"N/AGFr.New York, NYAndrew Jackson HS
11Kayode Vann6'1"175GJr.New York, NYBerkeley Carroll School
12Dwayne Bryant6'2"190GSr.New Orleans, LADe La Salle HS
20Mark Tillmon6'2"190GSr.Washington, DCGonzaga College HS
22Johnny Jones6'6"N/AFGrad. Sch.Coral Springs, FLUniversity of the District of Columbia
24Anthony Allen6'7"N/AFSr.Port Arthur, TXAbraham Lincoln HS
30Ronny Thompson6'4"190GSo.Washington, DCFlint Hill School
33Alonzo Mourning6'10"240C/FSo.Chesapeake, VAIndian River HS
34Michael Tate6'6"N/AFFr.Oxon Hill, MDOxon Hill HS
40Milton Bell6'7"N/AFSo.Richmond, VAJohn Marshall HS
41Antoine Stoudamire6'3"180G/FFr.Portland, ORJesuit HS
44Mike Sabol6'7"210FFr.Washington, DCGonzaga College HS
50Sam Jefferson6'9"230FSr.Washington, DCFlint Hill School
55Dikembe Mutombo7'2"245CJr.Kinshasa, ZaireInstitut Boboto

Rankings

Source
PollPreWk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13Wk 14Wk 15Final
AP53333332236535758
Coaches4433333223652356-

1989–90 Schedule and results

Sources
!colspan=9 style="background:#002147; color:#8D817B;"| Regular Season
!colspan=9 style="background:#002147; color:#8D817B;"| Big East Tournament
!colspan=9 style="background:#002147; color:#8D817B;"| NCAA Tournament