1979–80 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 1978–79 NCAA Division I college basketball season. John Thompson, coached them in his eighth season as head coach. It was the Hoyas' first season as members of the original Big East Conference, which began play this season; prior to this year, Georgetown had been an independent during the 38 seasons it had fielded a team since the dissolution of the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference at the end of the 1938-39 season. Georgetown would remain a member of the original Big East for 34 seasons, through the end of the 2012–13 season. The team's penchant for playing tight games decided in the last seconds led to it being nicknamed the Heart Attack Hoyas.

Georgetown played its home games at

One early game took on a significance that only became apparent in retrospect. Georgetown and Maryland had begun play against one another in 1907 and had played each other in the regular season once or twice annually in 42 of the 46 seasons since 1935.^{[note 1]} During the December 5 game between the Hoyas and the Terrapins, John Thompson and Maryland head coach Lefty Driesell got into a shouting match at midcourt. The incident apparently soured relations between the schools, which did not schedule one another for a non-tournament regular-season game again until a single meeting in 1993, and then not again until a single game in 2015.^[7][8]

The season saw more than its share of memorable games. Georgetown won seven games by five or fewer points, and four of its six losses came in the final seconds or in overtime, leading the team to become known as the "

The Hoyas finished the season with a record of 5-1 in Big East play, giving them a share of the conference's first regular-season championship along with St. John's and Syracuse. In the first Big East tournament, they defeated Syracuse in the final – with Eric Smith playing a fine defensive game and scoring a season-high 17 points and Ed Spriggs putting in a 13-point, 10-rebound performance^[4][9] – to win the first conference tournament championship. Floyd scored 22 points in the quarterfinal against Seton Hall, 20 in the semifinal against St. John's, and 21 against Syracuse.^[3] Shelton averaged 16 points per game during the tournament.^[2]

The Hoyas were the No. 3 seed in the East Region of the

Georgetown upset No. 8-ranked Maryland in the East Region semifinal in an emotional game; Shelton got in foul trouble and was limited to seven points, but Eric Smith's defense held Maryland's Albert King to a 6-for-18 shooting performance. Advancing to the regional final, the Hoyas next faced the East Region's No. 5 seed, Iowa. Against Iowa, Georgetown led by 10 points at halftime and extended its lead to 14 in the second half, during which it shot 68.2% from the floor, with Sleepy Floyd scoring a game-high – and career-high – 31 points and Shelton scoring 16 points. But Iowa shot 17-for-21 (81%) in field goal attempts and a perfect 15-for-15 in free throws and closed the gap. With seven seconds left in the game and the Hoyas leading 80-79, Shelton was called for a foul against Iowa's Steve Waite; Waite scored both his free throws to give the Hawkeyes an 81-80 upset victory and bring the Heart Attack Hoyas' season to an end with one final last-second decision.^{[2][9][10][12]}

During Georgetown's three NCAA Tournament games, Sleepy Floyd shot 58 percent from the field, 86 percent from the free throw line, and scored 70 points. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Tournament East Regional, and finished the season as the top scorer for Georgetown for the second season in a row.^[3] Eric Smith shot 55 percent from the field for the season.^[9] Shelton finished his collegiate career as the third-highest-scoring player in Georgetown history despite having played in only seven games in his freshman year.^[2] In his final college season, senior point guard John Duren had averaged 12.3 points and 7.1 assists per game, and his 228 assists during the season surpassed the previous Georgetown record by a wide margin; he also played a school-record 1,164 minutes during the year without ever fouling out, and his leadership of the team on the floor at point guard contributed to the Hoyas shooting a Georgetown-record 53% from the field during the season.^[11]

The 1979–1980 season saw the end of the annual series between Georgetown and Holy Cross, which had begun in the 1967–1968 season,^[13] and the end of the rivalry between the schools.^[13]

The 1979-1980 Hoyas were ranked No. 11 in the season's final

Roster

Source^{[2][3][4][5][6][9][11][14][15]}

Rankings

Source^[16][17]

1979–80 schedule and results

Sources^{[7][18][19][20]}

• All times are Eastern

Notes

References