12/21/2001 ?Box Score

The #16 ranked Hoyas lost on 12/20/01, falling to the #5 ranked Virginia Cavaliers 55-61. The national television audience (TBS) and the 18,789 in the MCI arena watched the Hoyas struggle from the field and get out muscled on the boards.? Freshman Tony Bethel led the Georgetown scorers with 12 and Mike Sweetney added 10. Mike paced the Hoya board men with 7 caroms. Wesley Wilson had 6 boards and a career high 6 blocks. Tony Bethel also had a career high with 6 boards and a block of his own. Tony and Wesley were named to the all-classic team.

The Hoyas opened slowly and allowed the Cavaliers to repeatedly build a 14 point edge (12-26 4:07, 14-28 3:17, 16-30 2:39) before putting together an 8-2 run to end the half.? Shooting only 28.6 % while being outrebounded 29-15, the Hoyas knew they could not survive repeating the first half.

In the second stanza the Hoyas chipped away at Virginia?s lead, reducing it to 4 on seven different occasions. Unfortunately, GU never ?turned the corner? to eliminate UVA?s lead completely and in the final minutes Virginia free throws closed the door.

For the game the Hoyas shot 35.7% and the Cavaliers hit 40.3% from the field. GU lost the battle of the boards 30-49, although they did force 25 turnovers while losing the ball only 15 times and blocked 10 shots to Virginia?s 3. The loss brings the Hoyas? record to 12-10 vs Virginia.

The game, part of the John Thompson Classic, included ceremonies granting scholarship money to 2 individuals from each of the four participating schools (Towson, Howard, Georgetown and Virginia) and a $10,000 grant to Spingarn High School.