3/8/2003 Despite an action packed finish, the Hoyas lost to nationally ranked Notre Dame (#16) by a score of 80-86 0n 3/08/03. The Hoyas? largest home crowd of the season (17,875), as well as a national CBS television audience, saw a very exciting conclusion to the regular season.

Mike Sweetney paced the Hoyas in both scoring and rebounding, putting up 26 points and pulling down 9 boards. Mike also had 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Gerald Riley, who grabbed 6 rebounds, scored 21 points and Tony Bethel scored 17 points while leading the Hoyas in assists with 5 and steals with a career high 6.

The Hoyas led through the early going and were up by 8 with 10:13 remaining, when the Irish put together an 11-3 spurt to knot the score at 24 with 6:51 in the half. Five lead changes and 6 ties later the intermission horn sounded on a scoreboard which read 37-37.

Georgetown again opened the half by establishing a lead, but at 11:01 Notre Dame?s threes started to drop and with 3:05 remaining the visitors held a 13 point edge. The Hoyas then went on a run of their own, cutting the deficit to 1, 80-81. Unfortunately, when the videotape was reviewed Gerald Riley?s trey was reduced to a duce and the Irish closed the final 41 seconds hitting 5 of 6 free throws.

For the game the Hoyas won the battle of the boards 39-38 (including 22 offensive rebounds) and forced 22 turnovers while giving up 14. The Irish, however hit at a torrid 51% from the field while Georgetown made 38.5%. Notre Dame hit 11 three pointers and scored 23 points from the stripe.