NEW YORK – Patrick Ewing climbed the ladder – just a few steps needed for the 7-footer – cut the last string and held the net up.
Georgetown is again the champion of the Great East, led by the greatest Hoya of them.
Ewing takes Georgetown back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, after eighth-grader Hoyas finished a surprising run to a Big East crown on Saturday night with a stunning 73-48 start at No. 17 Creighton.
On the 49th anniversary of the day, Georgetown hired John Thompson, the late Hall of Fame coach, who turned the program into a national power and one of the most iconic brands in the history of college basketball, Hoya won the record for the eighth Big East tournament title and the first of 2007.
Was it fate? Destiny? Maybe Big John, who died in August at the age of 78, smiling at Ewing and Hoyas?
“I think so,” said Ewing.
His team won with a dominant performance in Madison Square Garden reminiscent of coach Ewing’s playing days in Georgetown.
Hoyas (13-12) closed the first half in a 23-2 maneuver, which brought him 18 at the break against Creighton (20-8). Then they got up right at the beginning of the second half with a 16-3 jump. Chudier Bile knocked down a 3-pointer – keeping follow-through for a beat – with 14 minutes, 58 seconds left that made it 52-21.
Ewing called it a huge step for a program that struggled to regain its old glory and began this season as the last to end in the Great East.
“A lot of people were discredited. They spoke ill of us. We believed in ourselves. We worked hard. We fought hard,” he said.
Ewing wondered loudly earlier this week if they had looked at him at MSG, and he complained that security asked him to see his credentials as he walked around the building where he played for the New York Knicks and his No. 1 jersey. . 33 hangs from the rafters.
Ewing said that this championship was “right up there” with its biggest moments at The Garden.
“A different chapter in my life,” he said.
Bile equalized a maximum season with 19 points, and Jahvon Blair had 18 and came out with 4 for 7 from the 3-point range for Georgetown. After missing 12 of the first 14 shots, Hoya finished shooting 46.6% of the floor.
Marcus Zegarowski scored 17 points to lead Creighton, who is 0-3 in the Big East title games since joining the 2013-14 conference conference.
Georgetown fans, the dozens in the mostly empty building due to COVID-19 restrictions, chanted, “This is our home!” as Hoya prepared to accept the championship trophy. Ewing wore a T-shirt with the image of Thompson on it, his old coach’s fist raised.
“Just to see how happy he is, I’m glad,” Blair said of Ewing. “I’m so happy for him.”
Ewing and Thompson combined for three Big East tournament championships, three Final Four appearances and a national title in 1984 during their time together at Georgetown.
Ewing aspired to be head coach as his mentor. He spent 15 years as an assistant in the NBA, never getting the chance to be head coach – until the alma mater came on the phone.
“I’m here where a lot of people didn’t think I had the ability to do that [be]”Ewing said.” And I prove that everyone is wrong. “
Ewing, 58, is in his fourth season with Hoya and until this week there were not many to be excited about. The only appearance of the post-season tournament was a one-game stay in NIT 2019. At the start of this tournament, Ewing’s record was 58-58 as head coach.
He is now the first person in the history of the Big East to be the most outstanding player in a Big East tournament champion and coached a team to a Big East tournament title.