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.[2]
Sophomore centerAlonzo 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 (92.9%) 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 (out of 281 attempts, a 78.3% effort) 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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[2]
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.[5]
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.[6]
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 Division I men's 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.[3][4]
The 1989-90 Hoyas were ranked No. 8 in the season's 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.[2][5]
