NEW YORK: Patrick Ewing climbed the ladder (it only took a few steps for the 7-foot foot): he cut the last rope and kept the net high.
Georgetown is again champion of the Great East, with the biggest Hole of them all at the helm.
Ewing returns to Georgetown in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015 after eighth-ranked Hoyas completed an amazing run to the Big East crown on Saturday night with an impressive 73-48 loss to No. 17 Creighton.
On the 49th anniversary of the day, Georgetown hired John Thompson, the late Hall of Fame coach who transformed the show into a national powerhouse and one of the most iconic brands in college basketball history, the Hoyas won the its eighth Big East tournament title and the first since 2007.
Was it destiny? Destination? Maybe Big John, who died in August at age 78, smiling at Ewing and his Holes?
“I think so,” Ewing said.
His team won with a dominant performance inside Madison Square Garden reminiscent of the days coach Ewing played in Georgetown.
The Hoyas (13-12) closed out the first half with a 23-2 run that put them 18 at halftime against second-placed Creighton (20-8). Then they started the first half of the second half with a 16-3 shot. Chudier Bile dropped a 3-point lead (keeping track for a pace) with 14:58 left which made it 52-21.
Ewing defined it as a big step for a program that has struggled to regain its old glory and began this season to finish last in the Great East.
“A lot of people discredited. He spoke badly of us. We believed in ourselves. We worked hard. We fought a lot,” he said.
Ewing wondered aloud earlier this week if they had forgotten him at MSG. He complained that security asked him to see his credentials as he moved around the building where he starred in the New York Knicks and his No. 33 jersey hangs from the beams.
Ewing said this championship was “up there” with his best moments at The Garden.
“Different chapter of my life,” he said.
Bile matched a season high with 19 points and Jahvon Blair had 18 and went from 4 to 7 from 3 points for Georgetown. After losing 12 of their first 14 shots, the Hoyas finished firing 46.6% from the ground.
Marcus Zegarowski scored 17 points to lead Creighton, who is 0-3 in the Big East title games since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.
Georgetown fans, the few dozen who were in the building mostly empty due to COVID-19 restrictions, sang, “This is our home.” while the Hoyas were preparing to accept the championship trophy. Ewing wore a T-shirt with the image of Thompson, with his old coach’s fist raised.
“Just to see how happy he is makes me happy,” Blair said of Ewing. “I’m very 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 in Georgetown.
Ewing aspired to be a head coach as his mentor. He spent 15 years as an assistant in the NBA, getting no chance to be head coach, until his alma mater called.
“I’m here where a lot of people didn’t think I had the ability to (be),” Ewing said. “And I’m proving that everyone is wrong.”
Ewing, 58, is in his fourth season with the Hoyas and until this week there hadn’t been much to get excited about. The only appearance of the postseason tournament was a one-game stay at NIT 2019. At the start of this tournament, Ewing’s record was 58-58 as head coach.
He is now the first person in Big East history to be the most prominent player in a Big East tournament champion and coach a team with a Big East tournament title.