BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2023

Patrick Ewing

Madison Square Garden

Georgetown Hoyas

Postgame Media Conference

Villanova - 80, Georgetown - 48

Q. Really flat performance tonight. Just why do you think you never gained traction from the beginning?

COACH EWING: When we're playing without Akok. He wasn't able to go. Bryson Mozone didn't have the energy and effort that he needed to. He was fighting a bug. But he gave it his all. So that was hard to come back from.

And you've got to give them all the credit. They played their butts off.

Q. How much do you think the season has gone has sort of worn away from this team? Because they looked like a tired team tonight.

COACH EWING: I mean, like I said, when you're playing without one of your 4 -- we have two guys that play the 4 position. One was out. The other one was still a little under the weather. That was tough. It was a rough year. It's not the year that we thought we would have had.

But you just you talk -- we kept fighting. We didn't give up. And we're disappointed that the season ended the way that it did.

Q. 3-point defense was atrocious today, particularly early. What do you attribute that to?

COACH EWING: We gave them -- they hit some tough shots early. We didn't get to them. We were trying to switch everything on the first half. Our bigs didn't get up on some of those 3s or they contested late.

We work on contesting high. We weren't able to do that and they knocked down shots.

Q. Despite the results, how does it feel to be back in Madison Square Garden, an arena you played in for 15 years?

COACH EWING: The result is all I'm thinking about right now. It's always good to be back in New York, but I'm very disappointed in the fact that the season is over for us and we didn't accomplish the things that we wanted to accomplish.

Q. How hard has the toll been of the last two seasons? And do you have any thoughts about your future?

COACH EWING: No thoughts about my future. The two seasons have been rough. Disappointed in the outcomes of these last two years. My future is in the hands of our president and our AD and the board of directors.

Q. You were actually leading going into the first media timeout. After that, what do you think really happened? Was it the offense becoming stagnant? Was it Villanova's defense stifling you a little more, or was it a combination?

COACH EWING: I think we missed open shots. And then when you miss open shots, you tend to press. Their defense, their defense intensity picked up. Then they started making shots and then it was like the floodgates.

Q. Can you speak on Primo Spears' growth this year and just what he's meant to this team?

COACH EWING: Primo is an integral part of our team. I think his growth has improved significantly. But at the end of the day we know we've got to win.

Q. Do you want to be back as Georgetown coach next year?

COACH EWING: Look, I listened to Coach Boeheim's press conference after the game, and everyone was just ranting about, are you coming back or what.

Hey, look, I am proud of being a Georgetown Hoya. This institution has been great to me over the years. I'd be honored to come back as the coach here. That's it.