Georgetown Hoyas
The University admits that the precise origin of the term "Hoya" is unknown. At some point before 1893, and likely before 1891, students versed in classical languages combined the Greek "hoia" or "hoya", meaning "what" or "such", and the Latin "saxa" to form "Hoya Saxa!", or "What Rocks!" This cheer may either refer to the stalwart defense of the football team, or to the baseball team, which was nicknamed the "Stonewalls", or to the actual stone wall that surrounds the campus. Father William McFadden, S.J., campus Jesuit and the team's in-house announcer at the Capital One Arena, has disputed the Greek and Latin origin, suggesting the classical words were retroactively applied to a nonsensical cheer.
After World War I, the term "Hoya" was increasingly used on campus, including for the newspaper and the school mascot. In 1920, students began publishing the campus's first sports newspaper under the name "The Hoya", after successfully petitioning the Dean of the College to use it instead of the proposed name, "The Hilltopper". "Hilltoppers" was also a name sometimes used for the sports teams. By the fall of 1928, the newspaper had taken to referring to the sports teams as the Hoyas. This was influenced by a popular half time show at football games, where the mascot, a dog nicknamed "Hoya," would entertain fans.
2016–17 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
After another week off following the La Salle game, the Hoyas journeyed to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse – their archrival throughout the 34-season history of the original Big East Conference of 1979–2013 – on a snowy day on which Syracuse honored former Orange great Dwayne "Pearl" Washington, who had died of cancer in April 2016. Syracuse jumped out to an 11–4 lead, its largest of the game, in the first 5:08, but Georgetown came back and L. J. Peak sank a basket to tie the game at 31–31 with two minutes left until the intermission, in part thanks to Peak's 12 first-half points. The game was tied 33–33 at halftime, but Georgetown pulled ahead to its largest lead of the game, 67–60, with only 2:36 left to play. The Orange closed to 69–66 with 1:04 left, but the Hoyas hit nine free throws in the final 38 seconds to come away with a 78–71 victory, their sixth over the Orange in the last eight meetings. Peak had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds and Rodney Pryor scored 20 points. Georgetown, which entered the game averaging 28.5 trips to the free-throw line per game and shooting 77.5 percent in free throws, went 22-of-25 from the free-throw line, while Syracuse made only 14 of its 25 free throw attempts. The Hoyas improved their all-time record against Syracuse to 43–49, their all-time road record against Syracuse to 13–30, and their record against the Orange under John Thompson III to 11–7.