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.
2009–10 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
Unfortunately for Georgetown, a shocking upset followed the win over Duke, as the No. 7 Hoyas resumed conference play by losing to South Florida, a team which three days earlier also had upset No. 17 Pittsburgh. The Hoyas blew a first-half 13-point lead, their offense going cold in the second half, resulting in arguably the biggest win in the history of Bulls basketball. Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman each scored 21 points and Monroe grabbed eight rebounds in the loss. The Hoyas then faced No. 2 Villanova – a team that had beaten them in January, had not yet lost a conference game during the season, and was riding an 11-game winning streak – on February 6. Although about two feet (61 cm) of snow had fallen in Washington, D.C., that day, 10,387 fans – including Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and former National Football League commissioner and Georgetown basketball player Paul Tagliabue – showed up at the Verizon Center for the game, some of the students in attendance having walked three miles (4.8 km) from the Georgetown campus. During the first half, the Hoyas forced 16 Villanova turnovers and limited the Wildcats to 12 field goals. A 15–2 Georgetown run gave the Hoyas a 34–20 lead, and a 16–4 Georgetown run followed to stretch the lead to 50–27, which Villanova cut to 50–31 at halftime. In the second half, Villanova scored 59 points and committed only two turnovers, and early in the half twice closed to a 13-point deficit, but the Hoyas then stretched their lead to 76–55 with 9:13 left to play. The Wildcats followed that with a 13–3 run of their own to close to 79–68 and later got as close as 81–71, but the Hoyas added to their lead again and ultimately upset Villanova 103–90. Georgetown went 39-for-50 (78 percent) from the foul line during the game, and making half of those free throws in the second half helped the Hoyas protect their lead against Villanova's second-half offensive surge. Austin Freeman scored a game-high 25 points and Jason Clark had 24, while Greg Monroe shot 11-for-14 (78.6 percent) from the field, scoring 19 points, pulling down eight rebounds, and making six assists. Julian Vaughn contributed 13 points and Hollis Thompson came off the bench to add 12.