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.
2015–16 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
The struggling Hoyas finished their regular season with a visit to No. 3 Villanova, playing before a sellout crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats dominated the Hoyas, jumping out to a 21-point lead in the first half and leading 46–27 at halftime. L. J. Peak led the Hoyas with 31 points, Marcus Derrickson scored 14, and Isaac Copeland grabbed 13 rebounds, but the Hoyas shot only 4-for-26 (15.4 percent) from three-point range. and the Wildcats won 84–71. Villanova improved its record in the all-time series with Georgetown to 33–44, and Georgetown′s record against Top 25 teams during John Thompson III′s 12-year tenure fell to 45–52.