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.
2012–13 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team
Hoping for a No.1 seed in the upcoming 2013 NCAA Tournament, Georgetown moved on to the semifinals to face No. 19 Syracuse, the tournament's fifth seed, which had beaten Seton Hall and Pittsburgh to advance. It was the final game between Georgetown and Syracuse as conference rivals, and Madison Square Garden was sold out, with a mostly pro-Syracuse crowd in attendance. Georgetown pulled out to an initial 11-6 lead with 12:24 left in the first half, but a 13-0 Syracuse run – during which Georgetown did not score for just over eight minutes – gave the Orange a 27-17 advantage with 2:24 remaining in the half, and Syracuse went to the locker room with a 29-20 lead at the intermission. In the second half, the Orange extended their lead to 12 points at 37-25 with 16:16 to play. A Mikeal Hopkins dunk and five straight points by Markel Starks cut Georgetown's deficit to 37-32 with 12:41 remaining, but then Syracuse pulled out to a 43-34 advantage with 11:02 to play. Another Hoya surge followed that tied the game at 49-49 with 1:47 left in regulation. Syracuse junior center Baye Moussa Keita sank two free throws with 1:23 to play in regulation and Otto Porter hit both ends of a one-and-one to make the score 51-51 with 7.3 seconds left. After Orange sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams missed a potentially game-winning shot at the buzzer, the game went into overtime. The Orange scored the first four points in overtime to take a lead they never lost. Markel Starks fouled out with 3:36 left in overtime and, although the Hoyas got as close as 57-55 with 40 seconds left, Jabril Trawick's last-second heave from halfcourt hit the backboard but did not go in, and Syracuse celebrated a 58-55 overtime upset win. The Hoyas shot 4-for-18 (22.2%) from three-point range and 11-for-20 (55.0%) from the free-throw line, and Syracuse's bench outscored that of the Hoyas 23-5. Georgetown dropped to 15-2 in Big East Tournament games in which it was the top seed. It was the 14th and last meeting in the Big East Tournament between the schools; each won seven games. It also was Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim′s 50th win in the tournament. Syracuse advanced to the tournament championship for the 15th and final time the following day and lost to Louisville.