The 2014–15 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by 11th year head coach John Thompson III, were members of the Big East Conference, and played their home games at the Verizon Center. They finished the season 22–11, 12–6 in Big East play to finish in a tie for second place. They advanced to the semifinals of the Big East tournament where they lost to Xavier. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Eastern Washington in the second round before losing in the third round to Utah.
Previous season
The Hoyas finished the previous season 18–15, 8–10 in Big East play, to finish in seventh place. They lost in the first round of the Big East tournament to DePaul. They were invited to the 2014 National Invitation Tournament, in which they lost in the second round to Florida State.
Departures
Recruiting
Season recap
Since the conclusion of the previous season, Georgetown had lost four players to graduation: Most notably, point guard Markel Starks, who had finished the 2013–2014 season as the team's second-leading scorer, had graduated, as had forward Nate Lubick and reserve guard John Caprio. The fourth graduate was Moses Ayegba who, after three years as a reserve center at Georgetown, had opted to transfer to Nebraska to play out his final year of collegiate eligibility.
Returning for 2014–2015 were the team's leading scorer from 2013–2014, junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera – a shooting guard while Starks was on the team but taking on point guard duties this season – as well as junior guard Jabril Trawick, senior forward Mikael Hopkins, sophomore power forward Reggie Cameron, and junior reserve center Bradley Hayes. Reserve forward Aaron Bowen, a redshirt senior the previous season, had a year of collegiate eligibility remaining due to a freshman season cut short by surgery, and, although he had the option of transferring elsewhere to play out his eligibility without sitting out a season, he opted to play at Georgetown in 2014–2015 as a fifth-year senior. Two junior guards made the team as walk-ons, David Allen for the third straight season and Riyan Williams, the son of former Georgetown great Reggie Williams, who had walked on the previous season and had made the roster in January 2014. Senior center Tyler Adams, sidelined early in his freshman season by heart arrhythmia, spent the season on a medical hardship waiver that allowed him to continue at Georgetown on a scholarship without counting against the team's scholarship total. Relegated to the bench for another year, he made the most of the situation, acting as a de facto assistant coach, although he made a brief appearance on the court in Georgetown's final home game of the season.
Most notably, senior center Joshua Smith returned. Criticism that he lacked maturity and a commitment to physical fitness and to playing winning basketball had dogged Smith earlier in his collegiate career when he spent parts of three seasons at UCLA, and John Thompson III had suspended him the previous season for academic reasons after only 13 games with the Hoyas; that suspension had become an outright dismissal from the team shortly afterward when he continued to struggle in his classes, although the dismissal came with the understanding that he could return for the 2014–2015 season if his grades improved enough. By the fall 2014 semester, he had resolved his academic problems, and Georgetown allowed him to rejoin the team for the 2014–2015 season. When suspended, he had been the 2013–2014 team's third-leading scorer and was a key part of Georgetown's offense, and his departure that season had led to a steep drop in the 2013–2014's team's fortunes. Although Smith's performance had declined noticeably during the last few games before his suspension, he and Smith-Rivera were the only returning Georgetown players who had averaged in double figures for the 2013–2014 season. Arriving in the fall of 2014 30 pounds (13.6 kg) lighter than the year before and having undergone an offseason fitness regimen, Smith again was expected to serve as the centerpiece of Georgetown's offense.
Five freshmen – guard Tre Campbell, small forward L. J. Peak, and forwards Isaac Copeland, Paul White, and Trey Mourning – joined the team. Mourning was the son of former Georgetown and National Basketball Association great Alonzo Mourning, and his arrival marked the fourth time in Georgetown basketball history that the son of a former player had joined the team.