Patrick Ewing is in Year 3 of his rebuild of the Georgetown basketball program.But the former Hoyas’ multi-year All American center and current coach who led the program to a 1984 national title and three Final Fours as a player may have just hit an iceberg with news that two key players have left the program. Starting point guard James Akinjo and forward Josh LeBlanc have both entered the transfer portal.
Akinjo’s loss is a major hit for a Big East program that has gone three years without an NCAA appearance. Akinjjo, who was selected Big East Rookie of the Year last season, was averaging 13.4 points and 4.4 assists while making 39.1 percent of his three-point attempts in the Hoyas’ first seven games of a 4-3 season. Ewing said before the season that he considered Akinjo and another sophomore Mac McClung, one of the best backcourts in the country.
LeBlanc, who was named to the Big East All-freshman team last year, averaged 9.1points and 7.3 rebounds as a starer. He was averaging 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds off the bench after being suspended for the team opener. Akinjo and LeBlanc combined for 23 points in a win over Texas at the Garden earlier this season.
Georgetown has struggled since Ewing took over the program at the start of the 2017-18 season and has failed to earn an NCAA Tournament bid since 2015. They did win 19 games last season and accepted a bid to the NIT, where they lost to Harvard in the first round. Losing its starting point guard and a key bench player after the season has already started certainly hasn’t helped that goal.
Georgetown has dropped games against 10th ranked Duke at the Garden and fell to Penn State by 15 points in the Gavitt Games already this season and is coming off a four-point loss last Saturday to UNC-Greensboro. The Hoyas travel to Oklahoma State Wednesday.
