They advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 Big East men's basketball tournament before losing to Miami in overtime.
He improved his free-throw shooting from 61% the previous year to 79% this season, that change alone accounting for an average of an additional 2.7 points per game.
Its record stood at 14-7 overall, 5–4 in the Big East, when Notre Dame came to the MCI Center for a conference game on February 9, 2002.
Notre Dame then made a 7–0 run of its own to lead 68–61, but Georgetown closed to a four-point deficit with eight minutes to play, to one point behind on a three pointer by freshman guard Drew Hall (who shot 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point line during the game), and tied the game again on a free throw with 7:29 to play.
Georgetown had an 84–82 lead when Notre Dame junior guard Matt Carroll sank a two-pointer to tie the score.
[3][5] By the fourth overtime, Wilson had fouled out, junior center-forward and team co-captain Courtland Freeman had been injured, and Riley and Braswell soon also fouled out – Braswell leaving having shot only 5-for-19 (26.3%) from the field and 0-for-4 at three-point range, part of a slump in which he shot 2-for-17 (11.8%) in three-point attempts over a four-game stretch.
The final blow to the tiring Hoyas came when Sweetney fouled out after a 35-point, 20-rebound performance, leaving Georgetown with only one of its starting five players still available to play.
After losing to Connecticut three days later, the Hoyas embarked on a four-game winning streak in which Sweetney averaged 16 points and 11.5 rebounds.
However, they lost in the quarterfinals to Miami in overtime despite Gerald Riley's 15-point performance, knocking them out of the Big East tournament and out of consideration for an NCAA bid.
He explained his controversial decision by saying that Georgetown's home court, the MCI Center, was booked to host the East Regional of the 2002 NCAA Tournament, meaning that accepting the NIT invitation would have required the Hoyas to play on the road in the West for two weeks, forcing his players to miss many of their classes.