Their second game, against the Bayi Rockets, ended in a brawl, causing the team to leave the court while Chinese fans threw garbage and debris.

The loss of Freeman, Vaughn, and Wright left the Hoyas with a young and inexperienced team with 10 freshmen and sophomores on the roster for the 2011–12 season and they began the year unranked in the national polls.

[7] For the first time in their history, the Hoyas went on an overseas trip to play a series of exhibition games – something the NCAA permitted once every four years – visiting China for 10 days in August 2011.

The rough play continued in the second half and the game took on an uglier character, as at one point Bayi forward Xu Zhonghao approached head coach John Thompson III as he stood near the bench and yelled at him at close range, and play had to be stopped again a few moments later when Bayi player Wang Lei was called for a technical foul and vociferously disputed the call.

Georgetown won both games in Shanghai without any additional controversy, and Hoya coaches and players spent time at a special basketball clinic for Chinese youth, finishing the trip on a positive note.

Sixteen seconds later, Kansas junior forward Thomas Robinson – who finished with a double-double that included a game-high 20 points (12 of them on dunks) and 12 rebounds – scored a two-point jumper that gave the Jayhawks the lead for good.

[15][16][17] Relegated to the tournament's consolation bracket, Georgetown had an easy win over host Chaminade behind 28 points by Jason Clark and 17 by Otto Porter[18][19] and advanced to meet its second ranked opponent in three days, No.

Other than a 49-44 Georgetown lead with 19:08 left in regulation, neither team ever led by more than three points for the rest of the game, and the second half saw five ties before its final minute.

Memphis sophomore guard Antonio Barton put up a three-point shot at the buzzer, but it fell well short, and Georgetown came away with a 91–88 upset victory and a fifth-place finish in the Maui Invitational.

[25][26] Georgetown rounded out its non-conference schedule by sweeping the homestand that followed, beating all four opponents by double-digit margins ranging from 11 to 40 points and giving the Hoyas an eight-game winning streak.

Seeing no further action, he suffered chest pains during practice on December 14 and was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia that had the potential to make strenuous activities like basketball dangerous and even lethal, although it was also possible that he could play through an entire career with no serious health problem.

Louisville clung to its lead into the second half, and the Hoyas were down 47-45 when Hollis Thompson scored five consecutive points to put them ahead 51–47 with a little less than nine minutes remaining in the game.

The Cardinals, who had rallied from deficits of seven or more nine times dating back to the previous season, mounted a comeback with an 11–0 run that tied the game at 63–63 with 2:01 left to play.

Two Porter free throws stretched the lead to 69-63 before Louisville sophomore guard Russ Smith sank a three-pointer to close the gap to 69–66.

During the first half and well into the second, it looked as though the Golden Eagles would blow out the Hoyas; Marquette led 43–29 at halftime and extended its lead to 56–39 with 13:10 left to play.

However, the Hoyas shot 76 percent from the field during the second half and mounted a comeback led by Jason Clark despite putting four freshmen – Mikael Hopkins, Otto Porter, Jabril Trawick, and Greg Whittington – on the court when upperclassmen Henry Sims and Hollis Thompson got into foul trouble.

[38][39] With an overall record of 13-1 and 3–0 in the Big East, Georgetown followed the win over Marquette with eight straight games against unranked teams, its longest stretch without a ranked opponent since the 2007–08 season.

A frightening incident took place in the Cincinnati game on January 9 when Bearcat freshman guard Ge'Lawn Guyn suffered a concussion in a collision with Greg Whittington, could not lift his legs, and had to be taken to a hospital, but he recovered quickly.

2 Syracuse, the top shooting team in the Big East, unbeaten in 15 home games during the season, and Georgetown's first ranked opponent in five weeks.

Georgetown closed to 55–54 with 1:36 to play thanks to two Jason Clark three-pointers, and Greg Whittington hit a free throw with a minute left to tie the game at 55-55, where the score stood at the end of regulation.

The Hoyas had a balanced attack against the Red Storm, with Greg Whittington finishing with a team-high 12 points, Jason Clark, Otto Porter, and Markel Starks each scoring 11, Hollis Thompson adding 10 and Henry Sims nine, and Nate Lubick having an excellent all-around game with seven points, eight rebounds, five assists, and a career-high four blocked shots.

[58][59] The Hoyas, still the second-stingiest defensive team in the Big East (allowing 58.9 points per game), held Providence to 25.9 percent shooting from the field, the fourth time in five games they had held an opponent to making fewer than 35 percent of its shots, and moved into sole possession of third place in the conference standings by defeating the Friars; Hollis Thompson had a double-double against the Friars with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jason Clark also scored 13 and Henry Sims added 10.

Georgetown led 28–18 at halftime and continued to pull away in the second half, including a 9–0 run that gave the Hoyas a 48–29 lead with about 8+1⁄2 minutes to play, and cruised to a 59–41 victory.

The Golden Eagles overwhelmed Georgetown's strong defense with their transition game, outscoring the Hoyas 24-8 off of turnovers and making 33 out of 45 foul shots (73.3%).

13 in the AP Poll after the Marquette loss – they faced the 13th seed, Pittsburgh, which had upset 12th-seeded St. John's the previous day to advance to meet Georgetown.

A dramatic narrative of the game was the duel underneath the baskets between the teams′ two senior "big men," Henry Sims and Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates.

Seeded third in the Midwest Region, in the Round of 64 – termed the "Second Round" of the tournament that year – they met 14th-seeded Belmont, the regular-season champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference and winner of the 2012 Atlantic Sun tournament, with Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill looking on from the front row of the Belmont cheering section.

North Carolina State guard Lorenzo Brown then hit two free throws to extend the Wolfpack's lead to 65–61 with 10.6 seconds to play.

Jason Clark got the ball and launched the last shot of his collegiate career, a hurried three-point attempt, but it missed, and North Carolina State ended Georgetown's season with a 66–63 upset victory.

[82] Hollis Thompson announced on March 27, 2012, that he would not return to Georgetown for his senior year the following season and would enter the 2012 NBA draft; he left Georgetown having played 99 games, 57 as a starter, with a career average of 8.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 24.6 minutes per game, shooting 47.8 percent overall from the field, and his three-point shooting percentage of 44 percent was the best in school history.