The team started the season against the Oregon Ducks in the Armed Forces Classic at Camp Humphreys near Pyeongtaek, South Korea,[3] and played in the 2013 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Junior forward Greg Whittington, who had been Georgetown's second-leading scorer and rebounder of the 2012–13 season before he was suspended for academic reasons at midseason and missed the last 19 games of the year, also returned, but he had undergone knee surgery over the offseason and began the 2013-14 campaign sidelined while he recovered.

[6] Junior 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.

[8][10] After playing in only six games for the Bruins during his junior year in 2012–13, Smith left UCLA in midseason, transferring in January 2013 to Georgetown, where he began taking classes and practicing with the team during the spring 2013 semester.

Thompson told the press that signing Smith was "a big risk – literally and figuratively" because of his declining performance during his time at UCLA and questions about his commitment to physical fitness and to playing winning basketball, but that the risk was worth it if Smith worked hard and stayed in shape because of his footwork, agility,[10] and soft hands.

[13] Both teams wore special camouflage uniforms, the Ducks light-colored ones with "USA" on their backs instead of the players' names and the Hoyas dark-colored ones sporting inspiring words like "Courage," "Integrity," and "Respect" rather than players' names, and the coaches and staff of both teams wore combat boots and military-style cargo pants.

[15] The Hoyas made a brief return to Washington, D.C., to defeat Wright State in their home opener at the Verizon Center, with D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scoring 25 points and Starks contributing 23.

In the opening game of the tournament, Georgetown faced Northeastern – a team the Hoyas had faced only once before, in 1979 – and suffered an upset at the hands of the Huskies, leading by 11 points at the half but collapsing in the second half, shooting 23 percent from the field after halftime, struggling at the free-throw line throughout the game, and allowing Northeastern to come from behind for a 63–56 win.

[16] Relegated to the tournament's consolation bracket, the Hoyas had a much better outing against Kansas State the following day, shooting 63 percent from the field and leading by as many as 29 points before coming away with a 90–63 victory.

The Hoyas' victory over Colgate was their eighth in nine meetings between the schools,[26] but the six-point win was so tight that an annoyed John Thompson III refused to let his players discuss it with the media, saying they had not earned the right to speak about the game.

[30] D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Markel Starks, and Nate Lubick each scored 15 points against FIU,[31] and Georgetown entered conference play three days later with a record of 8–3.

As the new Big East began play, media observers opined that the new conference was weaker on the court than the old one and lacked the luster of its predecessor and would have to build new rivalries and a new history of its own if it was to prevail in the sports marketplace.

[40] Facing a Providence team on the evening of January 8 that had lost three games in a row, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 19 points and Hopkins had 12, but the revamped Georgetown line-up fared poorly in an 18-point loss to the Friars.

[42] Although the Hoyas bounced back for an overtime win at Butler in which D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 18 points, Markel Starks had 15, and Aaron Bowen came off the bench to score 11, handing the Bulldogs their fourth straight loss,[43][44] Georgetown and its depleted roster then went into a tailspin, losing at Xavier, at home against Seton Hall and at home in overtime against Marquette, and at Creighton.

[45][46] The pattern repeated itself three days later, when Seton Hall overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half and held the Hoyas scoreless over the last 9:44 of the game to beat Georgetown.

[47][48] The game with Marquette broke a string of seven straight games between the schools in which at least one of the teams had been in the Top 25,[49] and Marquette – picked pre-season to win the Big East and, like the Hoyas, falling well short of expectations[49] – arrived winless on the road in Big East play for the season,[49] but the Hoyas blew a seven-point lead with three minutes to play and the Golden Eagles outscored them 15–7 in overtime.

[50] In the loss at first-place Creighton five nights later before a school-record crowd of 18,859 at CenturyLink Center Omaha, Starks had 21 points, Smith-Rivera had 18, and Hopkins had 14, and Nate Lubick pulled down 10 rebounds, but the Hoyas shot 39 percent from the field; it was their third sub-40-percent performance in a row.

[54] But John Thompson III also had to deal with another player loss, when back-up center Moses Ayegba received a one-game NCAA suspension less than three hours before game time because of a pre-enrollment infraction.

[54] Markel Starks had 20 points for the Hoyas[54] and Reggie Cameron had 12,[56] but the Hoyas went down to their fifth straight defeat, tying the longest losing streak of John Thompson III's ten-season tenure at Georgetown set in 2011;[53] it also was their third straight home loss, giving them their longest home losing streak since 2009.

[58] Michigan State came into the game with a record of 19–2 and was a heavy favorite despite playing with a front court weakened by injuries to senior center Adreian Payne and junior guard Branden Dawson.

[58] Sophomore guard Gary Harris scored a game-high 20 points for the Spartans, and his three-pointer with 1:32 left reduced Georgetown's lead to 56–54.

[59] First, they won at DePaul two days later – Georgetown's 14th straight win over the Blue Demons, a streak dating back to January 22, 1994[60] – and then they came home to defeat Butler and Providence.

[59] Georgetown's hopes for greater success late in the season dimmed after two straight one-sided road losses to St. John's and Seton Hall that followed the winning streak.

[66] The Hoyas bounced back for a 74–52 home win against Xavier in which they never trailed, ending up with their most decisive victory in a Big East game since a 61–39 defeat of Syracuse on March 9, 2013.

[66] However, another loss followed in a visit to Marquette five days later, as the Hoyas missed two layups in the final seconds and the Golden Eagles won 75–73, their fifth victory in six games.

[72] It was only the second victory the Blue Demons had ever had in a Big East tournament and the first since 2009,[72] and it was the first time they had beaten the Hoyas since January 22, 1994,[72] bringing a 14-game Georgetown winning streak against DePaul over a period of 20 years to an end.

[75] With the Verizon Center booked by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus,[75] Georgetown hosted West Virginia at McDonough Gymnasium, its first on-campus game since 2009, before a boisterous crowd of students.

[75] After a decisive 8–0 Georgetown run early in the second half,[75] the Hoyas took their first double-digit lead on a Nate Lubick dunk with 6:18 left to play on the way to a 77–65 win.

[75] None of the defenses the Hoyas tried against Florida State was effective,[77] and the Seminoles closed out the first half with a 15–5 run that gave them a 48–35 lead at halftime from which Georgetown never recovered.

It was Florida State's first 100-plus-point game since a 106–62 win against Charlotte on December 17, 2013,[77] and the first time Georgetown had allowed an opponent to score 100 or more points since the 2000-2001 season.