The Hoyas, led by twelfth-year head coach John Thompson III, played their home games at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., and were members of the Big East Conference.

Most notably, center Joshua Smith, one of the team′s top scorers for the past two seasons and an important presence in Georgetown′s inside game during his abbreviated one-and-a-half-season career with the Hoyas, was gone.

The graduation of Mikael Hopkins and Aaron Bowen meant the loss of two veteran forwards, while that of Jabril Trawick left the Hoyas shorthanded at guard.

[4] Speaking publicly about his decision three weeks after that, Smith-Rivera had explained that he initially had decided to enter the NBA draft out of an abundance of confidence in himself and comfort with his abilities as a player, but that his parents had convinced him that returning to Georgetown and completing his education was a wiser choice.

NCAA rules required him to sit out two full semesters before beginning play at Georgetown, but the Hoyas hoped that once Agau joined the team at mid-season in January 2016, he would help fill the gap left by the graduation of Hoya "big men" Joshua Smith and Mikael Hopkins, whose departure left the team weaker on inside offense, defense, and rebounding.

[8] Under NCAA rules, the Hoyas were allowed to make an overseas preseason trip to play exhibition games against foreign teams once every four years.

[9] Before the team left for the trip, Thompson told the press that he intended to use the exhibition schedule to give his players experience, and with that in mind, he would not necessarily play each game to win.

[14] Their final stop was Milan, from which they made a short drive across the border into Switzerland to defeat a Swiss team in a game played in Lugano,[15] finishing their trip with a record of 3–1.

[16] As the oldest Jesuit university in the United States, Georgetown had hoped that the team would be granted an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, but this proved impossible to arrange.

[18] The loss of Agau was a blow to Georgetown, which now faced unexpected weakness in its inside game,[6] but it did little to dampen the overall enthusiasm for the team′s prospects for success,[8] even though Paul White, the team′s leading scorer off the bench the previous year, began the season sidelined by a hip injury.

[22] In the second half the Hoyas had pulled out to a 44–37 lead when the officials called D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera for his fourth foul, forcing him to go to the bench with 14 minutes left to play.

[22] Three days later, the Hoyas were at Madison Square Garden and back in action in the 2K Sports Classic, seeking to avoid the first 0–3 start in Georgetown men's basketball history as they opened competition in the bracketed portion of the tournament with a game in the semifinal round.

[24] Georgetown had one final chance to tie or win after Blue Devils freshman guard Derryck Thornton missed two free throws, but Copeland′s three-pointer at the buzzer fell short and Duke won the game 86–84 to take the tournament championship.

[24] Duke sophomore guard Grayson Allen scored a career-high 32 points against the Hoyas on 9-for-12 shooting from the field, 5-for-6 in three-pointers, and 9-for-9 in free throws, along with five rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Peak scored 20 points, Isaac Copeland 12, Marcus Derrickson 11, and Bradley Hayes 10,[26] and Paul White made his season debut after missing the first four games with a hip injury.

14 Orange were the Hoyas′ third ranked opponent of the season, and they arrived at the Verizon Center on December 5 with a record of 6–1, having lost their first game of the year to Wisconsin three days earlier.

[33] The Hoyas completed their non-conference schedule with a visit to Charlotte, and held on to beat the 49ers in a close game, with Isaac Copeland scoring 12 points, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera adding 11, and L. J.

[41][42] The Hoyas entered Big East Conference play with a record of 7–5, two of the losses coming against Top Five teams but the other three in surprising upsets by mid-major opponents.

14 Syracuse – to their credit, but when John Thompson III talked to the press about the team′s readiness for the Big East season after the Charlotte game, he said, "Our defense is not close to where it needs to be for us to have success against the toughest basketball conference in the country.

6 Villanova, winners of 20 straight Big East games since an upset loss to Georgetown at the Verizon Center on January 19, 2015,[52] and Georgetown′s third Top Ten opponent of the season.

Before the game, Georgetown held a moment of silence for former Butler center Andrew Smith, who had died of acute lymphoblastic leukemia four days earlier at the age of 26.

[56] The Hoyas returned to conference play with a come-from-behind victory over Creighton at the Verizon Center in which Smith-Rivera scored a game-high 19 points and Peak added 11.

[58] The loss to Providence began a three-game losing steak and marked the beginning of a steep downward spiral for the 2015-2016 Hoya team, which would win only two more games.

[64] He underwent successful surgery for the injury on February 13, shortly before the Hoyas met Providence that day,[64] but was lost for the rest of the regular season.

[65] Providence redshirt sophomore forward Rodney Bullock, who had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds,[65] hit two free throws to stretch the Friars′ lead to 73–70.

[68] Xavier opened the second half by scoring 13 consecutive points and making 12 of its first 13 shots from the field,[68] and the Musketeers pulled out to a 21-point lead as the game wore on.

[68] Georgetown had trouble with Xavier′s variant of a 1–3–1 defense, and the Hoyas made 27 of their 61 field goal attempts from three-point range, sinking only 10 of them for a 27 percent three-point-shooting effort.

[78] Bradley Hayes, who missed the last six games of the regular season with a broken hand, returned to play, and his presence bolstered the Hoyas′ defense.

[83][41][42] When D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scrapped his plans to enter the NBA draft in the spring of 2016 and returned to play for Georgetown for a fourth season in 2015–2016, expectations for 2015–2016 had soared; what pundits and fans thought would be a rebuilding year with mediocre play in the wake of Smith-Rivera′s departure changed to anticipation of him leading the Hoyas in a return to the Top 25, a second-place finish in the Big East, and a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

[89] Criticism of John Thompson III′s performance as head coach reached a high level with the failure of the 2015–2016 team, with many fans calling for him to be fired[8] and the campus newspaper The Hoya referring to him as "one of the most polarizing figures in college sports.