The Hoyas, led by 13th-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.

Forward Akoy Agau, who had transferred from Louisville in January 2015 and had planned to begin play for Georgetown in January 2016 after sitting out the two full semesters the National Collegiate Athletic Association mandated for transferring players, had missed the entire 2015–2016 season while recovering from knee surgery,[9] but he finally would make his Georgetown debut in 2016–2017 as a redshirt junior.

The 2016–2017 squad's athleticism raised the prospect of Georgetown playing a more uptempo game than had been the custom during the 12 previous seasons under John Thompson III, who favored the more deliberate "Princeton offense";[14] during the offseason, Thompson had revamped his coaching staff and discussed at length the idea of adopting his system to accommodate a new style of play,[15] promising a faster team.

[17] But the Hoyas faced a particularly challenging early nonconference schedule,[17] and the departure of Smith-Rivera left questions as to how well the backcourt would perform and who would step up to lead the team.

[20] The Hoyas made 37 of their 42 free throws[20] but blew a 68–59 lead with 2:21 remaining as Maryland went on a 17–7 scoring run the rest of the way to win the game, 76–75, defeating Georgetown for the second season in a row.

Peak's 18,[22] and Isaac Copeland's 11,[23] the Red Wolves led by double figures for much of the game[22] and held off a 22-7 late-game Georgetown rally to upset the Hoyas 78–72.

[24] Rodney Pryor, meanwhile, led Georgetown through Oregon's pressure defense during the half, and his buzzer-beating three-pointer gave the Hoyas a 38–21 halftime lead.

[24] Oregon responded with a late run and, with 3.8 seconds remaining, closed to a 63–61 deficit on a long three-pointer by junior forward Dillon Brooks,[24] but L. J.

[25] The Hoyas′ poor performance on the boards prompted John Thompson III to observe during his post-game comments, "We have to get some guys that understand that it′s not just about points and minutes, and care about all aspects of the game.

The Cowboys began the game with a sluggish and lackluster effort that led Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood to call an early time out, slam down his clipboard, berate his team, and replace four starters with bench players.

[26] Underwood's admonishment and the lineup change sparked much greater energy among his players, who presented the Hoyas with a strong pressure defense the rest of the way.

[32] On December 12, two days after the La Salle game, John Thompson III announced that Isaac Copeland had decided to transfer to Nebraska at the end of the semester.

[34] Georgetown closed out the nonconference portion of its season by returning to the Verizon Center to defeat UNC Greensboro in a game in which Jesse Govan went 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) from the field, including 2-for-2 in three-pointers, and had 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four blocks,[35] while L. J.

The Hoyas opened the Big East season with a loss at Marquette,[37] in which Rodney Pryor finished with 23 points,[38] Jesse Govan scored 11,[38] and Marcus Derrickson came off the bench for 11.

[39] Rodney Pryor led a Georgetown comeback by scoring 10 points in a row, but his potential game-tying three-pointer missed with Xavier leading 77–74 and 24 seconds remaining.

[55] No one aboard the bus requested medical attention,[55] but when the Hoyas met Villanova at The Pavilion the following afternoon, Tre Campbell sat out with a banged knee and John Thompson III was observed hobbling along the sideline in apparent pain.

[56] In the second half, Hart fell silent on offense and the Hoyas made a comeback bid, mounting a 17–4 scoring run that cut a Wildcat 17-point lead to 60–58 with 3:49 left to play.

[56] With Georgetown threatening an upset, Hart regained his form on offense, hitting two clutch shots, a three-pointer and a layup, to give the Wildcats a 70–61 lead.

[65] Villanova was shooting only 34.8 percent from the field,[64] on pace for a season low,[64] and holding a 46–39 lead with 11:50 remaining in the game[64] when the Wildcat shooters began to find the range.

[64] Georgetown's regular season ended with a five-game losing streak and losses in seven of its final eight games, and the Hoyas posted a regular-season record of 14–17 overall and 5–13 in the Big East, good for a ninth-place conference finish.

In reporting the results of the final game against Villanova, the Associated Press referred to "the disaster of Thompson′s 13th season on the Hilltop [i.e., at Georgetown],"[64] and when a reporter tried to ask John Thompson III questions about the future of the Georgetown men's basketball program as it faced a likely second consecutive losing season, a team spokesman interrupted, saying "Leave it to game-related questions, please.

[67] Georgetown's season came to an end, while St. John's snapped a six-year losing streak in the Big East tournament[67] and moved on to face Villanova in the quarterfinals the following day.

Since the notorious loss[69] to 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast in the 2013 NCAA tournament, however, Georgetown had endured the worst four-year stretch of his tenure as head coach.

[70] Instead, over those four years the Hoyas had posted an overall record of 69–62,[71] and their 32–40 Big East record was third-worst in the conference;[4] the Hoyas had no regular-season or conference-tournament championships in the new Big East,[70] had missed the NCAA Tournament in three of the new conference's four seasons, had lost in the second game of their lone NCAA appearance – as well as in the second game of their only NIT appearance – and had finished with two consecutive losing seasons in which they had no postseason play whatsoever.

[73] More negative publicity arose when school financial disclosures revealed that Thompson had received annual pay increases from 2008 to through 2014, resulting in a salary of $3.6 million a year that likely made him one of the ten most highly compensated college basketball coaches in the United States.

[80] Washington, D.C., and its suburbs remained a hotbed of high-school basketball talent, but Thompson had markedly less success in recruiting Washington-area players than his predecessors John Thompson Jr. and Craig Esherick; observers noted that Villanova had built the dominant team and perennial winner in the new Big East Conference – a team that made deep runs annually in the NCAA Tournament and won the national championship in 2016 – at least partially by recruiting two star players from Washington's Maryland suburbs, guards Josh Hart from Silver Spring[64] and Kris Jenkins from Upper Marlboro;[64] both had grown up as Hoya fans, but Thompson lost out to Villanova head coach Jay Wright in recruiting Hart and never pursued Jenkins.

[73] Rather than fire Thompson soon after the Hoyas′ season ended, Georgetown waited until two weeks later to announce his termination, by which time some top options for the head coaching position already had accepted offers elsewhere.

[81] Notre Dame's Mike Brey, Xavier's Chris Mack, and Texas's Shaka Smart all rebuffed Georgetown's inquiries,[81] and Harvard′s Tommy Amaker privately expressed disinterest in the job because of his concerns over internal politics at Georgetown, fearing that the influence that John Thompson III's father, John Thompson Jr., still wielded over the program despite having resigned as head coach in January 1999 could lead to a negative political environment for any new head coach.

Peak announced on March 21 – two days before the university fired Thompson – that he had decided to forego his senior year of college and enter the 2017 NBA draft;[87][88] Peak completed his three-season college career with 98 games played, including 76 starts, averaging 12.1 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 33.5 percent from three-point range.

The failure of most of John Thompson III's recent recruiting efforts and the loss of the team's top scorers left Georgetown with what Sports Illustrated writer Pete Thamel described as a "program [that] is already buzz-less, lacking an on-court identity," and with "a roster so devoid of talent it would make 1980s Hoyas weep.