Unfinished business: Kentucky vs. Georgetown is more than an exhibition game

DrewFranklinKSR

kentucky-georgetown-1984 — Mar 31 1984; Seattle, WA, USA, FILE PHOTO; Georgetown Hoyas center Patrick Ewing (33) in action during the game against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 1984 Final Four at the Kingdome. Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Kentucky will host Georgetown in the second of UK’s two preseason exhibition games this upcoming 2025-26 college basketball season. The Wildcats and Hoyas are scheduled for a Thursday, October 30 meeting in Rupp Arena, with the time and TV information still to be announced.

Though meaningless to each team’s actual resume next year, the inconsequential game has high stakes from a historical perspective. For Kentucky, it’s a revenge game for the last run-in with Georgetown, a season-ending loss over 40 years ago. On Georgetown’s side, the Hoyas will step into Rupp Arena for the first time since the most heartbreaking loss in school history.

Step into KSR’s time machine to learn why Kentucky vs. Georgetown in Lexington means more to the longtime followers of each team.

Kentucky’s loss in the 1984 Final Four

Kentucky and Georgetown have played twice in their all-time series, the most recent being the 1984 national semifinal game (the other in 1920-21). A couple of No. 1 seeds in the 1984 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky and Georgetown collided in the Final Four in Seattle, playing for a spot in the NCAA championship.

Mar 31 1984; Seattle, WA, USA, FILE PHOTO; Georgetown Hoyas center Patrick Ewing (33) in action during the game against Kentucky Wildcats center Kenny Walker (34) during the 1984 Final Four at the Kingdome. Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Joe B. Hall’s Kentucky got off to a great start in that game, partly due to Patrick Ewing’s foul trouble, and took a seven-point lead over John Thompson’s Hoyas at halftime. But the second half was an entirely different story as Georgetown began with a 12-0 run, holding Kentucky scoreless for the first 10 minutes out of intermission.

In the end, Georgetown punched its ticket to the national championship with a 53-40 victory after trailing by as many as 12 points early in the game. Kentucky went 3-for-33 from the field in the second-half collapse, part of the lowest-scoring Final Four performance in 35 years.

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The Hoyas went on to win the championship over Houston.

Upset in the 1985 NCAA Championship

Georgetown nearly pulled off the repeat in 1985, making it all the way to the national championship before a stunning loss in the final game. Villanova, an 8-seed, took down the defending champ Hoyas with a 66-64 win, considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Villanova is still the lowest seed to win the NCAA championship.

Head coach Rollie Massimino famously said it would take a near-perfect game to uncrown heavily favored Georgetown, before the Wildcats shot 22-for-28 from the field, including a 9-for-10 second half.

The shocking defeat spoiled Georgetown’s back-to-back run in the last game of Patrick Ewing’s college career. The game was also the last time Georgetown played in Rupp Arena, the site of the 1985 NCAA Final Four and Georgetown’s darkest day.

This October, Georgetown travels back to Lexington with 40 years’ worth of nightmares of Rupp Arena and Wildcats.