Ewing Enjoys New Version of Garden Party

 

By KEN DAVIS

 Some say they don’t remember. Others are simply too young, weren’t born yet ,and have no frame of reference.

But those who followed college basketball in the 1980’s, cut their teeth on the Big East Conference, or witnessed the Hoya Paranoia days of Georgetown and John Thompson, understand what Patrick Ewing endured during his playing days. They know about the T-shirts, the signs, the banana peels, the jeering from the crowds, and the actual fist fights that served as symbols of racism in the 1980’s.

When was the last time you attended a game and saw a fan raise a bedsheet that read, “Ewing Is An Ape”? Have you ever seen a T-shirt that read, “Ewing Kant Read Dis”? Those were symbols of Ewing’s life every time the Hoyas played an away game in the Big East.

His teammate Bill Martin once said, “If we’re playing away, it seems Pat is always the villain.”

Yes, he was.

It was cruel. It was unusual. It led to ugliness and created a level of tension the Hoyas could never escape.

During the 1985 Big East Tournament, legendary Syracuse guard Pearl Washington stuck an elbow into Ewing’s ribs. Ewing retaliated with a roundhouse punch that just missed Washington.

“He gave me a forearm shiver,” Ewing said after Washington passed away in 2016. “It knocked the wind out of me. I got mad and tried to throw a punch. Thank god, it missed. If I’d have hit him, I probably would’ve broken my hand and I don’t know what would’ve happened to him.”

Two years before that incident with Washington, Ewing mixed it up twice with guard Kevin Williams in a loss to St. John’s at MSG. Williams tried to take Ewing out of the game by fouling him and grabbing him. At one point, they grabbed each other’s jersey, Williams gave Ewing a shove and Ewing threw a punch. Both were assessed technical fouls and Williams emerged with a bloodied lip.

Another collision ensued and after the game Williams said he was just doing his job and that Ewing acted “like a child.”

Thompson told Ewing not to say anything about the heated play.

Ewing’s only comment was, “Every dog has his day. We’ll see what happens when they come down to D.C.”

Ewing “had his day” more often than anyone could count. As a player, in the Final Four, as a member of New York Knicks, over and over in The World’s Most Famous Arena, Ewing prevailed.

But it’s possible Saturday night at Madison Square Garden was his greatest moment of all.

The doubters and skeptics all said Ewing would never make it as a head coach. Saturday, Ewing celebrated a 73-48 victory over powerful Creighton to win the Big East tournament championship and grab the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

No one saw that coming as the Big East teams assembled in New York for a conference tournament unlike any other.

Actually, it was much more than one day for Ewing and the Hoyas. It was four amazing days, one after the other. Picked last in the Big East preseason poll, the Hoyas became the first No. 8 seed to win the conference championship. They defeated Marquette, No. 1 seed Villanova, Seton Hall and Creighton to give Georgetown its eighth Big East tournament crown. That’s one more than UConn.

“They had us ranked last,” Ewing said in his postgame remarks Saturday. “I kept talking about that Drake song. Drake, he’s probably going to get some more money now because I’ve been saying it so much: We started from the bottom; now we’re here. We started at the bottom; now we’re number one.”

Those who remember the Ewing who didn’t hesitate to clench his fist or throw a punch saw a very different Patrick this past week in New York. He has grown comfortable in his coaching skin. He gave great interviews, was jovial and involved, happy and proud, and acted jokingly perturbed about needing to show his credentials to get into MSG.

“Is this Madison Square Garden?” Ewing said. “I’m going to have to call [Knicks CEO] Mr. [James] Dolan and say, ‘Geez, is my number in the rafters or what?’ ”

Ewing no longer minces his words. Asked to compare Saturday’s moment to his thrills as a player in the Garden, Ewing talked about the struggle to reach this point as a coach.

“It’s right up there,” Ewing said when asked to rank memories. “It was a different chapter in my life. As a player, I’m the one out there trying to score, block shots, rebound. And as a coach, I’m here, where a lot of people didn’t think that I had the ability to do. And I’m proving everyone wrong.

“I worked at this craft 15 years in the NBA, and was given the opportunity here at Georgetown. And we’ve been through some trials and tribulations, kids leaving, guys stepping up and playing to exhaustion last year. This year started off slow with all the new faces. But everyone has done their part to get us to this point.”

Georgetown dominated Creighton in the championship game. The Hoyas played old school Big East basketball, bringing back memories of Thompson’s  rough-and-tumble Georgetown style. As Georgetown dug down on defense, the Bluejays shot 28.8 percent from the field and 26.5 percent from 3-point range. Georgetown owned the backboards with a 49-33 rebounding advantage. The Hoyas scored 19 points off 11 Creighton turnovers and outscored the Bluejays 17-1 on second-chance points.

“As I told Coach Ewing after the game, I’m just really happy for the Georgetown program, especially happy for Patrick,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “I think he’s done a terrific job of building that program and has done it the right way.”

Creighton had used its experience and tournament savvy to defeat UConn in the semifinals. And just one week before the championship game, in Gampel Pavilion, UConn destroyed the Hoyas, 98-82, to conclude the regular season.

Ewing had called that “a royal ass-kicking.”

“We had been playing well up to that point,” he said Saturday. “I was definitely shocked the way that we came out and performed that night. I wasn’t expecting it. But you take your hats off to [UConn]. They kicked our butts and took names. But we regrouped and here we are today.”

When Ewing committed to play for Thompson at Georgetown, Big East founder and commissioner Dave Gavitt knew it was a decision that was going to change college basketball. He was right. Those Hoyas became the Big East and brought attention to the new league with their success and sinister reputation.

In the recently published autobiography titled “I Came As A Shadow,” the late Thompson tells a story about Ewing’s recruiting visit. At breakfast, Ewing ordered a pitcher of orange juice. Mary Fenlon, Georgetown’s academic adviser, den mother, and queen of the Hoya sideline, did not approve.

“She never let the players have more than two glasses of anything,” Thompson says in the book. “I kicked her under the table and shot her a look that said Let it go! But Patrick later said the real reason he chose Georgetown had nothing to do with orange juice. He was impressed by how I spoke and carried myself, thought I was intelligent, and saw me as someone he could emulate. I consider that an incredible compliment.”

Saturday marked the 49^th anniversary of Thompson’s hiring at Georgetown. To the date.

How ironic.

Thompson passed away in August. That was a crushing blow to everyone at Georgetown, but especially to Ewing. The year 2020 was especially harsh for him. He grappled with his own positive test and symptoms of COVID-19. The summer of Black Lives Matter riots must have been a reminder of his youth and the racism he encountered when he wore the Georgetown uniform. And then he lost Thompson.

After the pandemic pauses that disrupted Georgetown’s season, Ewing brought them back during these four special days at The Garden. More than one person commented Saturday that Thompson, Fenlon and Gavitt were smiling down on Ewing after the Georgetown championship.

The Hoyas are 13-12 but they will hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

How did the Hoyas do it?

“I just think our belief in ourselves,” Ewing said. “From when we got here, I keep talking about the steps. That’s one of the things I keep talking to them about. First step is to get the first win. We did that. Second step was to get the second win. We did that. Third step, fourth step, here we are, champions, Big East champions.

“We have a rich history. And especially where we started, with people thinking that we weren’t going to be this good, and to finally achieve it, it feels very good.”