Coach Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas are on the road Wednesday night to play Oklahoma State, but however that game goes, the result will be overshadowed by new questions about the state of the District’s storied college basketball program.
Forward Josh LeBlanc is off the team after complaints accusing him and two teammates of burglary, harassment and one case of sexual assault.
LeBlanc, along with the Hoyas’ Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner, were named in a pair of complaints in D.C. Superior Court alleging harassment, burglary and one case of sexual assault.
Two students filed complaints in November about the three players. One woman secured a temporary restraining order on Nov. 20 against LeBlanc and Alexander after alleging that they burglarized her apartment and harassed her with threats. The second woman, the first plaintiff’s roommate, accused Gardner of sexually assaulting and harassing her on Sept. 15, the day before the burglary was said to have taken place. Her hearing for a restraining order was pushed back to Dec. 9.
Gardner disputed the allegation in a statement to The Washington Post.
Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed released a letter to the community Tuesday saying that the university’s Office of Student Conduct was still in the process of adjudicating the complaints.
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“Once the student conduct process is completed, and if sanctions are imposed by the Office of Student Conduct, coaches may impose additional disciplinary actions, including removal from the team,” Reed wrote, which appeared to confirm that Alexander, a junior, and Gardner, a freshman, are still members of the program for now.
Reed added that Georgetown student-athletes complete “a four-tiered education model on interpersonal violence and sexual assault.”
No criminal charges have been filed.
The university also announced Monday that starting point guard James Akinjo is off the team, but a subsequent statement specified that Akinjo was not involved in the allegations involving the other players.
Both Jordan and Akinjo are seeking to transfer to a new school this season.
Ewing has not commented on any of the week’s events beyond a short statement released Monday night announcing that Akinjo and LeBlanc had left the team. It’s unknown whether he will continue to play Alexander and Gardner while the university’s investigation is ongoing.
All three men continued to see the court for Georgetown after the complaints were filed on Nov. 5 and Nov. 12.
The Hoyas suspended LeBlanc for the season opener Nov. 6 for an undisclosed violation of team rules, but he played in all six games after that.
The timing of Akinjo’s transfer — seven games into the season, rather than at the semester break or during the offseason — also raises questions about his motivation for leaving. He led the team in minutes played, so his role is unlikely to be at issue.
Akinjo was Georgetown’s assist leader and second-leading scorer this year. He won Big East Freshman of the Year last season and led the conference with 5.3 assists per game. The team will have to adapt without him or LeBlanc, who was playing a sixth man role with the most minutes of anyone off the bench.
In Ewing’s three years as coach, the Hoyas have yet to make the NCAA Tournament and were just 4-3 entering Wednesday, but appeared to be gaining momentum two weeks ago at the 2K Empire Classic in New York City.
Georgetown upset then-No. 22 Texas in the second round and took then-No. 1 Duke down to the wire in the title game before losing by eight points.
Ewing starred at Georgetown from 1981 to 1985 and followed another Georgetown icon, John Thompson III, the son of John Thompson Jr., as coach of the Hoyas.
But the Hoyas haven’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2015 and have won just two tournament games this decade.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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