📍 Washington, DC
🏀 Home of Georgetown Hoyas women’s basketball

A cozy gym in the nation’s capital, McDonough Arena has played an important role in the basketball heritage of Georgetown University. Once the venerated home of the men’s team, the Hoya women now call the court their own and continue to excel each season under its iconic arched roof in Georgetown.

The arena, with a present-day capacity of a little bit more than 2,000 fans, first opened in 1951 as a new on-campus home for the Hoyas. The men had played off-campus for decades prior and were able to return to the Georgetown neighborhood with the opening of the new venue. The men would play at McDonough for another thirty years before departing semi-permanently for larger digs in Landover in 1981. The swelling Hoya fanbase prompted the move to the then-Capital Centre, which they would share with the NBA’s Washington Bullets (later the Wizards) and NHL’s Capitals. To this day, the three teams continue to share Capital One Arena in downtown DC.

Since their departure, the men have returned on occasion to McDonough Arena for select preseason and postseason games, as well as the entirety of the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

The Hoya women’s squad, meanwhile, was formed in 1970 and have played all of their home games at the historic gym. They’ve been fairly competitive over the years, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen twice and accepting invites to several NITs as well. In all four of their appearances in the NCAA Tournament, the Hoyas have never been seeded lower than #6 and have won all of their first round games.

The adjoining Thompson Center, attached to the east side of McDonough Arena, opened in 2016 as the new home of Georgetown’s athletic administrative offices. The building also includes student-athlete training facilities, practice courts and locker rooms. For fans, the halls and walls are lined with the history of Hoya athletics. Informational panels highlight major moments for all of the university’s programs and a statue of former men’s basketball coach John R. Thompson, Jr. – for whom the building is named – stands tall in the main atrium. Between the beautiful stained glass windows and redwood wainscoting, the architecture of this modern space blends well with the Romanesque Revival style of the arena itself. Together, this athletic center and gymnasium in Georgetown will continue to be an eye-catching home for the lady Hoyas as they tackle Big East competition on their way to the postseason.