McDonough Gymnasium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McDonough Memorial Gymnasium
Location	Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057
Broke ground	1950
Opened	1951
Owner	Georgetown University
Operator	Georgetown University
Tenants
Georgetown Hoyas (Women's basketball & volleyball & some men's basketball)
Seats
2,500

McDonough Gymnasium is a multi-purpose arena in Washington, D.C. The arena opened in 1951 and holds 2,500 people. It was home to the Georgetown University Hoyas men's basketball team before they moved to Capital Centre. The team continues to play a handful of preseason and non-conference games at the gym against lesser-known opponents each year. Excepting a single NIT game in 2005, no games against well-known opponents have been held at McDonough since 1983. (Under the old sanction of the NIT, schools in the tournament were to play games on campus or at campus-owned facilities. Georgetown's men usually play at the Verizon Center, which is neither on campus nor owned by the school, so they would play such "mandated" games at the facility.) On November 19, 2006 Old Dominion University beat then-ranked #8 Georgetown at McDonough. It was their first lost there in over 25 years. Currently, the arena hosts the women's basketball and volleyball teams.

The building is named for Rev. Vincent J. McDonough, S.J., athletic director from 1916 to 1928. Legend has it that three days before his death on September 3, 1939, he was asked what he wanted for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his priesthood, to which he replied, "You give the boys a new gym and I'll be happy." Though he did not live to see it, the gym eventually was built after World War II.