WASHINGTON -- Georgetown starting center Joshua Smith is academically ineligible and will miss the remainder of the season.
Smith was third in scoring at 11.5 points for the Hoyas (11-7, 3-3 Big East), despite missing five games because of grades. He shot 65 percent from the field in his first season after transferring from UCLA.
The 6-foot-10, 350-pound Smith averaged 3.4 rebounds in 13 games.
"It's disappointing," Coach John Thompson III said Friday during the team's media session at McDonough Arena. "So much was geared toward (Josh's) presence."
Though foul trouble and conditioning limited Smith to 20 minutes per game, he provided Georgetown with interior scoring. The Hoyas, who play at Creighton on Saturday night, have lost three straight and are 1-4 without Smith.
After playing two full seasons with UCLA, Smith left the Bruins six games into the 2012-13 season and joined the Hoyas in January 2013. Shortly before the 2013-14 season, the NCAA ruled him eligible to play for Georgetown.
The Hoyas also are without starting guard Jabril Trawick (broken jaw), who has missed the last four games.
"Now here in the middle of the season, between (Joshua) and Jabril, you lose two starters. You have to reshuffle everything," Thompson said. "But this is Georgetown. We have a set of standards here. Everyone has a responsibility above and beyond what goes on those doors right there.
"He let his teammates down, but the rest of the group will try to regroup here and figure it out."
Thompson said Smith would practice with the team in the hope of becoming eligible for the 2014-15 season.
