Georgetown players, coach kneel during anthem on Day 2 of NCAA tournament

Georgetown’s entire men’s basketball team, along with their coach, joined together in taking a knee during the national anthem ahead of their NCAA tournament game against Colorado Saturday. 

A photo posted on Twitter by Sports Illustrated reporter Pat Forde captured the moment the Hoyas and coach Patrick Ewing locked arms and knelt down before they took the court on the second full day of March Madness. 

Georgetown team taking a knee in unison for anthem: pic.twitter.com/Jf5k96nrG5

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 20, 2021

The team previously took a knee together during the anthem when they faced Butler in Indianapolis during the regular season as a response to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

Colorado later Saturday eventually defeated the Hoyas 96-73 to advance to the next round, according to The Associated Press. 

The move by Georgetown came as players on several other teams participating in the tournament also took a knee ahead of their first round games, including athletes for Colgate, Drexel, Virginia Tech and Florida. 

Taking a knee during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” has become an increasingly popular form of activism among professional and college athletes, especially after former NFL star Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 to protest the police killings of unarmed Black people.  

This year’s college basketball tournament has become a platform for activism as several prominent players this week took to social media with the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty to vocalize opposition to league rules that bar athletes from earning money from their names, images and likenesses. 

Others also spoke out against videos and photos showing stark differences between the men’s and women’s workout facilities, prompting the NCAA to issue an apology admitting that organizers “fell short this year in what we’ve been doing to prepare.”