Four years of slow but steady improvement brought center/forward Mikael Hopkins to become one of the Hoyas' more reliable defensive players.

Hopkins had, often been asked to perform a complementary rather than starring role in games. At DeMatha HS, Hopkins averaged only 10.9 points per game but was sufficiently strong on the court to be ranked among the top 20 forward recruits in the nation, choosing Georgetown over Maryland and Kansas. As a freshman, Hopkins played behind Hollis Thompson and averaged under eight minutes and 2.4 points per game. Elevated to the starting five in his sophomore year, Hopkins started all 32 games aside Otto Porter and started off the non-conference part of the schedule strong, averaging 11.2 points per game over the Hoyas' first five games this season.

Foul trouble and some difficult shooting stretches limited Hopkins in much of the remainder of the games that season, leading to an inconsistent game by game performance. It was the same Mikael Hopkins who could contribute just two points in 20 minutes versus Syracuse in the 2013 regular season finale, then put up 15 points and eight rebounds against the Orangemen a week later in the Big East semifinal. He started 19 of 33 games as a junior, averaging 6.0 points per game.

Despite a run of up and down offensive efforts, his interior defense was a valuable component of a Georgetown defense that lacked a strong center component with Josh Smith's ongoing foul difficulties in 2014-15. It was during a senior year where Hopkins was dropped from the starting lineup in favor of freshman Isaac Copeland, that Hopkins stepped up with some of his stronger defensive games of his career, including a 13 point, 12 rebound effort versus Marquette, a combined 14 points and 14 rebounds in two games versus Butler, and a 10 point, 14 rebound effort versus St. John's.

For the last seven seasons, Hopkins has played professionally in Europe.