EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The name is the same. The number is the same. The school is the same.

Any basketball similarity between Pat Ewing Jr. and his father stops there.

They are different players, and the younger one has accepted living and playing in the shadow of the man who in 1984 led Georgetown to its only NCAA basketball title.

“The best advice my dad gave me was to be my own person,” Ewing said Saturday on the eve of the East Regional Final against top-seeded North Carolina (31-6). “He said I don’t have to try to be him.”

Still, it is hard getting away from the shadow of Big Pat, the 7-foot-2 center who dominated college basketball in the 1980s and later became a force in the NBA with the New York Knicks.

Look what happened to Ewing on Saturday, before second-seeded Georgetown (29-6) held its last practice for the right to play in the Final Four.

The younger Ewing is not a starter, so the 6-8 forward who plays on the perimeter was not among the five Georgetown players to accompany coach John Thompson III to the main press conference at the Continental Airlines Arena.

Instead, Ewing, who averages 4.1 points, and the other reserves waited to be interviewed in their locker room.

He didn’t have to wait long. As the other players ate meatball and chicken parmesan heroes, Ewing was surround by about six to eight media members and asked about being Pat’s son and his thoughts on Georgetown gaining a measure of revenge for a 1982 loss to North Carolina in the NCAA title game.

That was the game Michael Jordan hit a game-winning shot with 17 seconds to play, and then Freddie Brown threw an errant pass to James Worthy, costing the Hoyas their last chance to win.

Would this be a chance for family redemption?

Not really, Ewing said.

“There is no Jordan on the team, no Worthys, no (Sam) Perkinses. It would be good to get that win just to move on to the next round,” he said.

If that sounds like a low-key answer, it is. That’s the way Patrick Jr. handles himself. He even laughs about the strange situations that arise being Patrick Ewing’s son.

On Friday night, late in the first half in the regional semifinals against Vanderbilt, Ewing had just finished making the first of two free throws when many in the Georgetown section of the sellout crowd started cheering wildly.

For the average fan it was confusing, until one looked at the overhead scoreboard. A picture of Big Pat Ewing watching the game in the stands was being shown on the overhead scoreboard.

Little Pat, who transferred to Georgetown after two seasons at Indiana, laughed about it on Saturday.

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“I am sure it was difficult for me when I was younger and growing up, just like it was for my sisters,” he said. “I have been able to deal with it. It made me a better person.”

There is a special bond between father and son. The two talk all the time, and nothing changed after the Hoyas 66-65 win over Vanderbilt.

Ewing played 17 minutes with seven points on 2-of-5 shooting, three rebounds, an assist and three turnovers.

“He said I was drifting on my shots,” Ewing said of his father’s post-game advice. “He said I drifted too much. Other than that I played a good game.”

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said that the sons of sports legends usually have a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in the same field as their fathers.

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“It is difficult in that other people’s expectations get out of whack,” Williams said. “But generally somebody that’s like that is also pretty well-grounded because they know how difficult it was for their fathers to do it.”

Georgetown forward Jeff Green, the Big East Conference player of the year, said opposing fans can be tough on Ewing.

“We go on road trips and you hear fans saying ’You’re not as good as your daddy,”’ Green said. “Pat knows that he is not his dad so it doesn’t bother him that much. I think that is one thing Pat is good at — blocking out those things that people say about his daddy because he knows he is not going to be his dad.”

The one thing the two have in common is a love of basketball. Little Pat also played baseball, soccer, roller hockey and ran track as a youth.

“But basketball has always been my first love and that’s why I enjoy playing it now,” he said.