updated 2:08 p.m. ET Nov. 12, 2010

WASHINGTON - Georgetown freshman center Moses Ayegba has been ruled ineligible for the men's basketball team's first nine games by the NCAA for violating pre-enrollment rules.

Coach John Thompson III said Friday in a statement that someone who was not a member of Ayegba's immediate family paid for a ticket to bring the player from his home in Nigeria to the United States. Thompson said that happened "before we began recruiting Moses, before he enrolled in high school here."

Thompson said Georgetown is "disappointed that the NCAA rejected our appeal of this ruling."

Georgetown is ranked 20th in The Associated Press Top 25. The Hoyas start their season at Old Dominion on Friday night.

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