Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

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Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by MikeUMA » Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:39 pm

Time to start looking ahead. Looks like another game isn't going to materialize before Mason in Amherst on 12/30.

COVID hit Mason too, they lost 6 games, but have resumed starting with VMI yesterday. A not very impressive 3-1 record so far:
W 66-65 over Queens (University of Charlotte, D2), in DC.
L 77-67 to Belmont, in DC - Out of the Ohio Valley, Belmont was tabbed to finish 3rd out of their 12.
W 84-70 over Howard, in DC - Howard was tabbed 5th out of 11 in the MEAC.
^ all of those in late November
W 68-66 over VMI, at home in Fairfax, yesterday - VMI was tabbed 9th out of 10 in the SoCon

They have these before us:
Towson, tomorrow at 4
Norfolk State, Saturday at 4
both at home in Fairfax

The A-10 media picked Mason to finish 10th.

So far their stat leader is Jordan Miller with an even 20.0 ppg, and 7.0 rpg. Shooting well at 56% from the floor and 3. More to come after they play their next 2.

Mason returns most of their core from last season, the one exception being Justin Kier (9.6 ppg).

Last season, we split the home and home, each winning at home.
  • Lost 73-63 on 1/22. Up and down game, as UM only manages 8 points in the first 12 minutes. Got hot and built a 40-31 lead, only to allow a 28-9 run over the next 9:33 to lose any chance. Pierre and Tre (14 & 12) do their part offensively, but East shoots 1-8, Keon 2-8, and no one else steps in with meaningful points. UM loses the glass and the turnover margin, and GMU's Javon Greene hits more FTs (13) than all of UM combined (11).
  • Won 69-67 on 2/9. UM built a 66-52 lead with 5:21 to play, then fell asleep and allowed Mason to tie it at 66 with 1:23 left. Santos saves it with a block and rebound late, topping off his career high scoring day. Other solid games from Tre (7-10 FG), East (6-7), Baptiste (5-7).

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by uz2b-len » Wed Dec 23, 2020 7:33 am

Are we gonna see another effing guy named Greene? Please tell me he's gone, graduated, or otherwise out of our world.
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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by natwam2547 » Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:36 am

^Javon Greene is still there, a Senior this year.

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by uz2b-len » Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:21 am

Oy :(
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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by 69MG » Sat Dec 26, 2020 4:19 pm

GMU is underway against Norfolk State. I saw that their leading scorer and rebounder, Jordan Miller (20 & 7) was suspended for their last 2 games for "violation of team rules". I think it was only a 2 game suspension so he should be back for our game. We'll see if he plays today. Maybe he'll do something else stupid and miss our game. :D We could use the help.

Edit: He's playing but didn't start. Oh well.

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by 69MG » Sat Dec 26, 2020 4:53 pm

Since I have nothing better to do today, I'm following the GMU game. Norfolk State led 24-15 with 7 minutes to go in the half and proceeded to score a total of 3 points in the last 7 minutes. GMU leads 30-27 at the half. 1 assist to 9 turnovers for Norfolk. You don't win many with that ratio.

Edit:

GMU falls to the Spartans at home, 68-65.

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by Upstate10 » Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:38 pm

Kind of game that is a must win if we want to be relevant in the A10

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by uz2b-len » Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:11 pm

Don't really want to get into must win mindset with the team not really put together yet. I can see losing to GMU on Dec 30 and pulling things together in another game or two to be relevant.
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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by tdmass » Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:32 pm

^ With a young talented team trying to find the right combos it is inevitable that we'll win some and lose some that aren't projected . . . patience!

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by MikeUMA » Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:25 pm

Looks like it's a 6 PM start for Mason/UMass on Wednesday. NESN has the TV and ESPN+ has the stream.

Bad loss for Mason yesterday. They were favored by 10. Good game for freshman Tyler Kolek (19 pts, 5 boards, 4 assists, 5-11 from 3), but not much else from the rest. Other than him, Mason shot 1-20 from 3.

Hyperbole aside, they got 10 & 9 from Josh Oduro, and 8 & 9 in 15 minutes from reserve Bahaïde Haïdara.

Stats leaders now:
  • Jordan Miller (6'6 Jr G) 16.5 & 5.8. His numbers dropped after just 6 & 4 in 20 minutes vs Norfolk.
  • Javon Greene (6'2 Sr G) 11.8 & 3.7
  • Josh Oduro (6'9 So F) 10.7 & 5.8
  • Kolek (6'3 Fr G) 9.8 & 2.8
  • Xavier johnson (6'1 So G) 7.0 & 2.5
  • AJ Wilson (6'7 Sr F) 6.8 & 5.6. A-10 Most Improved last season.
No consistent starting rotation, as 7 Patriots have started at least 3 times. Last night, it was Kolek, Greene, Johnson, Wilson, Oduro. As 69MG said earlier, Miller and a couple of reserves missed their previous 2 games for the ol' "team rules".

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by JoleonLescottsHair » Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:37 pm

tdmass wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:32 pm ^ With a young talented team trying to find the right combos it is inevitable that we'll win some and lose some that aren't projected . . . patience!
That might very well be true, but we heard that every year under Kellogg. Every year. To McCall’s credit, he doesn’t cite youth as an excuse. And for good reason. With Tre, CP, a veteran staff, the Woodstock connection, and a lot of new talent, UMass is no different than any other NCAA team in the era of transfers. In some ways, they should be ahead of much of the competition. They need to start with a win against GMU and then continue.

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by uz2b-len » Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:00 pm

If they went 4-4 the first part of the season and 7-3 the rest of the way, that would be a big improvement of anything in the recent past. I think I'd have to be satisfied with that, depending on how it went down.
edit: actually, would match the conference record from Chaz's last year
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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by Steve81 » Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:58 pm

George Mason seems to get the luck in our matchups. Don't like them. We need to get our sh-t together and become a consistent winning program.
Go UMass!!

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by DanaDingle3 » Sun Dec 27, 2020 7:16 pm

Every possession is critical, and we need to play that way. Starting Wednesday.

Just listened to @CurryHicksSage's latest podcast (https://www.stitcher.com/show/12-over-5) and thought he made a lot of good, valid points.

This program needs to uphold a certain standard. The time for patience is over.

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Re: Game 5, 2020-21: George Mason (12/30)

Post by 69MG » Sun Dec 27, 2020 7:58 pm

uz2b-len wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:00 pm If they went 4-4 the first part of the season and 7-3 the rest of the way, that would be a big improvement of anything in the recent past. I think I'd have to be satisfied with that, depending on how it went down.
edit: actually, would match the conference record from Chaz's last year
Looking at the schedule, we need to get off to a good start. The last half is much harder than the first half. If we go 7-3 in the last 10 we will be in the top 4 for sure.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... e/_/id/113

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