Previewing Mount St. Mary's...

Mason faces their toughest out of conference opponent tomorrow night in Fairfax as they take on Mount St. Mary's. The Mountaineers return 4 starters from last year's NEC conference champions and NCAA tournament participant. They gave Virginia Tech a battle recently on the road and forced to Hokies to commit 20 turnovers. That was a week ago, so they have had a lot of down time, will that hurt them in this game? Mason on the other had has played twice since November 17th. The Mountaineers have a mix of seniors and juniors in their starting lineup but other than that they are a very young team depth wise. Guards Jeremy Goode and Jean Cajou (Fairfax, VA native) lead the way for Mount St. Mary's and have been shooting the ball well so far this season. Mason will have a significant size advantage as the Mountaineers don't have a player taller than 6'7", the true advantage for Mason will be between the guards. Hopefully Cam Long and John Vaughan can use their size advantage to create more opportunities for the Patriots. Darryl Monroe and Louis Birdsong will have to be a big part of the Patriots offense tomorrow night as the guards should have their hands full. Monroe (11.8 ppg 10.8 rpg) and Birdsong (10.5 ppg) have been the most consistent Patriots so far this season. Something else to watch for is to see if freshman Andre Cornelius has another strong showing from behind the arc. Cornelius has a chance to really give the Mountaineers trouble and can stretch the court while making plays on both ends. The Mountaineers play excellent defense and dating back to last season have held 11 of their last 13 opponents to under 70 points and held Virginia Tech to 33% shooting from the field.