George Mason heads down to Harrisonburg for showdown with James Madison

Mason travels to Harrisonburg for a Saturday morning ESPNU game against JMU at the ripe ol hour of 11 a.m. JMU, like Mason, is undefeated at home this year and has been averaging 79 points there in their CAA wins.  The Dukes pose a different type of challenge for the Patriots, they can be very tough up front with Denzel Bowles (6-10, 250) and Rayshawn Goins (6-6, 250) but they also shoot the ball very well from the outside as they are 2nd in the CAA in field goal and three-point percentage. Mason doesn't have the usual big advantage in the shooting department here and they are also undersized.  Statistically JMU isn't really much better in rebounding but Denzel Bowles almost averages as many a contest as Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson do combined.  In JMU's loss to ODU on Wednesday they had 30 points in the paint most of them coming from Bowles.  Last time these two teams faced had 20 points and 13 rebounds in a losing effort for the Dukes at the Patriots Center.  I'm giving JMU's front court a lot of attention and I can't forget to mention how well guards Devon Moore and Julius Wells are doing this season. No doubt they are benefiting this year from the things Bowles and Goins are doing up front.  Both Moore and Wells are shooting over 37% from behind the three-point line.

The Dukes are not a deep team and this is where Mason has the advantage.  Often JMU goes only about 8 deep with sometimes only Andrey Semenov getting any real minutes.  Patriots can take advantage of this is they push the tempo like they did against Drexel in the 2nd half.  A run and gun type of game could favor Mason as the Dukes are by no means a fast team.  Mason has also done a good job lately of getting to the free-throw line which tells me they might be attacking the rim more considering JMU's lack of overall depth. On offense Ryan Pearson averaged 19.7 points a game in Mason's last three road games so I think it's in their best interest to get him going early and not wait for more second half heroics.