Patriots look to get back on track in the CAA this weekend against Georgia State

Mason looks to get back on track in the CAA this weekend at home against Georgia State.  The Patriots are coming off a dominating performance against under-matched Northeastern and the Panthers lost to JMU last night by 12. Georgia State seems to be a much improved team over last season as they have already beaten JMU and VCU earlier this season. In some ways they are very similar to Mason as they shoot the ball well and don't have a lot of size up front, also they are terrible at free-throws. The Panthers are also sharp on defense and currently are 2nd in the CAA in FG defense allowing teams to only average around 40% from the field on the season.  I don't think there is any way they can keep the Patriots from shooting under that percentage in the Patriot Center however.  The Panthers are more prone to turning over the ball and committing fouls which Mason can take advantage of as they have gone 6-1 this season when their opponent has 15 or more turnovers (GSU averaging 14.7 TOs a game).

Defense and rebounding is something they didn't really get tested on while playing Northeastern on Wednesday. The Huskies are one of the worst rebounding teams in all Division I as a commenting pointed out to me yesterday so them getting the edge in that category wasn't much of a victory.  To start moving up in the CAA standings the Patriots will have to make a better effort in preventing the other team from grabbing offensive rebounds. It killed them in the 2nd half against ODU and it will kill them against teams like Drexel and JMU if guys like Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison don't become more assertive.  

Don't forget it's Jai Lewis bobblehead day at the Patriot Center!