George Mason dominates VCU while extending winning streak to a new program record

The Patriots' latest victim on their current 12 game winning streak was VCU who was run out of their own building last night in a  71-51 rout. Now Mason has clinched at least a share of the CAA crown, something they haven't won outright in 11 years. In this game Mason executed to near perfection, Ryan Pearson was spinning in the low post to the basket, Cam Long was knocking down key shots, and Vertrail Vaughns went 4-for-5 from behind the three-point line in the first half to put an exclamation point on it all. Meanwhile Mike Morrison was aggressive on the boards and Andre Cornelius was in Joey Rodriguez's face all night. The Rams led once, when it was 2-0, and looked frazzled against the Patriots' man-to-man defense. As a result none of VCU's starters finished in double figures. This isn't something we haven't already seen countless times this year but keep in mind that the Rams were no slouch entering into this game. The full court pressure of the Rams did not bother the Patriots at all, mostly because when your not hitting shots consistently it is difficult to get into position on such a defensive plan.  I'd have to check the records but I don't think VCU has ever lost this bad to a CAA opponent at the Siegel Center.

There is a lot to take away from this game, so let's go right to it:

• With this 12 victory during their current winning streak the Patriots have set a new program record for longest streak. A school record that was 27 years old.

• They have tied the school record for consecutive roads wins (6).

• With Coastal Carolina losing last night to Gardner-Webb, George Mason now owns the longest current winning streak in the country.

• The Patriots are guaranteed at least a share of the CAA regular season crown, and can clinch the title outright with a victory over Northeastern February 24th.

• Last night the Patriots went on runs of 11-0, 13-2, 11-0, and 10-0. Add those together and it was a collective 45-2 statistic of domination.

• Here is a very telling statistic of their execution: George Mason now outscoring CAA by 0.23 points per trip. Last year Butler outscored Horizon by 0.20

• During this current winning streak Mason has won by at least 14 points all by once and their average margin of victory has been 17.83 since January 12th. That's got to be best in the nation.

• They won by 20 points last night and didn't score a field goal in the last 8 minutes.

• Mason also had 18 assists last night, Coach L set a per-game goal of 16 earlier in the season and when they reach that mark they are 12-0 this year.

• With Mason's RPI currently at #22, it seems fairly certain at this point that the team has locked up an NCAA Tournament berth regardless of how the remaining few games turn out. 

• The team is pledging to not cut their hair during the winning streak. Now that's team unity!

Here is Coach Larranaga during the post game interview:

NCAA Basketball Stats

[Photo Credit: VCU Ram Nation]