George Mason to face Georgia State in CAA quarterfinals

Georgia State defeated UNCW this afternoon to advance to quarterfinals and will play George Mason at noon tomorrow. Hopefully most of you will be able to actually watch the game. The Patriots played GSU in their final CAA regular season game last week so the tape on them is still fresh.  Mason was a little sloppy in that game but need a big second half from Cam Long to escape with the victory.  They weren't playing for anything back then other than to extend the nation's longest winning streak and that isn't the case this week. Mason has to chance cap off one of the most impressive CAA seasons ever by cutting down the nets in Richmond at the end of this tournament.  

The Panthers are one of the worst teams in the CAA when it comes to efficiency but had a pretty good shooting day today against UNCW.  They gave the Patriots some problems last week by doing a good work on the offensive glass and getting some easy second chances points.  Overall they are shot over 43% from the field against Mason and nearly 48% today against UNCW, both are above their season average.  

The Patriots can do quick work of GSU by simply pushing the tempo.  The Panthers are dead last in the CAA in points per game and don't have a player averaging double figures. Mason got to the free throw line twice as many times as GSU did in their last contest and that could be another key if the Panthers are hot from the field.  Cam Long and Ryan Pearson have done a great job getting to the charity stripe lately and they should continue to push for that in this one.  

Overall GSU plays pretty good defense, where they have struggled this season is to put points on the board. They don't give up a ton of threes as the Patriots only got off 11 and 12 attempts from there in their two games against GSU.  Normally the Patriots average close to 17 attempts a game.  That definitely slowed down Mason's scoring in both of those games and look for GSU to attempt to do the same again.