George Mason Basketball: George Mason routs Monmouth in consolation game of NIT Tip-off

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

George Mason routs Monmouth in consolation game of NIT Tip-off

George Mason bounced back last night with a win over Monmouth 71-39. Disappointing as it was to lose to FIU the previous night and then not be able to watch Mason's next game or see those new gold uniforms, the team had their best shooting night of the young season. Take it with a grain of salt however because Monmouth will most likely be a 300+ RPI team at the end of the season and the Patriots somehow still finished with 20 turnovers. A lot of the turnovers continue to stem from the team trying to get the ball into their big men but it is started to look a little forced. On the season the team's assist-to-turnover ratio with Allen and Edwards sharing the PG duties is 0.78. However it was nice to see Vertrail Vaughns drain some three-pointers. I don't know why they aren't running screens for him to give him more chances. Jonathan Arledge and Vaughn Gray got more playing time in this one and hopefully they will continue to develop as solid options off the bench. Ryan Pearson kept his double-double streak alive with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Sherrod Wright went down hard on his wrist in the second half and had his middle finger in a splint on the bench. He will have x-rays today to see if there was any damage.

Next up is FAU on the road, who has looked very good so far. They went 15-for-25 from the three-point line against Georgia State in their last game and will really test Mason's young guards. Next Monday and Tuesday there will also be games at the Patriot Center in the final part of the NIT consolation round. We don't know the teams yet Mason will be playing but it will most likely be Manhattan, Albany, or Brown. Mason is a hosting site because they were a seeded team heading into the tournament.

Video highlights:

Labels: Post Game Recaps

12 Comments:

Jake Whitacre said...: Manhattan is already on the schedule this year on December 23rd. Would they be allowed to play them twice in the same season?; 9:42 AM
gmuhoops said...: Good question, I am not sure but I believe they would probably just send someone else here if that was the case.; 9:53 AM
Christopher Hirsch said...: Why wouldn't we be allowed to play them twice?; 10:07 AM
Brian Patterson said...: Anybody know if season ticket holders get tickets to those games? Got season tix for the first time this year... pretty pumped about it.; 10:40 AM
gmuhoops said...: No, you need to contact the ticket office for these games. They aren't included with your season tickets I was told.; 10:43 AM
Brian Patterson said...: well that pretty much sucks. Does that mean that if we jump on them once they go on sale (currently not available from TicketMaster), we can scoop up really close seats?; 10:48 AM
Matt said...: Glad they won. Can't really afford to lose Sherrod. Any idea when Paris gets back?

18-20 turnovers is a terrible number against a soft school and while the shooting percentage was betrer we can't expect to get those numbers against a better school after giving them the ball 20 times.

I agree on the screens for V V. VCU killed us two yeats ago just setting a high screen for Rodriguez and letting him bomb over it. Since we like Pearson up top so much if they respect the 3 Vertrail can pass into Pearson on the screen and roll and spin his ways to buckets.

Given FAU's 3 shooting Edwards should play more than V V or Allen he is a better defender!; 10:51 AM
Kathy Adcock said...: Just talked to James Meyer -- he said that season ticket holders will have an invoice on their accounts that they will be able to pay if they want to have their same seats for these two games. Supposed to be happening sometime today or tomorrow.; 11:19 AM
Mason Fan said...: Coach L won last night. Congrats to him.; 12:03 PM
G-n-G said...: Guess this is why they call it a consolation game. GMU, as hoped, came out focused and (to quote one of the people in the band) angry after the loss to FIU. Mason did a lot of good and some new things in what amounted to an exhibition game. In particular there was an early focus on getting the ball inside to Ryan and Mike (late in the game this resulted in a bunch of turnovers when the passes were forced) and having one of the bigs--Pearson, Arledge, or Copes--act as the facilitator, finding either another big underneath or an open guard on the outside.
Allen had a rough night, several times throwing the ball right into the hands of defenders. Edwards seems to be more comfortable at the point and judging by how they played together late in the game, Allen seemed to prefer that arrangement as well. As for Vertail coming off screens, I saw them try that a number of times, but either the person with the ball wasn't ready to make the pass or didn't see him or Vertrail's defender stayed too close. Considering that he got free behind the arc several times, the team seemed to make a concerted effort for him.

It was fun to see them break out for the first time this season, but no one should get overconfident. There are still many kinks left to work out, but it seems to me that with each game they get better. Regarding the team's progress, it may be easy to forget that in Coach L's first year he went 9-18 and lost 5 of his first 6 games.; 7:20 PM
Taylormade703 said...: Does anybody know who we are playing and when the games are? I want to say I heard there were home games at the Pat. Center on Monday and Tuesday. Thanks.; 11:18 PM
gmuhoops said...: There are two double headers being hosted at the patriot center monday and tuesday 5 pm and 7 pm. we don't know the matchups yet.; 8:33 AM

George Mason routs Monmouth in consolation game of NIT Tip-off

George Mason Basketball

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

George Mason routs Monmouth in consolation game of NIT Tip-off

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