George Mason Basketball: Patriots grind out win in foul-plagued night in Harrisonburg

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Patriots grind out win in foul-plagued night in Harrisonburg

Ugly games are starting to become a recurring theme this season for George Mason. Last night was a tightly officiated game, to put it nicely. The refs constant whistle blowing disrupted the game so much there was no chance for either side to get a clean rhythm going. The 63 total fouls tied a single game CAA record set back in 1984. Check out Mason's FT % rate in the below statsheet chart to see how much of an impact it had on the game. The game was so slow and dreadful to watch there was a long period with the only scoring action came from the free-throw line. The Patriots took advantage early of JMU's misses and fouls, building a led of as much as 21 points before seeing it dwindle down in the remaining minutes. Any other night I would have said this is a continuing problem for the Patriots, not finishing games strong, but last night's officiating crew really botched this one. It's hard to say the refs weren't a factor in this one. That's not to say Mason didn't have their share of mistakes. The turnover bug returned as Mason turned over the ball 21 times and got real sloppy down the stretch. In the end we saw great performances from Sherrod Wright and freshman Vaughn Gray as well as Ryan Pearson return to form.

Gray was 8-10 from the free-throw line and finished the game with a career-high 19 points. That's the most points a Mason freshman has had since Sherrod Wright's 24 point night against VMI back in 2008. Gray's shooting touch is starting to heat up as he has had five three-points over these last two contests. It was also good to see Sherrod Wright find his scoring touch again because Bryon Allen and Vertrail Vaughns were hurt with in foul trouble early.

The Patriots were not able to control the front court as much as I thought they would but Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson certainly got their share of points in the paint. They really could have used Erik Copes last night int he middle but he was held out as a precaution because of soreness in his shoulder from the hard fall he took against Drexel.

College Basketball

Labels: Post Game Recaps

15 Comments:

G-n-G said...: A few thoughts. First, it was great to see Wright, Gray, and Arledge break out, especially against a team that's strength is its guards. Second, the defensive pressure in the first half and quick-scoring offense made a welcome reappearance. It helped that GMU got a break from playing a grinding type team (GSU, ODU, Drexel). Third, with the referees being whistle-happy, most of the Patriots (except Allen) adjusted better than JMU's players. Fourth, it was another rough night for Cornelius and Vaughns. Unlike the Drexel game, though, Coach Hewitt rode the hot hands and gave Wright and Gray more minutes. Fifth, Edwards started the season playing well but continued his to-be-expected-from-a-freshman inconsistency with a couple of ill-advised 3-pointers and 4 turnovers. Sixth, GMU mostly continued its pattern this season of rebounding well from a loss, flying out to big leads and having a commanding 24-point lead with 8 minutes left. Seventh, unfortunately (and similar to the Drexel game) GMU tried to preserve a lead and succeeded mostly in taking itself out of any rhythm and ceding the role of aggressor to JMU. In those situations, it would be nice to see Mason stay aggressive and push its lead instead of trying to eat clock and scoring only 4 points in 6.5 minutes (13 total in the final 8 minutes). Eighth, with Copes held out Bennett got 3 minutes that he seemed to make the most of (3 rebounds, 2 points, 1 nice outlet pass to start a fast break).; 10:22 AM
G-n-G said...: A few thoughts. First, it was great to see Wright, Gray, and Arledge break out, especially against a team that's strength is its guards. Second, the defensive pressure in the first half and quick-scoring offense made a welcome reappearance. It helped that GMU got a break from playing a grinding type team (GSU, ODU, Drexel). Third, with the referees being whistle-happy, most of the Patriots (except Allen) adjusted better than JMU's players. Fourth, it was another rough night for Cornelius and Vaughns. Unlike the Drexel game, though, Coach Hewitt rode the hot hands and gave Wright and Gray more minutes. Fifth, Edwards started the season playing well but continued his to-be-expected-from-a-freshman inconsistency with a couple of ill-advised 3-pointers and 4 turnovers. Sixth, GMU mostly continued its pattern this season of rebounding well from a loss, flying out to big leads and having a commanding 24-point lead with 8 minutes left. Seventh, unfortunately (and similar to the Drexel game) GMU tried to preserve a lead and succeeded mostly in taking itself out of any rhythm and ceding the role of aggressor to JMU. In those situations, it would be nice to see Mason stay aggressive and push its lead instead of trying to eat clock and scoring only 4 points in 6.5 minutes (13 total in the final 8 minutes). Eighth, with Copes held out Bennett got 3 minutes that he seemed to make the most of (3 rebounds, 2 points, 1 nice outlet pass to start a fast break).; 10:26 AM
Moses said...: Will take the win but giving up 80+ points to that team is unacceptable; with or without Copes and despite the refs.; 10:28 AM
Brentrg said...: I have not watched the game yet, but the turnovers are my biggest concern. Giving up that many points to a team w/o some of it top scores is crazy. Were our turnovers a consistent theme, or did we get super sloppy at the end and commit most of them during that stretch? It's nice to see Gray step up, but i'm waiting for us to play a dominant game. Even the W&M game we were down much of the first half. It's nice to see the next 3 or 4 games against weaker teams where we should see more consistency. I'm afraid the turnovers are going to stick around all year. I am glad we rested Copes as we will need him down the stretch.; 12:14 PM
Brentrg said...: And how did Pearson and Morrison not have a SINGLE offensive rebound??? Effort and positioning is what gets offensive rebounding. What is going on with us giving them up and not getting any bacK??; 12:18 PM
Good said...: Because every time you touched JMU guys, you get a foul call, all nights. The refs certainly helped to put JMU in the game when they were down 20+.; 12:33 PM
Chris S said...: I was at the game and I have to say that the turnovers and points allowed for Madison was not because of the Patriots being inconsistent. Most of the turnovers came in the last 4-5 minutes when both teams were tired and JMU tried to press. JMU's last 10- points came with less than 1:30 left because the Patriots just put some defense on them to take time off the clock then let them go unmolested to the hole. They KNEW JMU could not win - they just wanted to get out of there.

The Convo had NO energy - the home crowd was disinterested and started leaving 5 minutes into the second period. The refs sucked the soul out of that game. The Patriots were leading between 12-22 points the entire game. They let it get close just to let the clock run.

Everyone in the place wanted to go home. I would not put any concern in the last 7 minutes of play onto the Patriots. That game was just horrid to watch - because of the environment and the refs.

3-1 on a tough road stretch - I will take that anytime.; 6:52 PM
Moses said...: All good points. And Hewitt played a lot of guys and a lot of combinations, apparently. But tough defense is a habit and a mind set and I hope they get in it soon.; 7:25 AM
GMURULES said...: Chris, totally agree. Game was never in doubt. Each official from that game should be fired. It made for a really tough game to watch and though I extended the DVR recording by 30 minutes, I missed last minute.; 8:46 AM
matt said...: Hmmm. Respectfully disagree with some of the commentary here! There should never be a "game's in hand" mindset. That game got way too close. Nothing wrong with a 20 point win over a weaker opponent. As far as running the clock v being aggressive, with a 23 point lead we shot way to many times in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. That was dumb, work the ball around and find a great shot.

Yes the refs were terrible, and while we may have adjusted better than JMU, we were still not adjusting enough and some of those fouls were our guys falling on JMU. Respect the dribble, not so much that you leave soft jumpers open but enough that you don't drill the guy on his first dribble! I still can understand why Vaughns and Allen at times are parrallel to their guy on the wing leaving it open to drive down???

Glad we won but I might have to sit on Couch Coache's couch if we going to squander leads like we did! (easy CC I said might) We need to dmoninate the "easy" stretch! Moses is right-"D is a mindset."; 9:19 AM
commboy said...: +1.
What are the traits of a very good team? IMO, other than playing consistent good basketballs throughout the basketball season, a good team also beats down bad teams and never let bad teams crawl back. Until we see those good team traits displayed consistently, this is an above-average D-I team but not one of those SPECIAL GMU teams.; 11:29 AM
overrated14 said...: It is so refreshing to see a 8-10 man rotation where guys are getting to play significant minutes and not just in the game to give starters a rest.; 8:59 PM
matt said...: Yes but they are also going to have to play with more consistency, which obviouly means they are going to have to have the opportunity but at some point if they can't be more cohesive I don't really want to burn a season going 10 deep just because. At the same time guard play has been so inconsistent I guess it doesn't matter that much. And bigs should be rotating because they are all contributing.

Hope Johnny has good development b/c he could high low to Copes and hit short jumpers from Copes and Anali slashing in from the 3. Ok I'm getting ahead of myself!; 8:33 AM
Dsndsn said...: You know what this game reminded me of.....a year or two after the Final Four..and I'm really reaching here.,,when Mason played Hewitt's Ga. Tech squad (they played then twice I think, once in Puerto Rico and once in Orlando...maybe it was in some pre-season tournament), when Hewitt's Ga. Tech squad started out like gangbusters and had a twenty point plus lead by about half time...then held on to win...Mason would have won but the clock ran out...hmmm? A disturbing pattern?; 9:54 AM
Moses said...: Maybe, but as noted above I think there is a lot of long term value in getting many guys playing time. Of note: Vaughn Grey who hit some threes against Ga St and is now making the most of his minutes. He looks like a real shooter, not a streak guy. My guess is there will be a more settled lineup once the combinations work themselves out; ie, who plays well with who. Or is it whom? GMU grad here....; 10:36 AM

Patriots grind out win in foul-plagued night in Harrisonburg

George Mason Basketball

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Patriots grind out win in foul-plagued night in Harrisonburg

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