Previewing George Mason vs UNCW

TV: 9 pm, MASN

UPDATE: Erik Copes is out again tonight per CBS's Jeff Goodman:

George Mason will be without freshman big man Erik Copes again tonight. Took hard fall in loss to Drexel; now out with stomach virus.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) January 23, 2012

George Mason returns to action tonight against UNCW at the Patriot Center. For some great coverage of UNCW hoops you can look no further than Brian Mull's blog, where he has some analysis and a preview for tonight's game. The Seahawks are one of the youngest teams in the nation, so they sport a very freshmen/sophomore heavy rotation. They have one of the more efficient offenses in the CAA this season, led by junior forward Keith Rendelman (15.8 PPG, 10.8 RPG) who is shooting over 58% from the field. They do nice work on the offensive glass and Mason keeping those second chance opportunities to a minimum will have to be a focal point tonight.  I wrote over the weekend about how keeping teams off the glass in their own end is starting to become a real problem. Allowing a team like Towson to out-work you that badly is alarming and most likely would have fueled an upset from a better overall team. Mull points out in his post from yesterday that Mason "allows opponents to collect a second-chance opportunity on 38 percent of shots (12th in the CAA)". The Patriots often mask this problem by putting points on the board quickly and getting to the line but it is something they need to fix before their games with VCU and ODU.

UNCW is a team that has had their struggles on defense and will most likely be over-matched against the Patriots firepower. The Towson game this weekend was another wake-up call to this squad that they cannot overlook any opponent and UNCW is a team that can pounce if  Mason starts sleep-walking.  When another team disrupts Mason's flow on offense they are much more prone to turnovers and poor shot selection.  This  Seahawks team is very young but disciplined and can take advantage if they are able to throw Mason off their game plan in the early goings. A quick start is always a key for the Patriots but also putting in the hard work on both ends to maintain the big lead is something they have had struggles with recently.

Having said all that I still like Mason's chances to bounce back from a sloppy day and have another night like they did against Delaware last Wednesday.  Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison haven't really had back-to-back slumps this season and I would expect them to get back to business tonight.

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