Previewing George Mason at UNCW

The Patriots head down to UNCW this Saturday as their regular season CAA schedule winds down.  Recently UNCW was that team that helped Towson snap their epic, record breaking, losing streak. So naturally that means this game will go down to the wire for Mason. Patrick Stevens outlines Mason's inability to bury these weaker CAA foes and how it's resulting in lesser opponents not being scared to play the Patriots. It was very evident in the last game against Hofstra. The Pride went right at Mason all night and was with them nearly til the end.  If Mason played like they do in the last five minutes of games for the entire 40 minutes then they'd be a helluva tough team to stay with.  Unfortunately we have seen too many struggles and slumps in the first half this year that allows teams to hang with them. Road games seem to magnify this and despite UNCW not having a great year this could still be a tough game for the Patriots.  

With two meetings with VCU on the horizon sandwiched with a visit to Northeastern, Mason doesn't have the easiest path to the #1 seed in the CAA tournament.  It goes with out saying they cannot overlook this game and it would do them some good to crush a CAA team they are stronger than, on the road. If that team that showed up in the second half of the Hofstra game makes a comeback they can do just that.  However it's tough to predict how Mason will start off in this one.  UNCW connected on nine three-pointers in their last meeting at the Patriot Center and they shoot better from there at home.  Mason's perimeter defense in the first half this season has been weak and it's something that could be their undoing in this game. Also during their last meeting, Mason held star player Keith Rendleman in check and they will need to do that again.  Mike Morrison had one of his better games on defense and also helped Mason win the battle on the boards that night.

The key for Mason is not to let UNCW disrupt their offense again like they did last night out with different zone looks.  After scoring in transition early in that game they settled for a ton of ill-advised three-pointers that allowed the 'Hawks to crawl back into the game late.  Mason can bury them early by getting to the free-throw, scoring in transition, and guarding the perimeter.

College Basketball Stats