George Mason heads to Richmond for Governor's Holiday Hoops Classic

George Mason is back in action Saturday afternoon after a two week break for final exams. The first ever Governor's Holiday Hoops Classic has the Patriots matched up against Richmond. The game is at the Richmond Coliseum, where the Patriots haven't had the best track record and were flat out embarrassed there by VCU in the CAA tournament last year. This Classic however is another good test for Mason as Richmond has beaten CAA members William & Mary, ODU, and James Madison already this season. The Spiders have only lost to Minnesota, Ohio, and Kansas thus far. 

Much like Northern Iowa, they take a lot of three-pointers, which should be a concern the Patriots considering how their last game went. They average 22 attempts from behind the arch and will no doubt look to bury Mason early with three's. The Patriots cannot allow them to get hot early from there and the full court pressure could be the key in this one. Against Northern Iowa, the pressure seemed to fail them in the second half so it will be interesting to see what Paul Hewitt does in this game if that starts happening again. Perhaps will see a different mix of the pressure because going all in on it didn't seem to work well.  

Mason has the advantage in the front court, if they stay out of foul trouble. Yes foul trouble could again be an issue as Richmond gets the line often. Johnny Williams needs to start being more of consistent force up front and give them another scoring option. Erik Copes has been improving each game and is showing he can contribute more than just rebounds and blocked shots. With conference schedule approaching it would be nice to see this team establish their front court scorers. 

With the two week break we want to see more stability from the Patriots on both ends of the court. They often haven't put together two good halves of basketball this season and hopefully they have worked out some issues. Corey Edwards will probably be starting again at point guard and any improvement from him at this point would be a great Christmas gift for the team. His growth at the position could be the key for the rest of the season for George Mason.

College Basketball