In the first game of their three-game homestand, George Mason (4-5) will host the Vermont Catamounts (5-3) at EagleBank Arena.
Vermont and Mason are both coming off two-game winning streaks with Vermont winning against fellow Atlantic 10 team, George Washington (69-53) and the CAA’s Towson University (70-64).
RELATED: Strong second half performance helps Mason edge out William & Mary
Monday will mark the end of Vermont’s three-game road trip as the third meeting between these two schools, the first since November of 2008.
In the 2008 game, Mason was 0.7 seconds away from an overtime loss but won 80-79 after the Patriots’ Darryl Monroe made two free throws to seal the deal on the road.
In the first matchup in 2007, The Patriots went on a 16-8 run in the final 7 minutes to secure the 60-53 victory.
BREAKING DOWN VERMONT
This year, the Catamounts were picked to finish 1st in the America East Conference in the 2018-19 preseason poll.
After losing to teams such as Kansas and Louisville, Vermont stands at 5-3 on the year.
This season, the Catamounts have shot 46.0% from the field and 46.8% from behind the arc. Mason will have to play some strong defense to stop their offense.
Vermont has won over 20 games in the last ten seasons and qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times (2010, 2012, 2017). They would have qualified for the Tourney the fourth time last year if UMBC hadn’t beaten them in the America East Championship. As a result, the Catamounts qualified for a berth in the NIT for the 2018 season.
Some notable players:
- Ernie Duncan (18.0 ppg, 61.0 3FG%)
- Anthony Lamb (14.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg)
- Isaiah Moll (12.5 ppg, 50 FG%)
BREAKING DOWN MASON
George Mason’s last game went down to the wire again with an 87-84 victory against W&M. This was possibly one of their best performances of the year.
Some notable things:
- Otis Livingston II led the way again against the Tribe with 22 points going 7-13 from the field, 2-4 from three, a perfect 6-6 from the stripe, and dished out 7 assists.
- Mason had five players scoring in double digits, and two others registered 8 points (Boyd and Calixte).
- Mason kept the turnover count below 15 in this game and only had 6 turnovers in the final 27ish minutes. Mason is now 4-1 when turning the ball over less than 15 times in this season.
- Justin Kier and Javon Greene each scored a solid 15 points in this contest.
- Jarred Reuter scored 11 points in his 20 minutes of play, but only had one rebound in the entire game.
- Goanar Mar scored 10 points in this one, going 4-10 from the field, and 2-6 from three. Additionally, he had 4 rebounds and 4 assists in almost 30 minutes of play. Hope he can continue this type of play.
- Jaire Grayer will most likely be out for an extended period of time (possibly into conference play), so Mason will have to adjust their lineup to his absence.
The game is set to tip-off at 7:00 ET and is available to watch on ESPN +.
My Prediction: A Mason “L”
Tell me what you think will happen in the comments below!
