George Mason (3-5) will host former CAA foe James Madison (7-4) at EagleBank arena at 7 pm.
This meeting will be the 94th meeting of these two schools since the Dukes made the jump to NCAA varsity competition for the 1969-70 season.
The Dukes currently hold the upper edge on Mason in the all-time series 47-46, however, George Mason has a 24-18 record at home against the Dukes with the last time JMU winning in Fairfax was Feb. 22, 2003 (57-52).
BREAKING DOWN JMU
James Madison was picked to finish sixth in the 2018-19 CAA preseason poll.
Friday night will mark the final contest of the Duke’s three-game commonwealth stretch. After losing to Old Dominion last Saturday 67-42, they beat the 6-2 Radford Highlanders 73-66.
- Preseason All-CAA Second Team selection, Senior guard Stuckey Mosley as averaged 16.8 ppg this season going 40% from three (35-86). Mason will have to shut him down if they want to have a chance in this one.
- Darius Banks is averaging 14.8 ppg going almost 49% (48-99) from the floor and 47% (15-32) from behind the arch.
- Matt Lewis, a Preseason All-CAA Honorable Mention selection, has averaged 14.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and has registered 26 assists on the season.
BREAKING DOWN MASON
After a disappointing 72-67 loss on Monday to Vermont, Mason will look to get back on track in the winning column.
Some notable stats:
- Justin Kier had a breakout game leading the team with a career-high 32 points, going 12-15 from the field, 2-4 from three, and a perfect 6-6 from the stripe.
- Ian Boyd scored the second-most points with 12, no other Patriot had over 6.
- Kier and Boyd combined for 44 points, while the rest of the team only had 23.
- Otis Livingston II is back in that funk again after not registering a single basket until 25 seconds left in the game. He recorded only 6 points (4 FTs) and 7 turnovers.
- Jarred Reuter had one of his worst games of the season, recording only 1 rebound, 0 points, and 3 turnovers. He just needs to do better; he should be pulling down at least 7-10 rebounds per game.
- The players on this team are like pistons in a car engine, they are never all at the same height, and while one piston goes up, the rest are gradually lower that one. Meaning, while one player is at his peak in the game, the rest perform gradually below their game. So, Mason, make like a broken engine and get to the same height.
The result of this game is honestly up in the air. I would have picked Mason over JMU if the Dukes hadn’t beat Radford. So who knows how this one will go.
#FILLEBA
The game is set to tip-off at 7:00 ET and is available to watch on MASN.
My Prediction: A Mason “L”
Tell me what you think will happen in the comments below!
