Otis Livingston II is back to form and that is fantastic news for George Mason.
Against Navy, an opponent that the Patriots never trailed in 40 minutes of action, Livingston set a new season-high with 30 points. He was three points shy of his career-high, recording the third 30-point game of his career.
“Otis was, ya know, okay. So that was good,” George Mason head coach Dave Paulsen said after the game.
It was the Livingston that George Mason fans have become accustomed to; him being able to score at ease. Running the offense with nifty passes and drawing attention away from his teammates, there was nothing Navy could do to slow down the senior. He finished the contest shooting 11-for-17 from the field, making a new personal-best in terms of baskets made in a game.
“[He’s] a dynamic scorer and we really had a hard time keeping him under control,” Navy head coach Ed DeChellis said. “It’s not like we didn’t know he was a pretty good player. We just had a hard time when it got down to it, containing him, keeping him away from the basket, and spraying the ball to other guys.”
All season people have been waiting for these types of performances from the 5-11 guard. Entering the night he was averaging 13.0 ppg on the season, his lowest average since his freshman campaign. Of the previous 11 games, he scored less than 10 points in four of them including a goose egg against North Carolina Central.
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Since Baylor, though, he’s been turning it on, culminating with this stellar performance. The past six games he’s averaged 20.5 points at a 48 percent shooting clip.
Otis Livingston II is playing at his highest level on the season tonight. Already up to 21 points (8-10, 3-5 3pt), with 3 rebs. Patriots have needed this efficiency all season.
— Tyler Byrum (@theTylerByrum) December 22, 2018
Five of those six games have been without his fellow classmate Jaire Grayer, who is still missing time due to a foot injury. Grayer, who entered the season as the Patriots’ secondary scorer, has forced Livingston to up his game with the missing production.
With the ball in his hands and being off-the-ball, Livingston was the most dangerous player on the court against the Midshipmen. Early on attention was draw toward him giving him double teams, forcing defenders to sag on him when at the arc, making sure there was a body down low to protect the rim. Most of his scoring didn’t come as the primary ball handler. Twice he got passed the ball in the corner and drove to the basket past two defenders finishing with an acrobatic euro-step lay-ins.
Fourteen days off contributed to such a big night for Livingston. It allowed him and the Patriots to reset from their 5-6 start to the year.
“I wanted to play some more games during the break because I feel like that James Madison game we could have really turned that into momentum,” Livingston said. “We were in the gym a whole lot, getting shots up, so this game just felt like I was in a good place, mentally, physically.”
Friday night propelled him further up the all-time scoring list at George Mason. Now up to sixth place, he just passed Sherrod Wright with 1,612 points in Livingston’s career. Up next is Ryan Pearson (1,626) and, if he has another 30-pointer in him, Robert Dykes (1,642) which would propel him to fourth place.
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After a slow start, it appears Livingston is back to playing like one of Mason’s best scorers ever. While his lack of productivity was not the only reason the Patriots begun the year at 2-5, he is the leader of the team and must find ways to get involved even when his stroke is off. Last year, the Patriots had Grayer willing to take the load on Livingston’s off-nights. This year the Patriots may not have that luxury for quite a while.
