Deja Vu: George Mason falls to Davidson off of an inbounds play in the final minute

On Wednesday, George Mason (8-8, 2-1 A10) hosted Davidson (11-4, 2-0 A10) in a closely fought battle.

In the first half, Davidson scored 23 points, going 10-30 from the field, 2-14 from behind the arc, and grabbed 17 rebounds in the process.

Mason scored 17 points, going 5-23 from the field, a terrible 0-8 from three and recorded 22 rebounds.

The three-point shooting throughout this game was just…awful.

This was very uncharacteristic of Davidson only making 2 threes in one half and this was another one of those games for Mason in which they could never get the three-ball to drop.

In the second half, Mason outscored Davidson by one point, 39-38. The Patriots went 11-27 for FG’s, 2-12 from three, and registered 21 rebounds.

Davidson went 12-30 from the field, 2-15 from three, and recorded 19 rebounds.

Mason Loses 61-56 to Davidson

Some notable things from this game: 

• Otis Livingston II had another one of his “off” nights, he went 2-11 from the field, 0-3 from three, recording only 4 points. If Mason wants to contend against the A10 toughest teams Otis needs to be able to step up, and that didn’t happen tonight.
• Justin Kier has become an unstoppable machine. He’s recorded 5 double-doubles in the last 6 games, something he has never done in his career. In this game, he went 6-12 from the field, 1-3 from behind the arc, 13-14 from the charity stripe, recorded 12 rebounds, and totaled 26 points. If Kier keeps this up, he’ll be in the running for POY. Here’s a clip from last night:

Kier is on fire🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/HTnuYiaSUA

— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) January 10, 2019

• Mason was troubled by another inbounds play to win the game. Coming out the timeout, Kier held the ball for almost five seconds before passing it to Javon Greene who stated that he “shot it a bit prematurely.” I don’t understand why we are not able to get a single man open on any of these last-minute inbounds plays. Dave Paulsen needs to reevaluate these plays and either modify them or come up with new ones.
• The three-point shooting was terrible in this game. Davidson was not themselves, but Mason shot even worse. The Patriots shot so badly, that it’s the worst they’ve shot from behind the arc since 3/9/2018 (2-25).
• Mason recorded 15 turnovers in this game, they have not won a game this year, in which they have recorded 15 or more turnovers. Again, if Mason wants to contend for an A10 championship, they have to go through St. Louis, VCU, Davidson, etc. Turning the ball over will not get you there.

The Patriots head up to URI on Sunday and UMass on Wednesday.

I’m making the drive, so…

See you there.