In the opening act of an awesome double-header of Mason hoops today, George Mason (15-12, 7-7) hosts Saint Joseph’s (15-12, 7-7) in a critical showdown which could see the Patriots clinch a home game in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Today will be the 13th all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Patriots leading the series 9-3. George Mason won the most recent meeting a year ago, 65-57 in Hagan Arena, and have won two of the last three matchups overall.
The Patriots and Hawks enter Wednesday in a three-way tie for 7th place, along with George Washington, at 7-7 in conference play. All three teams are just a game behind 8-6 Saint Louis and have a two game lead on 5-9 Richmond, St. Bonaventure and UMass. Here’s the full standings entering today:
Updated #A10WBB Standings:
12-2 VCU
11-3 Fordham
–
10-4 Davidson
9-5 Dayton
9-5 Duquesne
8-6 Saint Louis
7-7 George Mason
7-7 Saint Joseph's
–
7-7 George Washington
5-9 Richmond
5-9 St. Bonaventure
5-9 UMass
2-12 Rhode Island
1-13 La Salle— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) February 25, 2019
The tie-breaking is a little bit of a mess to understand. Let’s break things down a little:
If Mason beats Saint Joseph’s: A win today will clinch a top-8 seed for the second-year in a row, and also, just the second time since joining the Atlantic 10. A win would also keep alive the outside possibility of Mason moving up to the 6-seed if Saint Louis loses both of their final two games against Dayton and VCU. Mason would finish the season 3-0 against the mini-group of Mason, GW and SJU, the three teams tied for 7th. SJU would finish 1-1 and GW 0-3. Even if the Patriots lose to La Salle on Saturday, as long as GW loses to either Duquesne or Richmond, Mason clinches the 7-seed (meaning Mason could clinch finishing no worse than 7th tonight if they beat SJU and GW loses to Duquesne). If Saint Louis beats VCU tonight and GW loses to Duquesne, Mason would be locked into the 7-seed.
If Mason loses to Saint Joseph’s: A loss today would drop the Patriots to 7-8, and depending on how George Washington fares against Duquesne later this evening, could drop George Mason to 9th place. A loss would also mean Mason could finish no higher than 8th place. The advantage Mason does have is the head-to-head tiebreaker against GW, and if the season ends in a three-way tie like Mason, GW and SJU are now, Mason will finish no worse than 2-1 against the mini-group. SJU would claim the 7-seed by virtue of being 2-0, with wins over both Mason and GW. If Mason does indeed lose to Saint Joseph’s, they would need GW to lose to either Duquesne or Richmond to clinch the 8-seed.
If that mess still has you confused, hopefully this graphic helps clear things up:
Taking a look at Saint Joseph’s, the Hawks have only one player who averages in double-figures. Alyssa Monaghan averages 14.5 points per game in 37.5 minutes a game. In addition, she is second in the Atlantic 10 in three point percentage, shooting 39% from deep, though over the last three games, she went just 5-16, or 31% from three.
The key stat to keep an eye on is not only do the Hawks only have one player averaging 5 rebounds per game (Katie Maycock, 5.4) on the season, and overall, Saint Joseph’s has been out-rebounded 1010-886. This averages out to the Hawks getting out-rebounded 37.4-32.8 per game. In contrast, George Mason has out-rebounded their opponents 1101-995, averaging to 40.8-36.9. This will be a key game for Jacy Bolton, who is second in the A-10 in rebounding, grabbing 8.7 boards per game.
Just from that rebounding stat alone, you’ve gotta have a fair amount of confidence heading into this game. That win over Dayton on Sunday was tremendous, and the Patriots will need just as good an effort today if they are going to handle the Hawks. This is a HUGE game. If you can, really try and make the effort to get to EBA early to catch this amazing women’s team before the men play at 7:00 against Richmond.
Tipoff is at 4:00 and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Hope to see y’all there!
