FAIRFAX, VA- It was George Mason’s second game in three days and third game in six days, and by the fourth quarter, it began to show. George Mason was out-scored 27-16 in the final 10 minutes of the game as the Patriots fell to UMKC 64-58 on Tuesday night.
George Mason led the first 25:36 of the game last night, but it was the final 10 minutes of this game in particular that killed Mason tonight.
“I thought we came out, and I thought we were gonna get over the hump. For three quarters we guarded and then we gave up 27 points in the fourth quarter, and we’re not gonna win many games doing that,” said head coach Nyla Milleson after the game. “We learned a lot of good lessons tonight, unfortunately it was at the expense of a loss.”
Long before tip-off of last night’s game, there was concern about how Mason would fare in a game, not just with the fatigue of a third game in six days, but also the emotional letdown after beating Penn State, with Nicole Cardaño-Hillary’s 41 points.
“I was really fearful of this game, UMKC is a very good basketball team…we absolutely did not overlook them, but I think there’s a fatigue factor. I’m not gonna make excuses, but I think there’s a fatigue factor and an emotional factor from our big win at Penn State.”
From the start, it was clear what UMKC’s strategy was going to be: they wanted to bait Mason into shooting threes, which proved to be an effective strategy as GMU attempted 28 total, only to make six of them (21%).
“I’ll shoulder part of the blame because I absolutely should’ve said don’t shoot another three. They just baited us in…we talked at halftime we gonna get a three on every pass if we wanted it,” said Coach postgame.
Another curve ball that was thrown to Mason was the odd defensive angles the Roos employed on defense. Almost the entire game, UMKC ran a very aggressive 2/3 Zone, with two guards on top basically trying to double-team and trap the ball handler for Mason. The Roos coaching staff yelled the entire game from the bench to “touch fingers,” emphasizing how close they wanted their guards to be to each other when defending. While they did not generate a lot of turnovers, just 10 for the game, they baited Mason into some uncomfortable shots.
Especially in the fourth quarter, after the Roos had taken the lead, Mason just couldn’t get a shot to fall, and even when they were able to crate a semi-open look, it never felt like the shot was in rhythm. George Mason made just five field goals on 18 shots in the fourth quarter.
Another defining moment of this game came late in the third quarter after Jacy Bolton’s foul-line jumper seemed to halt a 7-0 UMKC run that had trimmed the Patriots’ lead to 37-34. Immediately after Jacy’s shot went in, at the time giving Mason a 39-34 advantage, Jada Mickens hit the deck, seemingly having been sent to the ground by Camarie Gatling, who was charged with an intentional foul. Whether this was a deciding factor of the game or not is debatable, and certainly Mason’s poor fourth quarter defense and cold shooting are to blame for sure. But statistically speaking, after Camarie was called for the intentional foul, UMKC out-scored George Mason 30-19 the rest of the way.
Regardless, Mason needs to move on and get ready for the Coastal Carolina Tournament coming up this weekend, in which the Patriots will play a neutral site game against Bradley a true road game against Coastal Carolina. The two teams have a combined record of 4-1, with Bradley’s lone loss coming on the road at then-#24 Michigan.
“This one stings,” said Milleson, “but we’ve gotta have a very short memory because we’ve got two very good teams coming up this weekend.” It will be another round of two games in three days with just two days of rest before their tournament begins. Good teams find ways to overcome adversity, and that’s what I’d expect George Mason to do this weekend.
