In a must-win game, George Mason (12-6, 1-4) will take on UMass (7-11, 1-4) at home for the second time this season.
This contest will mark the 12th time these two programs have battled, with Mason currently leading the series 8-3. This will be the first matchup against UMass this season, Mason will play them again on Sunday, Feb 9.
Mason currently sits 10th in the A-10, with UMass in 12th. Lose this game and Mason is in the bottom four of the conference. Even if Mason wins this game, they’ll still be 1 or 2 spots from where they are currently.
8 of UMass’s losses came from top 100 NET teams: Dayton (5), Rutgers (18), Saint Louis (54), Yale (58), Virginia (63), Akron (65), St. John’s (77) and Harvard (93).
While ALL but one of Mason’s wins have come to 165+ NET ranked teams: Navy (219), Longwood (318), LIU (257), James Madison (254), Loyola MD. (265), ODU (168), Nebraska (170), New Mexico St. (112), Jacksonville State (245), American (230), UMBC (299), La Salle (173).
Mason has lost to all Top 100+ opponents this season and has also lost to two 120+ NET ranked teams (Bona 129, GW 199).
Breaking Down UMass
Let’s check up to see if anything’s changed since my last UMass preview.
- Luwane Pipkins still leads the Minutemen in points per game *Nope*
- Pipkins graduated and now Tre Mitchell leads the team with 15.4 ppg.
- UMass still leads the A10 in ppg *Nope*
- They have dropped to 9th with 69.7 ppg.
- Jonathan Laurent is still the A10’s top three-pointer shooter *Nope*
- Carl Pierre leads UMass with 53 made 3FGs, but T.J. Weeks leads the team in 3FG% with 48.5 percent.
- UMass has three players averaging double-digit points *Checks box*
- They now have four players averaging double-digits: Tre Mitchell (15.4), T.J. Weeks (14.7), Carl Pierre (13.9), Sean East (11.3).
Breaking Down George Mason
Javon Greene put together a historic performance against the Spiders. His 39-point effort marked a new EagleBank Arena scoring record for a Mason men’s player. The previous high of 34 was set by Sherrod Wright (2/19/14 vs. SLU) and Jason Miskiri (2/20/99 vs. American).
AJ Wilson matched his career-high with 19 points (7-11 FG) and recorded a team-high eight rebounds against the Spiders. Wilson is averaging 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and shooting 52.4 percent over the past three games.
Jordan Miller (12 points vs. UR) has now scored 10+ points in four of five A-10 games. He leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage (.472, 25-53).
Mason desperately needs this win, but I don’t feel as if they’ll get it.
My Prediction: A Mason, “L.”
