Welcome to #ToBeFrank: Daniel Frank’s hot takes, analysis and recap of today’s Mason game.
It’s nice to finally had a game where we can breathe down the stretch of the game. The Patriots’ flexed their muscles in the second half after a rather rocky first 20 minutes in their final game of the Paradise Jam. Speaking which, I can’t write my last Paradise Jam recap without singing one more time…
✨ThE vIrGiN iSlaNdS tHeY aRe CaLliNg OuT tO mE✨
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) November 28, 2020
The Good
You have to start and end with the three point shooting. The Patriots set a school record with SEVENTEEN (17!) made threes today, with EIGHT coming from Jordan Miller alone!
That’s a school record 1️⃣7️⃣ 3-pointers for the Patriots with 3:49 left pic.twitter.com/skuqFtjv3g
— Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) November 28, 2020
Miller dropped a cool 30 points on 10/15 shooting and 8/10 from deep. Xavier Johnson added three treys as did Tyler Kolek and Javon Green actually went a decent 2/6 from three as well.
.@Jordan_miller11 remains perfect from deep!
3-for-3 from beyond the arc for the junior.#GetPatriotic pic.twitter.com/sd65rNY6Fz
— Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) November 28, 2020
In fact the final score is a little misleading, as Mason led 79-53 with 4:01 left, at which point they were outscoring Howard 38-23 in the second half.
On the glass, Mason held a 44-37 advantage, and the Green and Gold turned the ball over just seven times all day today. That’s a MASSIVE improvement from the previous two games.
In the scoring column, aside from Miller’s brilliance, Mason was led by Xavier Johnson’s 13 points, along with 11 more from Javon Greene. Josh Oduro posed 5 points and 8 rebounds as well.
Tyler Kolek continued to let it fly, draining three treys, and he’s coming along very nicely. I’d love to see him shoot even more. There’s not really a shot right now that I’m uncomfortable with him taking, truthfully.
Is that Tyler Kolek or Luke Hancock out there for Mason???? https://t.co/o39wAC6i8n
— A10 Talk (@A10Talk) November 28, 2020
The Bad
The first half was a bit suspect. This was a mediocre Howard team missing their star player Makur Maker. The fact this was a close game in the first half left something to be desired.
Mason also gave up another big late-first half run today…
9-0 Howard run. This is becoming a concerning trend…
— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) November 28, 2020
I’d rather not continue to make a habit out of that.
Kyle Foster also burned the Patriots pretty bad early on, as he dropped 14 points in the first 15 minutes, before Mason finally had an answer for him.
AJ Wilson did return in this one, but he posted 0 points on 0/3 shooting in 14 minutes. Though he did grab 4 rebounds and had 4 assists, so he wasn’t totally invisible. Still, it’s concerning that in the two games AJ has played, he has yet to record a point.
Howard did end the game on a 9-2 run, trimming Mason’s 26 points lead down to just a 14 point win. That’s a little concerning, but I’ll let it slide as long as it doesn’t become a trend.
Looking Ahead
The road ahead for is tough. Of course every game on the calendar this year is written in pencil and not pen, Mason is set to next face Maryland in College Park on Friday afternoon. Last year the Patriots got man-handled 86-63 against the Terrapins. It’d be nice to see this veteran group give Maryland a game.
After that, George Mason will finally host their home opener against Morgan State on December 8 at 7PM in EBA.
Look, the start to this season has been a bit unsettled. While we may have underestimated Queens a bit, this team has been hard to get a true read on to this point. They haven’t taken any obvious major steps forward, but there have been some encouraging signs too, like XJ’s shooting and the addition of Tyler. Time will tell what this team is really made of. Take a breath, Mason Nation. We’ve had three games in three days. Time to digest things a little, and we’ll see you on Friday.
