It’s a quick turnaround for the Patriots, as George Mason (1-1) welcomes in Longwood (0-2) to EagleBank Arena on Tuesday night. Mason enters riding a wave of momentum after their come from behind victory over Navy on Sunday afternoon which saw career days from Jazmyn Doster and Daijah Jefferson.
The Lancers enter seeking their first win of the young season after loses to Duke in Cameron Indoor on opening day and ETSU at home on Saturday afternoon. Longwood is coming off a 12-18 season a year ago, and returns nine letterwinners from the 2019-20 campaign. This includes reigning Big South Freshman of the Year and All-Big South First Team member Kyla McMakin, who was also selected to the Preseason All-Big South First Team this season. She is the key to slowing down the Longwood offense, as she leads the team in points this year, averaging 16.0 points per game through two contests. Some other players to watch include Akila Smith who is second on the team in scoring, averaging 15.5 points and Tra’Dayja Smith who anked fourth in all of Division I with 6.5 assists per game in 2020.
On the flip side for Mason, Sunday saw big steps forward for Taylor Jameson and Jazmyn Doster. Especially in the absence of Camarie Gatling (as well as Vanessa Laumbach who missed Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury), it’s up to Post Nation to fill in the gaps. Another player who had a sneaky good game on Sunday was Jordan Wakefield who posted 10 points in addition to hitting a key three and coming up with a late steal that helped power Mason to victory.
While of course this is still calendar year 2020 and you never quite know what to expect, this is a game that George Mason should be able to handle their business in. This will be an interesting test for Mason not just in their opponent, but also because of how the Atlantic 10 conference schedule is set up. Most conference games this season will be played in either a Friday-Sunday pair or a Thursday-Saturday pair, meaning that playing two games in three days is something that Mason will need to get used to. And even more relevantly, nothing is ever promised in this crazy time, and ever opportunity to step onto the court as a team to compete and get better cannot be taken for granted. This should be a fun one!
Tipoff from EBA is set for 6:00PM and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. See you there!
