By Palmer Johnson
Your George Mason Patriots lost a rock fight to rival VCU 54-50. This is Mason’s first home loss of the season and the first conference loss of the season.
Mason shot 0-15 from three in this game. While it would be easy to say Mason lost only because they missed those threes, they still had a chance to win the game near the end. There were many instances where VCU got an offensive rebound that Mason wouldn’t normally give up, or just got straight-up outhustled.
Some people expected that VCU was going to kill Mason from three, but this wasn’t really the case. They went 7-25 from three, but each make, especially Zeb Jackson’s make after Ronald Polite’s clutch mid-range, felt like a dagger. I don’t think they made any threes that weren’t pretty open.
Nobody for Mason could really get anything going. Keyshawn Hall had the most productive game, scoring 14 on 6-12 shooting. Once he got inside, there was a high chance he would score. The problem was, it was really tough for him to get there, turning the ball over four times.
WHO NEEDS A THREE WHEN YOU HAVE KEY?!@xkeyy2 | #PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/DkRQrUbFod
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) January 10, 2024
Mason’s MVP was Jared Billups. While he only had five points, he seemed like the most impactful guy out there. Billups made multiple plays throughout the game that seemed like huge momentum shifters, the problem was that VCU would often do something immediately after to nullify it. If Billups isn’t the defender he is, Mason is not in the game at the end.
WITH AUTHORITY@jaredbillups1_ | #PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/4ss88Z3qrY
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) January 10, 2024
It was very encouraging to me that in both of Mason’s losses against teams not named Tennessee, they were ice cold on offense, but the defense kept them in it. This type of thing will probably happen again, but hopefully the offense will be just a little bit better. This game said more about the defense than the offense to me.
You can’t change the outcome of the game, but Mason can choose how it affects them. If they go and win back-to-back games on the road against rivals Richmond and GW, this loss will not hurt nearly as much.
Onto the next one.
Next up, a road game against rival Richmond.
