By Palmer Johnson
Your George Mason Patriots fell to the Saint Joseph’s Hawks 75-73 in a nailbiter. This game was never over until the clock hit zero, as it was within five points the entire time. Mason now drops to 15-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
The Patriots really needed this win to stay above water, as now they have to go on the road to a tough UMass team and risk being under .500 at the conference play midpoint.
The biggest problem I saw was a combination of giving up fast breaks, mostly off turnovers, and then not defending the fast breaks well. Mason had less turnovers than Joe’s, but Joe’s had 8 steals compared to Mason’s 6, so those forced turnovers were more valuable. There were multiple times where everyone on the court knew where the ball was going, especially the guy who was about to take it the other way. The Hawks dominated the passing lanes.
Defense wasn’t exactly a problem, but they definitely weren’t defending particularly well. Xzayvier Brown, a freshman, was doing whatever he wanted, and it worked.
I enjoyed how they defended Christ Essandoko, the problem was how he was dominating the boards on both ends.
This game showed how shallow the team can be at times. Amari Kelly and Darius Maddox both had to play 38 minutes. It’s fun that they can do that, but not that they had to. Kelly ended up having a pretty good game, scoring 18 points on 7-13 shooting and grabbing 8 boards. His two threes were super important, as each felt like they kept Mason in the game. Amari also helped defend Essandoko pretty well.
FEED HIM 🥣#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/752jHcj50f
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) February 1, 2024
Baraka Okojie and Darius Maddox were the two best Patriots on the floor. Okojie had 14 points on 5-9 from the field, including a deep three at the end that gave Mason a little bit of hope. He also had six assists, zero turnovers, and four steals, although I feel like he had a couple passes that got deflected but luckily didn’t go to a Hawk.
The steal + the bucket + the foul 😤 @baraka_okojie #PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/T6ATCf8b0C
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) February 1, 2024
The refs were letting the boys play in this game, which is totally fine since they did it on both ends. Unfortunately, this style of refereeing benefits the team who prefers to shoot from outside rather than the one who’s focused on taking shots near the rim. Mason is going to need to be able to adapt when teams are getting physical with them inside.
This wasn’t a game Mason was supposed to win going into it, but it was a game they had a great chance to win after going up four with six minutes left. I can forget about this loss with a win against a tough UMass team on the road on Saturday.
