Senior Day! Mason Closes the Regular Season with Richmond

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Joseph Szymanski
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By Palmer Johnson

Your George Mason Patriots are taking on the A10 regular season champion Richmond Spiders in the regular season finale at EagleBank. This will be Mason’s senior day.

Before we get into Richmond, let’s talk about the guys being honored at the game.

The Four-Year Guys

Ronald Polite and Malik Henry came to Mason in the class of 2020 to play under Dave Paulsen, then Kim English, and then Tony Skinn. That’s three head coaches. And they stayed. True Patriots.

Ronald Polite

Ronald Polite was an unranked combo guard in the class of 2020 coming out of Oxon Hill High School in Temple Hills, Maryland. He clearly outplayed that ranking. Mason was his first D1 offer, and he chose the Patriots over JMU, Delaware, and William and Mary.

His career may have gotten off to a slow start due to injury, but he truly broke out in his junior season, averaging 11.5 points, 4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds on 44.1% shooting from the field, 36.4% from three, and 79% from the line. The three-point shooting was an awesome development, as it increased by nearly 15% between his sophomore and junior years. While 79% free-throw shooting isn’t spectacular, it was important on a 2022-23 Mason team that shot 65.1% as a team, mostly due to the lack of guards at the rim besides Polite, and lack of bigs that could reliably hit free throws.

During this season, he developed the nickname “Big Shot Ronny” due to him hitting MASSIVE shots every other game. The one I remember the most was the corner three against Richmond in the A10 tournament to go up one with around 45 seconds left. His nickname included his clutch free throws, which were important when he was on the court with Josh Oduro and Saquan Singleton.

Polite’s best game in his career was the 2023 road Dayton upset. Ronny had 22 points, six assists, and two steals on 6-11 shooting, 2-3 from three, and 8-8 from the line. Truly an all-around performance. If you remember any play from that game, it would be the famous steal with seconds to go when Mason was up just two. If he doesn’t get that steal, that game is tied.

I hope that Ronald’s time at Mason showed DMV public school guys that they can succeed in Fairfax.

If this is it, thank you for your service, Ronny. I will always remember your goggles.

Malik Henry

Malik Henry was a three-star forward in the class of 2020, out of Longview, Texas, picking Mason over Samford, Louisiana Tech, Oral Roberts, North Texas, Texas State, Murray State, and Southern Illinois. Thanks for making the right choice.

Similar to Polite, Henry’s best season was his junior season, where he earned four starts and averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds on 62.1% from the field in 11.4 minutes per game.

I used to say, “Henry only scores once or twice a game, but you’ll remember both of them as you’re walking out of the arena.” The most memorable Malik Henry moment for me was his overtime and-one layup in the 2023 Senior Night Fordham rock fight, where NOBODY could put the ball in the basket. He had to play significant minutes in the second half due to Oduro’s foul trouble, and took advantage of the time he earned.

This is probably recency bias, but the most memorable Malik Henry game for me was this year’s Dayton upset, where he “randomly” put the clamps on A10 POTY DaRon Holmes, not letting him get the ball when he was on the floor. That’s what happens when you have a nuts athlete like him coming off your bench.

This was one of the most beautifully executed plays I have ever seen.

It is kind of unfortunate that he was stuck behind All-A10 Oduro for three years, and then once he leaves, Amari Kelly comes in and significantly outperforms expectations. At the end of the day, he was an fun backup center.

Henry has only attempted one three in his career. This is probably unlikely, but I hope Mason gets up big and Skinn gets to play all his seniors together, and lets Malik try to hit a three.

When you look at his stats, they may not be super impressive. You had to be there. He had the most aura and positive vibes of any player I have ever seen for Mason. For the rest of his life, Malik Henry will get a standing ovation whenever he is shown on the jumbotron in EagleBank.

Once his basketball career is over, whenever that is, I want to see him try out as an NFL tight end. There are not many people who are 6’8 and are as freaky of an athlete as him.

Once again, if this is it, thank you for your service. Malik Henry is going on my personal Mason Mount Rushmore.

The Grad Transfers

These two only played a season here, but still made an impact.

Amari Kelly

Amari Kelly came to Mason as a 6’9 grad transfer forward/center after three seasons at Duquesne (redshirted as a true sophomore) and two at UNC Wilmington. And we are all very glad he chose Mason to spend his last year of college basketball.

Kelly truly broke out in his lone season in Fairfax, unlocking his offensive potential that he wasn’t able to showcase in Wilmington, averaging 12.1 points on 55.1% from the field, 75.6% from the line, and…44.4% from three? Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, had Amari Kelly as the team’s most efficient three-point shooter on their bingo card. It felt like one in three games Kelly would go 2-3 from three randomly. And for some reason, teams still left him wide, wide open pretty frequently.

Along with his scoring, the grad transfer added 6.3 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 28.2 minutes of protecting the paint per game. Kelly was a major reason as to why Mason has been hovering around the top 10 in two-point defense for most of the season.

I think a big part of his breakout on the offensive end was due to his discipline on defense allowing him to play more minutes. At Duquesne, he fouled at an unreal rate, 8.5 and 8.2 fouls per 40 as a freshman and a redshirt sophomore. In his first season in Wilmington, it got down to 7.5, and in his second, it got down to a relatively reasonable 5.5. In Fairfax, it was only 4.5, which is still a lot, but low enough that fouling out in 30 minutes isn’t a regular occurrence.

Kelly had many quality games as a Patriot, but one that sticks out to me is the Tulane game. He “only” scored 16 and grabbed 10 boards, but what was most impressive was the defense he played, forcing the Green Wave to 37% from two, when, before that game, they were the top two-point shooting team in the country at 64%. I think this was the game where the fans realized how elite of a paint protector he was.

Thank you for your service, Amari. You were a great surprise.

Tre Wood

Tre Wood came to Mason as a former Paulsen target all the way back in 2018. Wood started at UMass for one season, and then went to Long Island of the NEC for four seasons, redshirting in his true sophomore year. Tre has been in college so long that he had to sit out for his first transfer.

In 21 games, Tre averaged 2 points, .7 rebounds, and .5 assists per game on 41.5% overall and 33.3% from three in 7.5 minutes.

Wood’s best game of the season was his 12-point outburst against Davidson on the road, where he shot 5-7 from the field. Every one of those buckets were needed, as Mason ended up winning the game by two. If he doesn’t have the first half he had, the Patriots likely leave Belk with a loss.

Another notable game was when he played valuable minutes as part of a double point guard lineup against Cornell’s hyperaggressive full-court press. Okojie was only a couple of games into his career, and Skinn likely didn’t want to see if he could handle the press in such a competitive game, so he went to his veteran.

Thank you for your service, Tre.

What About The COVID Guys?

Darius Maddox and Woody Newton are both seniors, but have their extra COVID year of eligibility, and I do not believe they are being honored as seniors.

Now, let’s get to Richmond.

Richmond By The Numbers

I’ve already written a report on Richmond, so I will try to keep from repeating myself. These numbers will mostly be from conference play.

It sounds like Keyshawn Hall is back.

The Spiders have the 7th best offense and the 2nd best defense in the conference.

Mooney has them playing at an average pace, kind of. They have the 3rd longest possessions on offense, and the second shortest possessions on defense. The offense part makes sense, as the Princeton offense runs as though the shot clock doesn’t really exist, but I don’t get why the defense is so much shorter.

Kind of off-topic, it is kind of crazy how one second between average offense and defensive possession length is the difference between 13th and 2nd place.

It seems like Mooney has been playing about eight deep, with Jordan King getting 90.5% of minutes, second in the A10. Only La Salle’s Brickus is higher. You never get a break with him.

The Spiders really don’t shoot a lot of threes, with only 34.4% of their shots coming from behind the arc, last in the conference. The KenPom stat graphic is shaded such a dark blue that I can barely read it.

When they do shoot the three, it goes in. Richmond makes 38.3% of their threes, 4th. They have some very quality shooters in Jordan King at 45.5%, 2nd in the conference, Isaiah Bigelow at 39.7%, and DeLonnie Hunt at 38.5%. Another notable shooter is Tyler Harris, who has made 9 of his 14 attempts from deep in conference play, putting him at 64.3%. That isn’t sustainable for a long period of time, but he could absolutely give Mason a 2/2 performance if they don’t respect him.

DeLonnie Hunt has been kind of going off recently. The Wagner transfer guard has scored double digits in his last five games, including 16 and 18 in his most recent two. If King isn’t on, there’s a chance Hunt can pick up the slack.

The reason the Spiders’ offense is so great is because they just do not turn the ball over. It is as simple as that. They shoot pretty efficiently, with an eFG of 52.8%, 3rd in the conference, but commit turnovers on only 12.8% of possessions, lowest in the A10. In fact, on the whole season, Richmond has only turned it over 12.5% of the time, 2nd lowest in the entire nation. They’re getting the full potential out of that eFG.

Now here is their main flaw. Since the Princeton offense often requires the center to be out near the perimeter, he can’t be under the basket getting rebounds, so it makes sense that the Spiders are last in the conference at offensive rebounding, only grabbing 15.7% of offensive rebound opportunities. When they miss, they don’t get second chances.

You know how their center plays on the perimeter? Neal Quinn is second in the conference in assist rate at 31.1%. That’s ridiculous. This dude is a seven-footer. He is probably the best passing big in the country. Watch out for those backdoor cuts, Quinn is deadly accurate with them.

You know how I said they don’t take a lot of threes? Well it shouldn’t surprise you that Richmond gets most of their points from twos, 50.2%. That’s second.

The middle to left mid-range is just absolutely nuts. Can we get serious? I can see the Jordan King random throw-up threes from the right wing. And Bigelow in the left corner. I guess Neal Quinn is kind of a freak with his long-ish push shot.

I said all that great stuff about their offense, and their defense is significantly better.

The Spiders give up an eFG of only 47.2%, 2nd lowest, and their opponents shoot 33.2% and 45,3% from three and two, 5th and 2nd best respectively.

Richmond doesn’t struggle with rebounding on this end, with opponents only grabbing 25.6% of offensive rebounds, 3rd lowest. This kind of proves that the lack of offensive rebounding is a stylistic choice.

The Spiders also do a pretty good job at not fouling, with opponents only shooting 27.1 free throws per 100 shots, 2nd lowest.

Neal Quinn commits a surprisingly low 3.7 fouls per 40. That’s between Baraka Okojie’s and Jared Billups’ foul rate. He isn’t exactly a lockdown guy in there, but he definitely gets the job done.

It seems like the main weaknesses are the left and right-wing threes. The corners, from both three and the mid-range, seem to be defended pretty well. So does most of the paint, pretty much out to the free throw line. You see that red to the right of the basket? Hopefully that’s not a coincidence, and they give up a lot of good shots there. That could be where Woody Newton and Jared Billups do some damage.

Richmond Scouting Report (First Half vs. Saint Joseph’s)

DeLonnie Hunt looks like a whole different player on offense than when we last saw him. He was everywhere.

Neal Quinn hit two mid-range push shots where they bounced hiiigh off the rim and in, and I can’t tell if it’s luck or if he used his great touch to make them go in.

Richmond took back-to-back charges in the post. If that happens to Amari Kelly, Mason loses. They took a third shortly after, but it was out on the perimeter.

Isaiah Bigelow made a stpeback mid-range, I didn’t know he had that in his bag.

Joe’s was letting Mike Walz take mid-ranges, he was hitting them. Richmond tries to run everything the same when Walz comes in for Quinn. He can do everything Quinn can do, just not nearly as consistently.

It is genuinely crazy how much separation Jordan King can get on the perimeter.

Richmond was getting late closeouts on the Hawks’ threes early, especially if they were in transition, but at some point early, they made the adjustment and Joe’s didn’t get any more free threes early in the shot clock.

DeLonnie Hunt perfectly tracked and helped on a backdoor cut, got himself a steal.

What Does This Mean for Mason?

The Patriots are going to have to play extremely well to beat the first place Spiders, but I think they can do it for the seniors. You always want to go out on top for senior day.

Prediction: Mason wins 71-66. Richmond has clinched the regular season title, and I think there may be some looking ahead to the tournament, whether conscious or subconscious. Funnily enough, in all likelihood, Mason will play Richmond if they win on Wednesday, so Chris Mooney might be treating this game as a scouting opportunity. If he thinks there is a chance of an at-large bid, he will treat this like a playoff game.

Mason triple swept Richmond last year, don’t let them reverse it this year.

It’s the last home game, Mason Nation. Show up and show out for your seniors. I get it is kind of spring break, but show up anyway.

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