By Palmer Johnson
Your George Mason Patriots defeated the regular season champion and one seed Richmond Spiders in a 64-46 beatdown. This got Mason to 20 wins and to 9-9, .500, in conference play.
Jared Billups was probably the most impactful player on the court, chasing down Jordan King like a madman and holding him to 2 points on 1-3 shooting. His only make was a contested mid-range near the end of the shot clock.
The other challenger for MVP was Darius Maddox, who scored 18 points on 7-9 shooting, including 3-4 from three. That is just insane, but it is becoming a normal statline for the Virginia Tech transfer. Maddox continued his dominant stretch and really stepped up to take the number one option role.
COUNT IT🗣️🗣️#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/Eyz0U0ZokX
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) March 9, 2024
Woody Newton has stepped up in his starting role. His statline looks similar to what a Keyshawn Hall game could look like; 12 points, 11 rebounds, 5-12 from the field. You’d like higher efficiency, but he missed some bunnies at the rim that he will likely not miss in the future. A point per shot isn’t awful. He HUSTLED and may have caused the turning point of the game.
PATRIOT PRESSURE BROUGHT TO YOU BY WOODY N CO!#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/bzATSxHkSw
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) March 9, 2024
Baraka Okojie didn’t have a massive impact with scoring, but he was everywhere on the court. The freshman ended up with 8 points on 3-4 shooting, five assists, and three steals. He was on triple-nickel watch. Okojie was on DeLonnie Hunt a lot, who has been great recently, but shot 2-7 against Mason.
HIGH INTENSITY#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/C51Vy5YNDv
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) March 9, 2024
Once again, Keyshawn Hall didn’t play. This was kind of surprising since he was listed as probable and warmed up pretty normally. I guess Newton was playing well enough that they didn’t think the injury risk was worth it.
And now the seniors.
In what seems to be their last games in EagleBank Arena as Patriots, Amari Kelly, Ronald Polite, Malik Henry, and Tre Wood all got playing time.
Amari Kelly was doing a great job of taking what Neal Quinn gave him, and more. The grad. transfer ended up with 14 points on 6-11 shooting, along with seven rebounds. Thank you, Amari.
Ronald Polite scored 7 off the bench and did a great job of holding it down on both ends. Thank you, Ronny.
RP3 in transition#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/gHOjSNVPaf
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) March 9, 2024
Malik Henry got less playing time than usual since his style of play didn’t really match up with what was needed to guard both the paint and Neal Quinn. In the final minutes, he got a basket off an offensive rebound and EagleBank erupted, knowing they had probably witnessed the last basket they’ll ever see from him in person. Thank you, Malik.
Tre Wood played a couple of minutes and got himself a basket, good for him. Thank you, Tre.
Since Mason was up a ton, we got all the seniors in a lineup, and then they were taken out one last time so the fans could cheer them on.
The whole team played awesome defense, as Richmond scored just .786 points per possession, their second lowest of the season by .001. For context, their third lowest is .856. Skinn cooked up something. The Spiders also had their highest turnover rate of the season at 22.2%. Their season average is 12.8%. PATRIOT PRESSURE.
Get excited Mason Nation, the A10 Tournament is here. The Patriots are headed to Brooklyn as the 8 seed.
