Mason Heads To Kingston to Take on Rhody

Your George Mason Patriots are looking to move to 2-0 in conference play against a somewhat highly touted Rhode Island Rams team, who lost their A10 opener to Duquesne.

The Rams are coached by Archie Miller, who is in his third season at the helm. This is a pretty pivotal year for Archie, as this was believed to be his make or break year, with it seeming like he has made it…so far. Miller has an overall record of 238-165 between Dayton, Indiana, and Rhody, and an A10 record of 79-60. At Rhode Island, his conference record is 11-26.

Based on how they have played this season, it is time to believe in Archie in the A10 again, as long as they finish top 6ish in the conference.

Rhody was part of the Providence sweep, which was when the A10 went 3-0 against the Friars. Mason played the first A10 team to beat the Friars, Davidson, and won. Hopefully they can keep this trend going against the Rams and St. Bonaventure.

Before the loss to Duquesne, Rhode Island was ranked 68^th on NET, but dropped to 87th. 75 is the Q1 number for road games, so this game is more likely going to be Q2 at the end of the year. It doesn’t matter for tournament purposes, since Mason has to win the A10, but it helps demonstrate the makeup of the team.

Rhody has been a breakout team largely due to them bringing back most of their rotation, and adding some key pieces, including bringing back Sebastian Thomas, who spent his first two seasons in Kingston, stinking it up a bit. He went to Albany for a year as their go-to-guy, and came back to Rhody a changed man.

Rhode Island By The Numbers

Rhode Island is the 100^th ranked team on KenPom, with the 120^th offense and 100^th defense.

Archie has his team playing at a pretty fast pace, 72.4 possessions per game, 33^rd fastest in the country.

As has been pointed out by Petey Buckets (@PeteyBuckets on Twitter/X), this team is statistically similar to Davidson, with their two main weaknesses lining up with Mason’s: struggling to offensively rebound and force turnovers. Rhody is 245^th and 277^th in those departments.

Sidenote, numbers-wise, Mason is slightly above average in terms of defensive rebounding, after only giving up 3 offensive boards to Davidson.

On offense, there is definitely a path to victory for the Rams. They’re 90^th and 101^st in eFG% and offensive turnover rate, along with shooting 46 free throws per 100 shots, 12^th highest.

They get a ton of points from the line, 23.5%, which may not sound incredibly high, but that is 32^nd highest. Rhody is making 71.4% of their FTs, which is about average. This is a huge revelation, as they had the 31^st highest free throw rate last season, but only made 64.7% of them, which is dark red on KenPom at 349^th.

Sebastian Thomas, Javonte Brown, and David Fuchs are getting them a lot of free throws, with free throw rates of 63.9, 66.7, and 90.5 per 100 shots.

6’1 PG Thomas, 1, is their 1B guy in terms of shots, and his FT rate ranks him 58^th in the country. He’s making 36% of his threes and 50% of his twos, with an assist rate of 37.5%, which is 18^th. Sebastian Thomas is basically what GW fans thought James Bishop was.

Their 1A is 6’7 stretch four David Green, who is taking 28% of their shots, and shooting 42.1% from three last season on the second highest deep volume on the team. He kinda obliterated Mason last year during the homecoming game, but the Patriots were able to outlast the Rams.

Jamarques Lawrence, 10, has been their highest volume shooter, making 36.5% of his shots from deep.

Jaden House, 2,  has been a bit disappointing, become a better free throw shooter, while also taking much less, and decreasing his shot efficiency by a little bit. He’s has inconsistent minutes lately, and his highest offensive rating on KenPom since the Providence game is only 68, which is not good. Turnovers have randomly been a problem for the 6’4 guard/wing.

Cam Estevez, 4, seemed like a bright spot as a freshman last year, shooting 41.5% from three on decent volume, but has taken a step back in both efficiency and amount, shooting 27% from three on decent volume.

Also, shoutout David Fuchs, the big man wearing 24. He feels like a product of the old NCAA system, slowly progressing from a backup early in his career to what is likely a plus starter as an upperclassman. I am cheering for him to stay all four years.

Those corners are pretty big and red from three. I am somewhat surprised that their paint isn’t particularly red with how much they’re getting fouled.

On defense, Rhody does a good job with forcing bad shots, while also not letting up second chances. They allow an eFG of 45.6%, 32^nd, and an offensive rebound rate of 27%, 78^th, while also only giving up 28.9 free throws per 100 shots, which is 97^th lowest. The Rams especially thrive in defending threes, with opponents only shooting 28% from deep, 13^th lowest.

This team’s defense might be the biggest year-to-year improvement on one side of the ball that I have seen under the same coach while I have watched the A10.

Teams are getting a lot of their points from two, 54.2%, which is 47^th highest, but you are ok with that if they are only making 47.6% of them and not getting fouled much. This also takes a lot of variance out of defense.

When you look up and down at each player’s foul rate, there isn’t really anyone you can take advantage of, with their highest being Drissa Traore, 55,

7’0 Javonte Brown, 31, has a block rate of 7.8%, 66^th in the country, but only commits 2.9 fouls per 40. This is very intriguing.

I have heard raving reviews for freshman wing Tyonne Farrell, 22, on this end of the floor, and I imagine that the scouting section will back that up.

Oh, hello Javonte Brown. They also do a great job at covering the wing threes.

Rhode Island Scouting Report (1^st Half vs. Duquesne)

Rhody didn’t do too well in their first conference game, and the Mason game will probably show us whether the stinker was a fluke, or if OOC lied to all of us.

On offense, Rhode Island can turn rebounds into fast breaks if the defense falls asleep. Mason having defenders who can cover at least +- 1 of their position will probably be very useful.

Duquesne man pressed and Cam Estevez got through it with no problem.

Sebastian Thomas moves kinda crazy with the ball in his hands. Billups/KD/whoever is on him will be important in this game. He got called for a travel after a bad pass from Estevez changed his timing, which could be something to watch for. Thomas likes the floater/push shot from the free-throw line, although I did not see it go in often. If Lawrence isn’t in the game and the Albany transfer gets denied the ball, the offense can get pretty clunky. Thomas does a pretty good job of selling foul calls when there is contact.

Tyonne Farrell postered a dude in the fast break and stared him down. This guy is awesome. He’s a pretty good connective passer.

Jamarques Lawrence can drive and kick, especially if he gets a big switched onto him. The Nebraska transfer is pretty shifty with the ball in his hands. Lawrence has deep range. He takes some contested threes, and does not have the best passing processor.

Javonte Brown has pretty good hands for a seven-footer. He isn’t as good as passing out of double teams as you would like.

David Fuchs will take threes if left open. Fuchs loves the drop step move, and it gets him fouled a lot.

Jaden House had a little thing with David Dixon that may have been the turning point of the game, that I will get into later. House can get pretty reckless when he starts dribbling fast, also telegraphing his passes a bit.

David Green is a bit awkward on offense when he does anything besides shoot threes.

On defense, Rhody opened up in man. They played a lot of man and tried not to switch. I did not see them press the entire game. They will occasionally hedge screens, which gave them some success.

Thomas will jump passing lanes if he sees an opportunity, and it seems like he does not overextend himself too much.

David Green is a much more solid post defender than I remembered.

Farrell is a contest machine. He’s a good paint help defender, and is bursty enough that the freshman can nearly play in the paint and still cover the guy in the corner. Tyonne is pretty active in passing lanes, but does not get around screens like you would think a defender like him would.

Fuchs is pretty switchable onto smaller guys. He’s also a very good rebounder on both ends, but especially defense. The sophomore is still a bit young, and can get lost on pick-and-rolls.

Jaden House got into it with Duquesne’s David Dixon after they boxed each other out a bit rough during and after the play. The next possession, House got switched onto him on the next possession and gave up an easy dunk from Dixon. Tough scene for him.

Javonte Brown is a pretty good help defender, but it can get rough if he gets switched onto the perimeter. Luckily for him, it didn’t matter since Brown was covering Maximus Edwards.

Lawrence is used as a point-of-attack defender.

What Does This Mean for Mason?

This game is more losable than the Davidson game, but if you want to be a double-bye team, this could be one that is extremely important, with Rhody expected to be in contention for the four seed.

Jalen Haynes did decently well against Duke’s 7’2 Khaman Maluach, so I don’t think that 7’0 Javonte Brown will be too much of a problem. If it is, it might be a Gio Emejuru game.

For Mason to win, someone will have to have a good day from three, whether it is Maddox, Brayden O’Connor, Zach Anderson, or even Woody Newton.

Something to look out for is what happens with KD Johnson and Begg’s minute distribution.

I think Mason wins this game 71-68, which is very close. Both teams have paths to winning, which is scary.

You are allowed to get excited if the Patriots win this one, especially if it isn’t close.