This game deserves no window dressing. I was planning to have a format for this #ToBeFrank column, but that goes out the window here. That was a complete and total mess. The fact the Mason won is a minor miracle to say the least. They wouldn’t have, had it not been for not one, but two boneheaded turnovers by Queens in the final minute.
Yes, Queens is a top 10 D-II team. But miss me with that crap. GMU should have won this game handily. They more than over matched this team on paper. Yet the box score is abhorrent.
Queens out-rebounded Mason 40-25. Holy freaking crap man. 40-25. To a D2 team.
Mason had just 8 offensive rebounds to Queens’ 19.
Defensive rebounds were 21-17 Queens.
Mason’s 17 turnovers were only eclipsed by their 21, including 2 in the final minute. But 17 turnovers against a D2 team is inexcusable. I don’t care how good they are.
Points in the paint is perhaps most embarrassing of all: 42-28. Mason had a size advantage at every position on the floor, yet just got bodied in the paint. That’s just inexcusable.
I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to be feeling right now. The team looked far too excited as the final buzzer sounded. This is a big win? Sounds like you’re looking at the wrong Division. I feel empty. detached. It’d be easy to rage on this team, but where do you start. What do you say?
AJ Wilson had 2 points and 3 rebounds. 5 blocks though. yay.
Jamal Hartwell had a goose egg. So did Greg Calixte.
XJ hit a few threes. That was kinda cool. Tyler Kolek looked pretty good in his first collegiate game. That was nice.
I’m sorry, what am I supposed to be writing? What am I supposed to be excited about? Watching this game was excruciating. It slowly began to sink in that Mason was going to lose to a D2 team. They were down five with like 2 minutes left or whatever. They didn’t lose. That’s cool, right? Am I supposed to be optimistic about playing Belmont tomorrow? In like 15 hours. A team that is receiving votes in the AP Poll, and a team that picked apart Howard like they were a 2nd game rec league team?
I really hope I’m being overly dramatic. Last year’s team did need overtime on opening night to defeat Navy. Still, I’m going to need to see a lot of improvement before I’m going to feel optimistic. This is a veteran team with a host of seniors. Albeit, the team lost Ian Boyd with an announcement an hour before tipoff, which is an odd time to make an announcement like that.
“Ian has meant so much to our program during his career. Our players and coaches love and care for him deeply. We are behind Ian during this time and will offer him as much support as we can." – Coach Paulsenhttps://t.co/DFcJTAXoRX
— Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) November 27, 2020
Please prove me wrong. Put on a good showing tomorrow. I’m not even asking that you win. Just compete. Hang around, make it a game for like 25-30 minutes. Something like that.
Regardless, it’s a very quick turnaround for Mason. They’ll face Belmont tomorrow at 2PM on ESPN3. Hopefully it’s a good game. Otherwise, you can get a jump on those Black Friday online deals.
