#ToBeFrank: Mason vs Belmont

Welcome to #ToBeFrank: Daniel Frank’s hot takes, analysis and recap of today’s Mason game.

The Good

The first 12 minutes of this game was about as good as I’ve seen Mason look in a really long time. They started 10-10 from the field and built a lead as large as 14 points.

10 FOR BLEEPING 10 FROM THE FLOOR!

TIMEOUT BELMONT!

Patriots 20, Bruins 11 (14:08 1H) #GetPatriotic

— Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) November 27, 2020

Everything was going great. Mason was firing on all cylinders.

HOLY SMOKES MASON I LOVE THIS

— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) November 27, 2020

The Achilles heel yesterday was turnovers. In the first half, Mason had just 4.

Josh Oduro was EATING early on. He had 8 early points, and was doing pretty much anything he pleased in the paint. He did however pick up two fouls, which kept him out of much of the latter part of the first half.

The Patriots come out 🔥🔥🔥

😮DURO getting the Green & Gold going early!@josh_oduro | #GetPatriotic pic.twitter.com/uLaJJCxF7t

— Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) November 27, 2020

Jordan Miller had a nice game, with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and a blocks.

As a team, they did do better in the paint, out-scoring Belmont 44-38, and held a 34-29 advantage on the glass.

The Bad

Mason went 6:20 without a point in the first half. They lead 34-20 with 8 minutes left. The next time Mason scored, they were down 38-34 with 1:40 left in the half. Belmont ran off 16 straight points in that span.

Javon Greene couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn today. He was 0/6 from three, though he did post 11 points. As a team, Mason went 2/23 from deep, and 0/14 in the second half. OH FOR FOURTEEN. Sweet jesus.

After committing just 4 first half turnovers, the Patriots turned the ball over 11 times in the second half.

AJ Wilson did not play after going down with an ankle injury last night vs Queens, although he did finish that game.

Looking Ahead

Look, Belmont is a good team. They entered today KenPom #96. I didn’t just expect them to roll over and die, and I wasn’t expecting Mason to win this game either. I was over the moon with excitement watching the first 12 minutes.

Yesterday was so infuriating because we know THIS is what Mason is capable of. THIS is how good we know Mason can be. Gotta keep this up for 40 minutes.

— Daniel Frank (@n1a2v3y4) November 27, 2020

But then…it just fell apart again. No, it wasn’t yesterday bad, but like, man they just couldn’t play a complete game today. Loses like this are so frustrating because they showing such flashes of brilliance, and then just can’t sustain it for any extended period of time. The first 12 minutes, this team had energy and passion. They looked inspired. So where did it go? Sure, we knew Belmont was going to make a run. That wasn’t surprising. And if you said to me before the game this would be a one-point game at the half, I would have been thrilled. They just didn’t follow through in the second half. Instead, they got out-scored 36-27 in the second half. The turnover problems came back.

One step forward, two steps back. Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully they can overpower Howard, a team they sorely over-match on paper.

Mason will play their final game in the Paradise Jam tomorrow against Howard at 3PM on ESPN3.