A Recap of The Jacksonville Classic and More

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Joseph Szymanski
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By Palmer Johnson

Your George Mason Patriots went down to Florida to play in the Jacksonville Classic last weekend and went 1-1. Both games were thrillers. They lost to Charlotte in a 54-49 slugfest, with the Patriots having a chance to tie/win during one of their last possessions. In their second game, Mason beat South Dakota State in a 73-71 nailbiter, with Keyshawn Hall hitting a game-winner with just seconds remaining.

The Charlotte Game

Despite losing, Mason showed that their defense can keep them in games that they have no business being in. The Patriots shot 33.3% from the field and 27.8% from three and still had a chance to win since the 49ers only shot 37% from the field and 28.6% from three.

Nobody could really get anything going for Mason on offense; Amari Kelly was the most efficient guy, shooting 4 for 6,  but Keyshawn Hall and Darius Maddox, shooting 5-14 and 5-13 respectively, were the guys who were getting the ball when the primary and secondary plays didn’t work. You’d like better efficiency from those two, but they weren’t getting the best opportunities.

This is a game that was bound to happen at some point. The offense has looked stagnant at times, it was eventually going to happen for an entire game.

What was encouraging from this game? Dishon Jackson, their big man I was worried about, shot 1-11. Amari Kelly continues to play bigger than the 6’9 height he’s listed at.

The South Dakota State Game

Mason showed out on offense this game, and while they didn’t shut them down, they kept South Dakota State in check.

Mason kept NBA prospect Zeke Mayo in check, with him scoring 22 on 20 shots and 2 turnovers.

Baraka Okojie had a quiet 12 points in 18 minutes, hitting 4-5 from the field and 2-3 from three. I say this in every article, but I have to. He continues to show that he has been ready to play from the jump when he should be playing with high schoolers right now.

Malik Henry had to get his energy play that got everyone hyped up. He truly has an awesome motor that is infectious. It seems like the game speeds up on both ends when he’s in, and Mason is better prepared for the chaos than their opponent.

Amari Kelly has cooled off just a little bit, but if 10 points on 3/5 from the field while manning the paint is cooling off, then we can agree he has vastly outperformed expectations.

Fate of the universe on the line, the Martians have the death beam pointed at Earth, you better hit it, I want Keyshawn Hall. The UNLV transfer showed he wasn’t done after being named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, putting up 21 points and 15 rebounds on 9-19 from the field. Board man gets paid. His ninth make was the most important of them all, being given the keys at the end and proving Skinn right.

Keyshawn Hall is ELECTRIC.

If you’ve been in the ByGeorge/GiantKiller postgame Twitter Spaces, you’ve definitely heard people talking about Keyshawn Hall’s emergence, but let’s do it some more. If Keyshawn Hall was playing like this during his senior season, we would be extremely happy. He’s doing it as a sophomore.

With him being only months removed from a complete body transformation, it is crazy how soon he has gotten used to his new body. It seems like he is now only taken out of games for foul trouble, never because of fatigue. This man has played 40, 33, and 39 minutes in his last three games. Playing 39 minutes one day after playing 33 is crazy.

Through the Cleveland native’s first five games, he is averaging 17.8 points, 11 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 33.4 minutes on 48.5% overall and 32.1% from three. I have seen him practice, 32.1% is extremely low for him. It will get higher throughout the season.

Key clearly passes the eye test, but the advanced stats love him too. He leads the team in offensive win shares, defensive win shares, overall win shares, offensive box plus/minus, and overall box plus/minus, while also being second in win shares per 40 minutes and defensive box plus/minus.

Tony Skinn has this guy as the team’s best rebounder and an absolute hustler. After watching some of him at UNLV, I would have never believed you if you told me just months later this guy would be able to play complete games while being the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, while creating his own shot.

Mason got a good one in Keyshawn Hall.

Thank you, Keyshawn Hall and Tony Skinn, for breaking the curse and letting me see the first MTE win since I enrolled at Mason for the 2021-22 year.

Get excited Mason Nation! Next up, East Carolina on Saturday.

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