Your 5-3 George Mason Patriots are looking to extend their winning streak to four against the 3-3 UNC Asheville Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs are coached by Mike Morrell, who has been the team’s head coach since the 2018-19 season, and has an overall record of 98-91. The 2022-23 Big South Coach of the Year has a conference record of 55-43.
UNC Asheville By The Numbers
UNC Asheville is the 172nd ranked team on KenPom, with the 123rd offense and 258th defense.
Morrell seems to only go seven deep into his rotation, according to the box score of their most recent game.
The Bulldogs have a below average eFG at 48.5%, but make up for it by having a low turnover and high offensive rebound rate, ranked 100th and 62nd respectively.
The Big South member makes their threes pretty well, 34.9%, but only take 36.2% of their shots from behind the arc, 254th in the country. They get more of their points from two, which is a bit unfortunate since the Bulldogs only make 46.3% of their shots from inside the arc, which is 296th.
Former Kim English Mason commit Jordan Marsh, a 5’10 combo guard in the class of 2023, played his freshman season at Appalachian State before transferring to UNC Asheville. Marsh has been an extremely high-volume scorer at 32.8% of Asheville’s shots when he’s on the floor, shooting 38.3% from the field and 15% from three, ending up with an eFG of 40.1%. Not very efficient. Sidenote, 5’10 is a very generous listing.
That volume is so high that I had to go back to the 2002-03 Patriots with Mark Davis at 32.3% to find someone in the same stratosphere of volume for Mason.
6’9 forward Toyaz Solomon seems to be their most effective scorer, with an eFG of 58% on 24.9% of his minutes’ shots.
Josh Banks, a 6’5 wing, and Fletcher Abee, a 6’4 guard, seem to be their two best shooters, at 43.8% and 47.7% respectively on nearly 50 attempts from deep each.
I can see why they do not shoot too many threes. Besides those two, nobody else has much volume, nor efficiency.
It is extremely tough to have a consistent offense with that much blue at the rim.
The Bulldogs have an extremely short average defensive possession length of 15.4 seconds, which is 7th shortest in the country. Since their defense is 258th, I am going to guess that this is not a good thing.
UNC Asheville is letting up an above-average eFG of 51.8% (225th), doesn’t force many turnovers at 14.6% (309th), and lets up a lot of offensive rebounds at 34.4% (312th). If you put that all together, it explains the poor defensive rating.
One of their bright spots is that opponents are only shooting 30.6% from three against them, 99th, but that is neutralized by teams shooting 55.6% from two, 294th. The Bulldogs opponents are taking a lot more twos than threes, so it seems like they might want to shift their focus.
That’s a lot of red at the rim. You won’t win a lot of games losing the rim battle on both ends. It seems like they at least cover the corners well.
UNC Asheville Scouting Report (First Half vs. North Florida)
I picked this game since it has a similar tempo projection, and North Florida is less than 100 spots away from Mason on KenPom.
On offense, Jordan Marsh is very fast. He’s a very crafty passer and can toss lobs, mostly to Toyaz Solomon. When Jordan isn’t tossing lobs, he can make full-court passes when necessary.
Marsh gets a lot of shots I would consider good or decent, but they just miss. The offense kind of seemed like it ran smoother with Marsh out of the game or playing off-ball, but my opinion would probably be different if a couple more of his shots went in.
I kept wanting to think that the shooters were doing so well because of Marsh’s rim pressure, but that is not what the video said from this game.
Jordan Marsh has James Bishop tendencies. Take that as you will.
If it seems like I am talking about the former Mason commit too much, it is because he touches the ball so much.
Center Greg Gantt is not able to create his own shot very well.
Connor Dubsky, a former Rhody player, is a movement shooter, but does not appear to be in the main rotation anymore.
Josh Banks has very good footwork in the paint. He will get wide pin-down screens and can take deep-ish threes.
Javoy Thompson seems like a good hustle guy. He got a loose ball and then got a bucket, but unfortunately also seems to be out of the rotation.
Toyaz Solomon is their best post player, and has a nice spin move.
On defense, Josh Banks got absolutely eaten up by an off-ball screen and gave up a lob. Marsh also got eaten up by screens throughout this game.
Marsh was somewhat used as a point-of-attack defender for guards, and was blown-by off the dribble a decent bit, but he got a lot of reps. He’s fast enough that he can get a steal if the ball-handler falls asleep, but if a big gets switched onto him, it can be trouble, as you might guess with a “5’10” guard.
Kameron Taylor is a lengthy defender that can cause some problems.
Team-wide, the Bulldogs hedge screens a lot, can lose shooters in transition, and occasionally run a full/three-quarter court zone press.
One time it seemed like they tried what was I think a zone? Marsh doubled the guy with the ball and then everyone else dropped into a zone, and a dude was sitting wide open between the zones and the first pass was to an open three. The initial zone was already leaving a guy open, no manipulation needed.
What Does This Mean for Mason?
This game might have Darius Maddox have less of an offensive role, since the 2 and 3 are extremely important defensively during this game, covering two guys who seem like elite shooters.
Jeremaih Quigley seems to be a perfect match for the Jordan Marsh, as their height and weight are extremely similar. I do not think that Skinn goes away from his set rotation, but if Marsh is too quick for whoever is guarding him, the Iona transfer could be an option.
I think Mason wins this game 75-60. The Bulldogs’ interior defense might just let Haynes, Emejuru, and whoever else dominate.
Mason really needs to keep the winning streak going into the Duke game. A non-Duke loss during the rest of non-con play would likely put the fanbase in the same spot that they were after the ECU game.
