Your George Mason Patriots have brought in as veteran option at point guard: Kory Mincy. I, for one, am excited.
Mincy’s background was covered in his visit article, so in short, Kory is an Atlanta-based 6’2 PG transfer from Presbyterian. He draws fouls and has a very good assist rate to turnover rate ratio.
Kory Mincy Scouting Report (Full Game vs. Gardner Webb 1/4/2025)
Athleticism/Intangibles
Mincy is definitely able to play the two-guard position as well.
A thing I noticed is that Kory gets super hyped. It isn’t KD Johnson level, but it is not far from it.
The Presbyterian transfer is definitely able to handle crunch time possessions, as he was touching the ball every time on offense down the stretch except for one, when his teammate went rogue and took a contested fading midrange in transition down 2 with 13 seconds left.
Offense
First, all of his passing. Mincy is surgical when making set reads. In normal half-court sets with off-ball movement, he hits player in stride on passes. In the pick and roll, the PG hits tight windows to get free baskets for his roller. All of his passes have all the velocity you could ever ask for. The Presbyterian transfer is always willing to pass to the open man. I watched him repeatedly pass up contested shots at the rim for an open teammate three. My favorite passing tendency I saw was how he would make these crazy anticipation passes, like an NFL quarterback.
The jumpshot looks nice, you will take 35% from a guy with big volume.
Sometimes Mincy hits a different gear, and gets rim pressure that forces the defense to collapse. We know what happens after that. Kory attacking closeouts is a crazy thing to watch, it gets kind of nuts sometimes. The PG is able to pull the ball up when it is being poked at on drives.
My favorite non-passing trait was his shot-fake to drive time. It is kind of unreal. It opens literally everything else up. So smooth.
Defense
Mincy wasn’t Presbyterian’s point-of-attack defender early on, but was later down the stretch. This could change based on offensive load.
Kory is pretty sticky on and off-ball on the perimeter. He is pretty instinctive off-ball, being able to predict where his opponent is going. Generally did not jump passing lanes, but used it to cheat screens and avoid giving any space.
Mincy can get beat on drives, which means he may not be an A10 point-of-attack defender. He is very good at guarding the corner, but not so much the middle. When Kory closed out on a shooter who then drove, he was able to recover decently well.
The Presbyterian PG transfer struggled in post defense. Oh well.
Mason sometimes presses, so it is good to know that Mincy was able to play the top of the zone press and make plays.
There were moments where Kory played great pressure defense. When he locks in, it looks like KD Johnson.
Areas of Improvement
Kory struggles a bit on defense when the ball-handler he is guarding is in the middle, as the guy can go any direction, but it goes much better when his guy has the ball in the corner.
It seems like sometimes Mincy takes possessions off on defense, which makes sense for a guy with such a big offensive load. If he played his top level defense on every possession, that is clearly a plus on that end.
Joe time.
Kory Mincy Scouting Report (First Half vs. NC State)
Well am I excited for this one.
Kory Mincy, the newest Patriot by way of the Presbyterian College Blue Hose (yes, Blue Hose), is PG1. I don’t really think there’s any discussion. This is the most complete point guard Tony Skinn will have in his arsenal and you can tell that just by looking at his stats from this past season.
But let’s talk about real games. I watched the first half of Mincy as his Blue Hose took on NC State in Raleigh. Two things are very obvious right away from watching Mincy. First, he’s extremely confident with the ball. He is in control and he knows it. Second, Mincy is agile. He was smooth with the ball, coming back on defense and could be there anywhere, anytime.
For his first basket of the half, Mincy penetrates, dribble fakes his man and hits a smooth mid range shot. Boy did that look like something Mason was missing last year. And at 6 ‘2”, Mincy can roll with high level size. He was also rocking the purple shoes this game- respect.
Then his second. My god his second. Mincy realizes a forward is on his, blazes past him, the defender all but grabs him back and he still puts up the shot, makes it and gets the and one. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Fun. All very good descriptors of that make.
On defense, I loved Mincy on the ball. He’s aggressive, trying to get his hands on the ball every possession. I see what Tony loves about him there. Off the ball, he does get out of his spots a bit too often, though watching this Presbyterian team, I don’t think it’s much his fault.
Watching this first half it is very clear that Mincy was the best player on that Presbyterian team. By a potentially wide margin. When they allow him to do his thing, the Blue Hose were a better team- it’s that simple.
It was only a half but I love this guy already. He’s confident, he’s quick, he gets to the hoop. He’s the perfect example of the guys we’re for to boogie this season. Mason Nation, you are going to love this guy.
Back to Palmer.
Ratings
Athleticism: 60 – Did not stick out athleticism-wise in the Big South, while still being a plus athlete in the conference for sure. This would be a 55 without that crazy shot-fake into driving speed. It’s like a fast center fielder who also has a great jump on the ball. He is maximizing what he has.
Shooting: 55 – 35% from deep as your team’s number one option is pretty good.
Driving: 60 – If we are talking about pure scoring, it is nothing special, but the way Mincy uses his driving to get guys open shots is a big plus.
Playmaking: 65 – This goes along with driving, as he gets guys so many open shots, but even in just normal passes, it seems like every pass from Kory gets his teammate in a slightly more advantageous situation. It’s like a quarterback hitting his receivers on slants perfectly in stride.
Defense: 55 – This would be a 60 or 65 if he brought the intensity and effort the whole game. Mincy isn’t a crazy rangy playmaker, but does not let stuff go past him off-ball.
Fun: 60 – Everyone Mason looks at is fun. Maybe I just enjoy basketball too much.
Where Does He Fit In?
As the roster currently stands, Mason now has two options at PG. Mincy and Brayden O’Connor can both play the position. As it stands right now, I think Mincy gets the starting PG job, with BOC starting next to him at the two, with O’Connor also being the backup PG.
A median outcome could be similar to what KD Johnson was for Mason, but if Johnson cut his turnover rate in half. That is a starting point guard.
Something that is worth noting is that 2024-25 Kory Mincy’s closest comparison on KenPom is 2020 Darius Quissenberry, the Fordham guard, who was still at Youngstown St. at that point. If you get a 35% from three Darius Quissenberry (he was not) out of this transfer, you are very fine with it.
The highest end outcome I could see is a normal sized Jhamir Brickus. The shot-fake into drive speed was a major aspect that made Brickus so effective, and I hope Mincy can be similar.
This is a guard who can boogie. More importantly, a POINT guard who can boogie.
