UMass wrap-up – Jaire’s big game, and how the tightrope gets wider
By: Petey Buckets
Jaire Grayer finally had the game he’s been waiting for all season. 16 points on 11 shots, 8 rebounds, and two blocks, one of them a massively clutch stop with time winding down that put the game away for good. Jaire was 3-6 from three, and one of the misses went halfway down before popping out. The big criticism of his game is that he’s a standout talent who tends to not stand out – he’s a scorer who has trouble contributing in other ways if he’s not scoring. Tonight he gave Mason a turbo boost on both ends. He’ll always look fantastic when his shot is falling, but his effort on the boards and on defense was really impressive tonight. I wrote before the VCU game that Mason walks a tightrope, as its path to victory is limited. A 4 guard lineup that doesn’t shoot threes well, doesn’t force turnovers, and doesn’t run in transition needs a lot of other things to go right. If Jaire can consistently contribute at or near this level, that tightrope gets a lot wider.
Other thoughts:
- Mental toughness has become a trademark of the Paulsen era. You’ve got to love that Mason went down thirteen in the first half and didn’t blink. I didn’t feel like the game was slipping away, but I didn’t expect Mason to go into the half with a lead, either. We moved to a matchup zone for some possessions in the first half, but I’m not convinced that’s why UMass cooled off. UMass is a poor shooting team (30% from 3 coming into this game) that hit a lot of contested shots in the opening minutes, so it might’ve just as easily been regression. Mason also led 69-61 with six minutes left and gave up a 9-0 run to concede the lead. Jaire answered with an and-1 and Mason never trailed again.
- The driving lines that Marquise and Otis love really open up when Jalen is in the high post. That’s not a skill Relvao has (not yet, anyway) and it’s noticeable how the offense runs differently when Jalen sits. The backdoor cuts and the lanes to the rim are available when Jalen pulls bigs out to the free throw line with him. When Relvao’s getting minutes, Mason takes a lot more jumpers and has trouble getting into the paint. This is one of the reasons why I think Goanar Mar has a decent shot at being a day 1 contributor next year – Relvao makes it too easy to pack the paint with defenders.
- Speaking of Relvao, he got lost on a Holloway dunk (not the one Holloway was T’d for) and Dave Paulsen was so mad he wound up and kicked the scorer’s table as hard as he could. Dave’s energy and passion is amazing, and so is his ability to get the most out of his players. The only thing I’m really worried about regarding Dave is that one of these missed defensive rotations is going to give him an aneurysm.
- Exceptional play is becoming the norm for Marquise. He posted 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in 38 minutes just one game after looking a little out of sorts against VCU. I’m not really sure what else to say about him. Not much of what Mason does works without Marquise, and in my mind he’s the most valuable player in the A-10 by a country mile. There was one offensive possession in this game with both Marquise and Jalen on the bench, and it ended in Jaire rushing a quick jumper to beat the shot-clock. Mason can look like world-beaters when Marquise is on the floor and totally lost when he’s off.
- The Jalen-Holloway battle was really fun. Holloway is more of a big body than anything, but he has some skill, and he knows how to use his frame to rebound and get himself in good position. Jalen is the more skilled player, but he gives up about 100 pounds and clearly had his hands full. They battled to a draw with Jalen posting 18/7/4 with one block on 14 shots, and Holloway posting 17/10/1 with one block, also on 14 shots. They clearly frustrated each other at points, and Jalen even yelled back at Paulsen after Paulsen admonished him for letting Holloway get an offensive rebound.
- Starting with the Penn game, Mason is shooting 36-88 from three over the last five games, about 41%. From the start of the season through the UNI game, Mason shot 27% from three (30-111). This is a welcome evolution – hitting triples is something else that makes the tightrope a lot wider. Mason was 9-20 tonight, with Otis, Jaire, Boyd, and Karmari combining to go 9-19. I credit this to ball movement and patience, as most of the threes are open, and coming through the flow of the offense. I’ll also credit Otis’s corner three – I’m not sure he’s missed from his favorite corner all season.
- The Ian Boyd breakout game will have to wait. His box score was modest, 7/4/0 with a steal, but on the steal he looked like Ed Reed in his prime. He did a fine job of stepping up in Kier’s absence and I’m looking forward to him getting more run against the Bonnies on Saturday.
- It’s not reasonable to expect rebounding to be a strength of a 4 guard lineup, but this is consecutive games where Mason was outrebounded badly. I’m not panicking yet, but we need to accept that Mason’s rebounding advantage might have been a mirage that came from playing lesser competition. Both VCU and UMass have big 5s and bouncy 4s, and Mason didn’t play many teams like that out of conference.
This was a gritty win in a fun, fast-paced game. The Mason teams of the past few years would have happily folded after the first-half barrage, or after blowing an eight point lead with 3 minutes left in the second, but this Mason team is better.
