Mason takes down Radford

Mason beat Radfornd Friday night to stay unbeaten at home and over .500 all-time. After looking rusty in the 1st half, the Patriots came alive late with the help of Cam Long (Cam Ward to ESPN apparently) who at one point scored 9 straight points to spur a Patriots run in the 2nd half. Long played the way I had hoped he would be playing all along this season. He is still not exactly a floor general but he's starting to learn how to set up his teammates better. Dre Smith looked as if he found his shooting touch, somewhat, as he and John Vaughan connected on a couple of three-pointers. Interesting about this win is Darryl Monroe finished with zero points and Andre Cornelius only 3. These guys have been key players in Mason's home games and they were not effective against less athletic players on Radford. But the good news despite that is the starting guards all played well and hit shots when the team needed them. Good to see big Vlad back after missing a few games due to injury.

Pictures from CAAZone.com:

Pictures from Allen Clark of the Off Wing Opinion:


Post game interviews:

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Previewing Radford...

Fresh off a break from action due to finals, the Patriots take the floor tomorrow night against Radford. Let's hope they did some fine-tuning over the break and start out strong against a delpleted Radford squad that has already seen three players leave the team this season. The Highlanders have been wildly inconsistent this season (sound familiar) including almost upseting UVA but then being blown out by William & Mary. Kenny Thomas leads the way for them and so far he has connected on 25 of 58 three-point attempts (.431). In three games this season he has hit four or more treys. Not really exciting news considering the Patriots have been yielding opponents to shoot over 32% from behind the arch so far. Along with Thomas, Radford boasts a 6-11 center, Artsiom Parakhouski from Belarus, who lacks overall basketball talent but has shown success rebounding in the paint averaging over 9 rebounds a contest. Mason's vastly more athletic front court should be able to counter and prevent him from giving the Highlanders second chance baskets. It could be a big day for Monroe, Birdsong, and Pearson collectively as Radford's guards will keep Mason's backcourt busy.

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Take a look back at the highlights from Mason's games so far this year.

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Mason recruit written up on ESPN

Johnnie Williams, probably the incoming freshman next season I am most excited about, gets a little press here from ESPN.com. They list him as a surprise player at Marshall County's Hoopfest event in Kentucky:

"Williams is a strong and physical post player who has the ability to step out and knock down jumpers to about 15 feet. He competes and plays with urgency at all times. He is a good athlete who finishes above the rim with authority. He runs the floor consistently, and in the half court, he is a low-post scoring threat. Williams can score with drops from either side of the lane and he does a great job working for post position and giving the post feeder a big target. On the left low box, Williams likes the quick turn shot. He has excellent hands and finishes drop-off passes created by guard penetration. Williams can finish through contact and he works to rebound on both ends of the floor. He made his presence felt the entire game. On defense, he is pretty good at anticipating post feeds and releasing contact to make a play on the ball. Williams must continue to develop his post package and his perimeter skills, but he has great upside and should be a contributor at George Mason right away."

Thanks to everyone that sent this in.

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Mason holds off Drexel

Well it was not pretty but the Patriots escaped from the DAC with a victory. A victory that easily could have been a melt-down in the closing seconds as Drexel, down by three with three seconds remaining saw Scott Rogers drive to the basket (going for 2, not 3 mind you) and get intentionally fouled by Darryl Monroe. The result gave Rogers two free throws and then possession back to the Dragons. I don't know what was more of a dumb move, Rogers driving the lane as time was expiring when down by three or Monroe bailing him out for the dumb move by horse-collar tackling him. After the Patriots started off the second half on a 17-4 run you would have thought the Patriots offensive fire power was too much for Drexel, but they responded with their own run late in the game. The Dragons, who have had trouble putting points on the board this season, made the Patriots play their style of grind it out basketball. With no real star power on offense that was really the only way they were going to come out on top and coach Bruiser Flint knew that. The Patriots started out the second half flying up and down the court and scoring points off turnovers but that was quickly subsided by the Dragon's defense. Despite this, Mason still protected the ball well and had a balance attack as eight of nine players who entered the game scored. Usually that is the formula for success for Larranaga but poor rebounding really killed a lot of chances for Mason and gave Drexel a lot of second chance points late in the game. Forwards Darryl Monroe and Louis Birdsong were more involved in this one but I still feel like we could have saw more from them late in the game. John Vaughan and Dre Smith continue to start off games flat and it hurts the Patriots on the road. Dre is currently 7 for 41 from the three-point line, how long before Andre Cornelius is starting over him? Despite still making some rookie mistakes, Cornelius has still looked really good so far. Against the Dragons he was blowing past defenders all day long and really showcasing his speed. He's one of the quickest guard in the CAA and I believe it's only a matter of time before he starts to take over games.

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Previewing Drexel...

The Patriots hit the road for their first CAA game this weekend at Drexel. The Dragon's are coming off a dreadful CAA campaign last season and return only two starters this season. It's difficult to assess them so far this year because they have only played three games, with their one loss being an 83-51 drubbing from Georgetown. With Tramayne Hawthorne returning, the team looks to be more of a perimeter shooting squad, but through the first three games Hawthorne is only 6 for 29 from the three-point line. Their shooting from the field has not been much better (.305) and they been averaging under 60 points a contest thus far. They start two guards who are under 6-feet tall, could that be an advantage for the Patriots or a window for them to launch up more bricks early in the game? While the Dragon's front court presence basically disappeared with the graduation of Frank Elegar, they still have a size advantage there and have been rebounding well. With that in mind, Monroe and Birdsong have been the most consistent Patriots to date and Ryan Pearson seems to be coming into his own. Those three could very well be the difference in this game as John Vaughan and Dre Smith continue to struggle on the road. Drexel doesn't have any Seth Currys in their lineup but they are well coached and Mason will have to limit the turnovers. Giving the ball up like we saw at Liberty is basically the only way Mason could let this game slip away. An up-tempo game could favor the Patriots as they have much more scoring power then the Dragons.

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Post Game Media from Liberty game

Video highlights and pictures from libertyflames.com

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About last night...

The Patriots suffered their second loss of the season last night at Liberty and all I can say is Stephen Curry and his younger brother seem to have that same clutch ability late in games. Seth Curry not only hit a three-pointer late in the second half, from what seemed like mid-court, but he hit a jumper and two free-throws in the last 41 seconds of overtime to power the the Flames to victory. Did I mention he was a freshman? Liberty connected on 11 for 34 from three-point range while Mason started off the game going 0 for 9 from there. It seems to me that every Mason game starts off the same: a burage of three-point misses. Sure it's great when they actually connect on some of them, like at the Ohio game, but on the road every miss that early in the game seems to let the momentum swing to the home team. Liberty had no depth or authority at the forward position and Louis Birdsong started to exploit that after the Patriots were down early, but why wasn't Monroe more involved in the offense? Dre Smith was playing so poorly he was pulled for most of the first half and freshman Andre Cornelius seemed to commit a foul every minute. Ryan Pearson, who was named CAA rookie of the week again, was way too erratic down low and threw up some interesting shots. Meanwhile the only Mason guard that was having a decent night was Cam Long, who finished with a career-high 18 points, 9 rebounds, but only 3 assists. It was another game where Mason had the rebounding edge but failed to really establish an inside game. Monroe needs to be taking more than 7 shots a game. Period.

Side note: Apparently Vlad Moldoveanu didn't make the trip due to some injury, more details to follow.

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