Saturday, January 7, 2023 1:00 p.m.
EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
Loyola suits up again Saturday afternoon for the first time ever against the George Mason Patriots. Mason is coming off a tough 73-69 loss at Saint Bonaventure which dropped them to 9-6, 1-1 in the A-10. After a ugly second half in an 80-57 loss at Davidson, the Ramblers have their first 0-2 start to conference play since the 2015-16 season. The Patriots sit at 111 in KenPom; the Ramblers have sunk to 185, which would be their lowest ranking since 2014 if the season ended today.
George Mason is a public university founded in 1957 in Fairfax, Virginia (about 9 miles outside the Capital Beltway). With about 39,000 students it's the largest state school in Virginia (larger than Virginia Tech and UVA), but only 6200 students live on campus. It has grown immensely since the 1980s, along with the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC.
The Patriots are led by second-year Head Coach Kim English, who played at Missouri, several years in the NBA with the Pistons, and was most recently an assistant at Tennessee from 2019-2021. Two players in his normal starting five followed him to Mason from Rocky Top: leading scorer Victor Bailey, Jr., a 6'4" senior shooting guard who averages 13.1 points and shoots 46.8% from three-point territory, and Davonte Gaines, a 6'7" senior forward averaging 6.6 points and second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Josh Oduro-- a 6'9" senior forward and A-10 first teamer-- Morehead State grad transfer DeVon Cooper, and 6'2" junior point guard Ronald Polite round out the starters.
Oduro is a handful, averaging 12.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. Oduro led the A-10 in scoring last season with 17.7 per game and is capable of carrying the team and scoring in the mid 20s if he has to. Cooper averages 10.7 ppg and 2.7 assists. Polite averages 10.2 points and leads the team with 3.9 assists. Note that there's three players in the starting lineup with 2.7 or more assists per game-- that's one of the features of GMU's offense under Coach English; the Patriots recorded 16 assists on 23 made field goals in their loss at St. Bonaventure Wednesday.
Last time out, starter Davonte Gaines got a DNP while wearing a brace on his left hand; I’m assuming he'll start on Saturday. In his place in the starting lineup was Mason's top bench scorer, 6'10" senior center Ginika Ojiako who averages 6.5 points and 3.3 boards per game. Also coming off the bench are 6'6" senior small forward Saquan Singleton, 5'10" freshman point guard Devin Dinkins, and 6'8" junior forward Malik Henry. They each average in low double-digit minutes and score between 4.2 and 2.4 ppg.
The Patriots have wins over some pretty good teams (Toledo, Tulane and Old Dominion) and some losses to teams they should have taken down: losing at home to Buffalo, the A-10's only loss to an MVC team (Belmont), and a 15-point home loss to Boston College. Apparently, mixing good wins with some bad losses is the theme in the A-10 this season.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _Notes.pdfGeorge Mason game notes: https://gomason.com/news/2023/1/6/mens- ... n-eba.aspxTV/Streaming video: ESPN+
https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=06 ... c2da073cfaRadio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=133&type=LiveLive stats: https://gomason.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Mason by 6.5