I've been very impressed with his play especially considering he missed the first 8 games due to injury. He hasn't looked like a freshman big, who many times are prone to turn the ball over, play defense with their arms instead of moving their feet, travel when trying to post up, etc.  He's also looked good on the screen and roll and has shown the ability to get the ball on glass quickly when finishing near the rim. As previously stated, he showed a very nice stroke from the outside at Kenner so I could see him developing into a stretch five. Some more time in the gym will strengthen his hands which should cut down on his turnovers, and his freethrow percentage needs to improve, but overall he's having a nice season.

One thing that jumps out about Jordan's shooting % this year is that he's been at the top of their opponents' scouting reports after scoring around 40 points his first two games. Many of those threes are highly contested shots and Northeastern doesn't have dominant big men that free up shooters by making defenses collapse.

Jordan scored 38 in an overtime loss yesterday, which now has his scoring average up to 23.1 for the season and moves him up to 4th in the nation.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/seasons/2020-leaders.html

Good defensive effort from the squad tonight in a venue where we've never won. I especially liked how we rotated defensively when double-teaming French. In the Vermont and Bona games we gave up several easy baskets when their bigs passed out of the low block when doubled, but tonight we were hedging much better to close passing lanes and also backed out of the double teams more quickly when French had given up his dribble. Unfortunately going five and a half minutes without scoring had us down 23-7 in the first half and that was too much of a hole to come back from. I also would have liked to see us have the guards crash the defensive boards more since we were giving up some second chance points, and it didn't look like we were making a concerted effort to run in the first half. We also could have put French on the line a few more times especially after he missed a few freethrows badly, and with Ace ending up with only one foul. Another bright spot was Paar, who has shown improvement each game. I like how quickly he's getting his shot up when catching the ball in the pick and roll. There were a few times I thought he'd get his shot blocked, but he was able to get the ball in the glass quickly and scored. As he gets stronger he's going to finish more consistently and draw more fouls too. I'm surprised we haven't seen him shoot the 3. He's been left open on the perimeter occasionally when setting screens but hasn't looked to shoot. During Kenner he had a few games where he looked very confident draining threes. Hope to see continued improvement with another tough game this weekend with Duquesne at home. After that, the next three look winnable.

ESPN has Vermont favored by 13.5 points, which seems high for a team that's 8-5 and missing a starter.  It'll be interesting to see who draws the defensive assignment on Anthony Lamb. Perhaps Amir with his length?

ESPN has Harvard favored by 6.5 points.  They come to the Smith Center with a 6-4 record with losses to Northeastern, Maryland, Buffalo and USC, and wins against Siena, Holy Cross, Texas A&M and most recently a 34 point win against UMass. It'll be a tough game but a good indicator to see how much we've improved since the start of the season.

Here's a link that some may find interesting to look at stats from the current and past seasons. A few stats from the current season that jumped out at me are that two of our starters (Battle and Jack) are averaging 0.6 and 0.7 made 2-pt shots per game while each only attempting a little over one per game. Another was that Toro only has 11 fouls over 6 games, including one where he fouled out. Looking at Jameer's stats over his first 10 collegiate games shows that he has the potential to be a dominant all around player. Decent 2-point %, steal, assist, and scoring for a freshman. Over time as his outside shooting improves and he cuts down on the turnovers I can see him develop into an all-league player.

While perusing the stats I also noticed that Roland is currently 2nd in the nation at 25.0 ppg and leads in overall points, and Marfo is 2nd in rebounding at 12.7 rpg.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/george-washington/2020.html

I have ESPN+ and just checked their schedule for Sunday and they have the GW-South Carolina game listed (2:00 pm tipoff).

Thanks for putting together a nice preview DMVpiranha! Hopefully the students had a good time on Saturday and come out to support the men tomorrow.  I'm intrigued to see if coach Christian keeps the same starting lineup, or if he'll be experimenting with different combinations through non-conference play.

Northeastern Halls of Harvard 84-79. Great game for Jordan Roland. he ends up with 44 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. he'll likely be leading the nation in scoring after the first week of play.