Pretty much all my thoughts have been mentioned at this point. Some things I wanted to mention:

1) Happy for the guys getting their first W in conference play, leading this one for the majority of the game. I had a good feeling going into this one, but after hearing Amir and AT were out I'll be honest that I wasn't sure we would even cover the spread. We have competed for 40 minutes every game in conference play, but of course this was our strongest performance yet. There weren't as many open looks from 3 for Mason compared to the Duquesne game, and we made it tough on them to operate on offense.

2) I have no idea what Mason's game plan was going into this one. In previous games, St. Bonaventure, SLU, and Duquesne realized later on that the key to success was to feed their bigs down low play after play in the second half, and we would not be able to stop them. Wilson got touches, but they were never consistent. While he's not on the same level as Osunniyi, French, and Hughes (there were plays where he rushed going up with it and was a bit out of control) our frontcourt consisted of a freshman (two if you count Battle as a 4) and a walk-on junior. We are pretty banged up right now with four players out - Amir, AT, Javier, and Juice. Not sure what the status is on any of them, but Javier's looks like a long term injury at least for this season. I saw a cast on his wrist - similar to Chase earlier in the year? With Sloan and Hunter sitting out, that means just 7 scholarship players, all who appeared in the game. Anyways, we were clearly vulnerable down low with Chase and Ace both in foul trouble. GMU is also one of the better free throw shooting teams in the conference, but they were unable to take full advantage of this. Even half of Wilson's made attempts were midrange jumpers along the baseline that were pretty well contested.

3) Our offense is so much better than last year. We are definitely still not clicking on all cylinders, but at the end of Wednesday we ranked 102 spots better in offensive efficiency compared to last season per KenPom. We are generating a number of open shots, but at times can't finish executing them. The missed threes (which didn't happen much in this one) are fine, but the number of missed opportunities to convert down low was still a bit frustrating. I really liked that we made an effort to establish the post (even with Wilson's great shot blocking). Chase had several plays where he was all alone and we failed to make a good pass to him for what would be an easy two. I hope we clean that up by the end of the season because I think this team is capable of fixing that. I will say that the chemistry and connectedness of the team overall is also much better than last year. Not seeing as many passes thrown away as last year (although JNJ had one in the game, but that was partly because he had to throw it somewhere as he was approaching the baseline). We also missed the retry of the Armel to JNJ alley oop as Armel's pass was a bit too strong.

4) In JC's spread PnR ball scheme, the lead ball handler tends to have a ridiculously high usage, responsible for practically doing everything in the offense (either score or set up another teammate). There hasn't been too many cases this year where we've made a ton of passes to set up an open shot, but rather our PG (either Armel or JNJ) make a single pass to an open player who takes a shot. This will mean the assist rate for that player will be very high as he's pretty much the only one making the pass. Armel has been top 5 in this category all season (he was even #1 nationally earlier on), assisting on roughly 40+% of our field goals. He never had a rate above 23% coming into this year. Insane. Also because of this high usage, I'm more willing to forgive the lead guard having a slightly high number of turnovers from game to game. Armel didn't have a good first half, but really turned it on after halftime, continuing to attack even though he failed to convert at times. We need him to continue to do that to be successful. JNJ and Amir have shown at times that they can handle the point, but we just don't have anybody who can penetrate the way Armel can next year. JNJ will hopefully make a sophomore jump next year, but as TC said, the last few minutes were rough for him, failing to break the press late, coughing up the ball, and making some really bad passes (the one to Chase surrounded by three Mason players had no chance of being made). Ultimately, I believe JC pulled him in favor of Shawn. Amir has looked good distributing the ball, but staying healthy a full season is a question. Maybe Lincoln and Tyler can step in and contribute right away, but that's a question for another day.

5) We all know JC is into analytics, and we literally played a perfect game in terms of shot selection. We got all of our 73 points either in the paint (32 pts), three point line (24 pts), or free throw line (17 pts). I don't even know if we attempted a midrange jumper in the game.

6) I don't know how we are so good at shot blocking when you look at our current roster construction and lack of overall size (last time I checked we were 5th in the A10 which is pretty good). Maceo has had many moments this year where he has actually blocked a shot from a drive to the hoop. Mezie had two consecutive blocks on a Mason possession. Shawn had a nice block as well on a drive. Ace and AT usually have a block or two (as did Javier when he was healthy). We have seen JNJ and Amir block potential shots in transition. Even Armel had a block down low late in the SLU game. Maybe it's just simply putting a hand up and contesting, but despite our lack of size we have been good at shot blocking which I honestly can't explain.

7) The turnovers were a bit high, especially in the first half. Credit Mason for having pesky defense but we needed to be a bit better with holding on to the ball.

8) Until late, our free throw shooting was almost automatic. Good to see after the Duquesne game. Unfortunately most of our misses came late in the game (surprised Jamison went 0-2 despite being 92% going in) but luckily it didn't matter. It just probably would have been a double digit win.

9) JC isn't afraid to use timeouts even when we are still in the lead when there are looks that he doesn't like. I believe there was a stretch where Wilson was hurting us a bit down low and he called time. We cleaned things up afterwards.

10) Prayers up to Kier. He's a really fun player to watch in this league and I hate seeing any guy go down, ESPECIALLY in their senior year. Hoping that he makes it back for tournament play (although that they aren't playing us when he returns).

11) The game ball for me definitely should be shared between Mezie and Shawn. Yes, Armel and Jamison had stretches which definitely helped win the game, but at this point we somewhat expect/need that. Armel himself said postgame that those two were the key to GW winning the game. With Amir and AT out, Mezie and Shawn knew that their number would be called. Most importantly, they delivered and were ready. Mezie had an A+ game, probably his best since his first career game against Stony Brook last year. He is starting to think a bit less on the floor, and just let the game come to him. Come to think of it, that off-balanced jumper he made I guess was just in the paint to not be considered a midrange shot. If he can develop consistency, he will play a lot more. I get why he hasn't before based on what we saw earlier in the year. He is still hesitant to shoot the three, and I'm surprised the Mason defender didn't dare him to shoot from the corner on that one play instead of letting him blow past him and get to the line, but I guess he wasn't on the scouting report. I figure Shawn doesn't see a lot of time because he is a bit thin and needs to spend more time at the weight room, but honestly I've loved what I've seen from him every time on the court. He plays in control and limits his mistakes, and can spend some time at the point. He's a pretty good passer. He also looks to be a pretty good shooter (that hasn't translated on the floor, but his 90+% free throw shooting suggests he is a good shooter). Walker is also a decent defender at this stage. In general, Shawn is clearly very good at the fundamentals. Although these guys may not always play when everyone is healthy, it's really nice to know that we aren't necessarily going to drop off if key starters get hurt like last year.

12) All of our freshmen continue to contribute. JNJ, Shawn, Jamison, and Chase all had at least 6+ points in the game. Chase continues to look really good for a freshman big. He plays in control and looks to be a pretty good shooter overall. Jamison is so much fun to watch as a shooter. That three he made from the sideline was insane, but also showed great awareness of the shot clock situation which can be an issue at times for a freshman.

13) Maceo had some moments on defense, but unfortunately still gets beat on drives to the hoop and we need to get him going offensively. That made three from the corner made me really happy to see, but he failed to make an impact otherwise. He attempted just one shot from inside, and as I've said if the threes aren't falling consistently, we need to get him looks down low or get him to the free throw line. He is the best FT shooter on the team.

14) Also shoutout to Ace for probably being the most useful walk-on we've had in a long time. In 10-15 spurts, you can guarantee he will provide some solid minutes. His finish off the pass from Armel deserves a lot of credit - Potter's pass was a bit too strong but Ace did well to adjust in mid-air.

15) Overall happy to see our continued growth, and we are entering an easier part of the schedule coming up with UMass and Fordham on the horizon. Mitchell does scare me a bit with our thin frontcourt so hopefully Amir and AT are able to get back soon.
 

Not all bigs are created equal.  French is 6'7", 245 and Hughes is 6' 8", 240.  These guys take up a lot of space in the lane.  Their thickness alone allows them to protect the rim.  Osummiya is listed at 6'10", 215.  His jumping ability and athleticism allows him to play more like a 7 footer.  Easy to see why he's effective as a rim protector.  Wilson managed 5 blocks against us but at 6'7", 210 pounds, he does not have the look of a defensive enforcer like these other three.  Because Wilson is undersized when compared to the other three, opponents are not going to feel as intimidated taking the ball to the rim.  Wilson does not alter many shots unlike the others.  It's a big reason why Armel feasted in the second half.

Speaking of Armel, he is becoming the "cardiac kid" for this team given the number of big second halves he has been producing.  GWSports/SID pointed this out recently.  This may have been his 7th game, give or take, scoring at least a dozen second half points this season.  (Yes, getting fouled during the stretch of victories does help.)

Finally, our own shot blocking has rarely been of the face-up variety.  Many of this team's blocks are the result of being beaten by a step and then blocking the shot of a driver from behind.  It's a testament to the team to stay with these plays after getting beat off of the dribble (though getting beat off the dribble a bit less would be welcome).  

Alternately, our game plan is to stop three point attempts, playing their guards closely outside the line and leaving our's more susceptible to penetration.  We are #4 in the country in opponent's 2-point share. 

It's part of the plan with the quantitative reasoning that our three point production (and drives through the resulting open lanes) is going to be better than their 2 point production.  Works when our threes are falling and/or the opponent's inside player isn't good enough to take advantage and negate the quantitative reasoning by scoring inside at a very high percentage.