Game Recap

Final Result: Patriots win in a route 87-55.  

GW started Andrews, Calisto, Diala, Planes Fortuny and Sims. Sims turned over the ball 4 times in the opening minutes and GW had no answer for the GMU offense, allowing the Patriots to run out to a 14-5 lead in the first 5 minutes. The defense improved for the latter part of the quarter, but the offense was stymied by GMU’s aggressive defense, staking GMU to a 20-10 lead going into the 2nd quarter. GMU continued to show off their talent and depth, surging to a 36-16 lead at the media timeout after more unforced turnovers by GW gave the Patriots multiple easy scores. In the final minutes of the 2nd quarter, the GW defense stiffened and GW played error free ball. A 6-point surge by Andrews, who led the Revs with 9 points at the half, and a couple of clutch 3-pointers by Morgan Matthews, helped GW trim the lead to 41-29 going into the half. GMU was led by Habib’s 13 points and Walton’s 12 points. To start the second half, GW’s offensive execution had no rhythm, leading to several ill-conceived shots and passes and allowed GMU to increase the lead back up to 51-31. The Patriots’ turned GW over multiple times and remained hot in the long game, canning their open 3-pointers to extend the lead to 65-42 at the end of the quarter. No change in the 4th, as GMU continued their 3-point assault and mushroomed the lead 81-50 with 3:34 left in the game. Both benches finished up the game, and GMU came away with a 87-55 victory. Andrews led GW with 23 points on 8-12 shooting, followed by Mathews’ 10 points. For GMU, Habib had 20 points, and Walton chipped in 17 points.

To begin with, make no mistake. The talent gap between GMU and GW is huge. They have a squad full of players who are proficient at scoring. When they got clean shots, they didn’t miss. They shot 48.5% for the game and 37.5% (12-32) from beyond the arc. But, the difference in the game was turnovers, and the Patriots scored 33 points on 21 GW turnovers, compared to just 7 points by the Revs on 9 Patriot turnovers. Their defense was tenacious, and their pressure forced numerous unforced “panic” passes by GW. As far as what GW needed to do to make this game competitive— did GW take care of the ball (21 turnovers—16 in the first half)? Did GW contain GMU's 3-point game (GMU was 12-32)? Did the Revs contain the Patriots' front court (Walton had 17 points, but Kaysia was held to 3 points)? So, NO, NO, and partially. The coaching staff has to address these issues, but to date not much progress has been made in these areas.

And for GW, the offensive woes continued. Lewis had an off game and Sims just seemed lost, but the offensive rhythm of the team was so bad at times (only 7 assists), everyone struggled, except for Andrews, who scored on a lot of one-on-one opportunities. The spacing was been awful for GW and was a partial contributor to the turnovers, while GMU’s quick ball movement and passing gave them ample clean opportunities to score. Spacing is something the coaching staff has to fix. And though it was good to see Mathews get some meaningful minutes, getting the team to gel offensively will be all that more difficult with so many different substitution patterns. It will be interesting to see who rises to the top, and who plays once the full A10 season is in swing.

Coppin State is next, with a week to prepare. This game is winnable because Coppin State is not George Mason, but GW’s current level of sloppy and incoherent offense is not going to cut it in the A10.

Last edited by xAC (12/04/2024 12:20 pm)