Great team effort yet a tough loss.
One free throw away from a road W.
Glad Jun was physically better and getting into the flow.
When we fly around on D it can disrupt anyone!
The officiating left a lot to be desired but not why we lost.
Bad turnovers out of timeouts needs work.
Looking forward to VCU

Last edited by GW0509 (1/18/2025 4:15 pm)

Out of the country and didn’t get to see game or highlights.  Can someone explain what Caputo is complaining about?  What happened?

There were a lot of bad calls in the game, but I thought they were pretty even handed.

Teo excruciating losses this season because we couldn't make one free throw at the end of regulation--American and Mason.

Tough way to lose, but overall a good performance from GW. GMU is tough and their defense is legit. This GW team is clearly very streaky offensively, but you have to think some better shooting performances are ahead almost by default. GW has also played the second toughest conference strength of schedule so far (after Loyola) so the games coming up should be a bit easier with a chance to pick up some wins.

General Thoughts:
1) If the refs are going to the monitor to review a play, it is likely to go against GW. This is especially true if the play being reviewed is checking for a goaltending vs. a clean block. CC is probably expecting it at this point.

2) If there is a 50/50 play on a loose ball, somehow GW will not come out on the right side. This isn't because of lack of effort - they dive for loose balls and do what they need to do. The ball just bounces to the other team.

3) If GW is given a transition opportunity after coming up with a nice stop on defense, they will find a way to get their shot blocked at the rim. In general, transition execution has been horrendous, and I can't remember a GW team in recent history that gets their shots swatted so often. Per KenPom, GW is currently 340th in offensive block percentage. You can't help but laugh at this point and wonder if there's other factors involved outside of bad luck. The first half of the American game showed early signs of that, but it has continued.

4) I had no idea Rafael wore contacts.

5) It is clear Rafael over-performed at the FT line to begin the year. While his FG% remains very good, some of his close proximity shots probably should be made instead of him trying to earn the points from the FT line. I liked that he responded by making both FTs in overtime after what transpired in regulation. His offensive rebounding/overall presence has been a major boost to the team. Castro is an underrated passer/rim presence as well. Once he fouled out, it felt like game over for GW.

6) I expected Sean to struggle against GMU's frontcourt, but thought he did a better job than expected overall. As much as I like watching him as a passer try to find a cutting guard in the halfcourt, the degree of difficulty on those passes can be high. As a result, a couple times per game his passes go directly to the other team. There was one in particular where the Mason defender didn't even have to move and just picked up the ball. That needs to be cleaned up - unsure if it's a communication thing or the pass needs to be executed better.

7) Trey Autry can be prone to making mistakes on both sides of the ball (usually it's on defense). Despite that, I'm really liking the confidence he's playing with right now. Kinda like every time it's a victory when Hansen decides to shoot, it's a win when Autry tries to attack the rim. Per KenPom, he is now 85th nationally in 2P%, which shows he's been efficient at the rim as well. Since Moss got hurt, Autry has certainly stepped up his play. He comes down with some big rebounds defensively which tend to go unnoticed as well.

8) CJ is such a pain to play against defensively. I think he's a near-lock to make the all-A10 all-defense team if he sticks around (this year may be tough as a freshman). 10 steals in the last two games. Offensively, he's still finding himself (understandable). Some layup attempts I'm sure he would love to have back, but give the Patriots credit for making him adjust on some of them. His three point shooting efficiency seems to have been hurt by the fact that most come with the shot clock nearly expired. There's no doubt his stroke is unorthodox, but when he has the ball he seems hesitant to take a three unless there's no other options.

9) Gerald needs to get himself set before launching threes. Several of his attempts came off curls at the top of the key. As soon as he collected the ball, he often launched it. That made the degree of difficulty harder than it needed to be. This is not gymnastics or diving. You do not earn extra points from taking a more challenging shot. I do give Drumgoole credit that later in the game he began to attack the rim more as Mason closed out on him hard. He has definitely improved his inside finishing lately.

10) The staff finally put Jun in different places and it resulted in a much more efficient day from him. Funnily enough, he also went 2/2 from deep against Mason around this time last year. Maybe it is just me, but his shooting stroke seemed a bit more compact than usual? I have to agree that perhaps we could have had him more involved for stretches of the game, but as long as the team is taking good shots it is okay. Perhaps fewer shots allowed Jun to compete on the boards more as well. We needed his physicality against this GMU frontcourt for sure. Good to see him playing healthier.

11) Jacoi is playing with low confidence right now and needs something to go right for him in the worst way. Sophomore slumps are not uncommon, but it feels like he regresses each game. Against GMU, it looked like he struggled to even execute bounce passes to another player. His defense has remained good, but every game I'm rooting for something to go right for him. The fact that he saw only 11 minutes in a double overtime game suggests that CC may be losing hope. Hutch is still seeing time down the stretch of games (which I still personally like) but he played fewer minutes Saturday than he ever has at GW (including freshman year).

12) I love Ty's defense and think he has a lot of upside on offense. He played as many minutes as Jacoi. Unfortunately, he was the latest victim to have his shot blocked in transition after an impressive deflection on D.

13) Trey Moss was clearly not healthy out there, but I still believe that his hustle and penetration really benefit the team when he's right. Like the other Trey, he's 68% inside the arc (61st nationally), I just wish he would cut down on the three point attempts. Almost all of them are undershot. In the Mason game, he came down with a tie up on defense but tried to find another teammate to avoid the jump ball call. That decision resulted in a turnover. At the time, the possession arrow was favoring GW. I know that you like to save those extra possessions for later, but trying to get the ball to another teammate in traffic is more likely to result in a turnover or a jump ball anyways. Sometimes, it's better to just eat the jump ball call and get the ball back. Compared to WBB, it's not like MBB gets that many jump balls usually anyways (not because of lack of hustle, it's just less frequent).

14) Dayan has played exactly five minutes the last two games without attempting a shot. I wish we could find a way to get him more involved offensively when he's in. Having said that, he's the one guy on the team who ends up pulling things out even when he has an advantage in transition. Maybe he's also noticed the number of shots GW has had blocked at the rim and figures it's better to just wait for other teammates to join him on the other side of the court.

15) GW needs to shoot better from the FT line to win games. That goes without saying. Specifically for the GMU game, they turned it over too much. The Patriots are great defensively, but they are not an event-driven team. GW just handed them the ball many times. That one minute stretch with about eight minutes to go in the game was killer, including a turnover from trying to inbound the ball. It's easy to blame CC for not taking a timeout, but I do agree with his philosophy in close games you want to pocket as many as possible (now execution out of timeouts when they are taken as others have mentioned is a different story and needs to be better).

16) While I thought the play CC was worked up over wasn't particularly egregious (and the officiating in overtime was more even), Mason definitely benefitted from calls in regulation. When GW was ahead for over 3/4 of the game, the only thing that kept GMU remotely close was the FT line. They get there a lot so you can't blame all the whistles, but GW is also top 25 in FT rate yet they took maybe 1/3 of the attempts in the first 40 minutes. Perks of being the home team I guess. Anyways, definitely not the reason the Revs lost but it was noticeable.

Just recorded a new episode of GW Basketball Insiders. We mostly discussed the George Mason game but got into some other stuff as well. Let us know what you think and thanks in advance for listening!

https://www.youtube.com/live/TyR0vYWk8Kw?si=QjuIqTA3azQHk2Jg