I might be completely off base but when Hunger transferred I thought someone said he actually might have 2 years 

God bless the revs

What a win and what a second half in particular

Hunger was fantastic

How about Jean nearly another triple-double!

72-53 over 21-4 George Mason.

Play like that, get Slim and Bubu back and we're rolling again

A team performance fitting the night we honor Shawnta enshrinement

Last edited by The Dude (2/13/2026 9:28 pm)

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

Hail to the Buff! Hail to the Blue!!!
Free steak dinner for Luke Hunger. Kudos to CC for a funcrional gameplan, making a wise choice to work it inside early to open up the three and knowing that shortening the game by slowing things down was the way to deal with Bubu and Castro out.

 
Amen. Was total shutdown defense and good ball movement the entire game. And as you say, a game plan  that set it all up nicely for the players to execute, which they did. Kept it under 10 turnovers too. Nice.

An amazing turnaround. With Castro out Mason is seeing a different team than the one faced previously. Mason has also been in a slump lately. 
Another poster suggested previously that with Castro out we'll now have a chance to see the quality of the other transfers. We'll see how the other transfers perform under the spotlight. Guess what? Hunger and Aranguren have stepped up bigtime. Hunger's play was the major surprise while Aranguren benefitted during previous stops at Iona & Hofstra.
Hail to the Buff & Blue! They can now reclaim what looked to be a lost season.

Post Game Presser
https://youtu.be/spJ16jFXlNw?si=Wut61KtVbUNYIdfj

Feels really good to get a win like that. All-time performance from Luke and Jean is really finding some good form.

Twitter: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1zqJVddoQLDKB?s=20
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/pMTHeX-r018?si=ggjIjQLF8h-mDiSZ
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2-13-george-mason-home-frida10-win-recap/id1802674606?i=1000749696388

That was really fun.  I know Hunger is getting the attention for his career game, but Aranguren has really been a revelation. He’s been playing like an all league PG these last 3 games.  Hopefully he can keep this up, especially when Castro gets back. 

But the other thing that was so great tonight was the defense. This felt like the way last year’s team played defense.  Super-intense pressure the whole game, totally disrupting everything Mason wanted to do.  That kind of pressure an intensity on D has been missing most of this season - again, keep that up every game and we could have a fun end of season. 

Great crowd, too.  When Hunger made that incredible And 1 put back, the Smith Center was as loud as I can remember. And that’s with Mason having a lot of fans.

Next up is the toughest remaining game - on the road at VCU with “their” refs.  Gonna have to be another intense defensive performance, this time against an elite offense.  But they should be fired up and feeling good for it.

Some odds and ends:

1) Two straight wins with Luke Hunger averaging 26 points in these wins.  Hopefully there's more to come but even if there isn't, I will affectionately refer to this week's wins as The Hunger Games.

2) The scoring was great, but it was also the rebounding and willingness to battle guys down low, not to mention his willingness to successfully dive after loose balls, that inspired every GW fan in the building.  We'll all remember his 31 points but on the other end, Riley Allenspach was held to 6 and 3 against Luke after going for 18 and 12 in the first meeting, largely with Slim guarding him.

3) Shooting 3-3 from three was a bonus but I wouldn't make too much out of the small sample size.  Luke was not a reliable three point shooter at Northwestern nor has he been one here.  The good news is that Luke is smart enough to know not to take too many if they are not falling.

4) I've discussed the importance of establishing an inside/midrange game in order to open things up from three and the team made great strides in these two wins.  After attempting at least 30 three point shot attempts in their five prior games before this week, GW has taken 24 and 23 in these past two wins.  While neither game represented a particularly hot game from 3, the attempts were flat out better shots with defenses being forced to protect the paint.  It's also worth noting that GW shot 50% overall from the floor against Mason and a hair under 50% against URI.  Simply put, they are spending more possessions taking higher percentage shots than what we've witnessed earlier.  3's are great when they are falling but can be downright lethal when they are not.

5) It would be impossible not to correlate the team's recent play, which includes those competitive losses to SLU, SJU and Duquesne, to the improved play of Jean Aranguren.  On a team filled with combo guards who are all capable scorers, Jean has emerged as the threat to drive the lane and finish, find an open teammate, or bring the ball back out when there's nothing there.  He's also the best of the group in playing straight up man-to-man defense.  There's all kind of reasons why Jean played without this level of confidence earlier in the season but it's extremely fortunate that he's found it now.

6) With all of the talk regarding GW and bad luck, some good luck came their way when Jahmere Tripp missed the Rhody game and Kory Mincy was a non-factor for Mason, clearly playing with an injured hand that limited his output.  Of course we were without Slim and Bobo but it's important to objectively point out that injuries negatively impact other teams too.

7) Can't really ignore GW's defense in this game because they certainly didn't.  Honestly, I thought I had seen enough this year to conclude that this team did not have this kind of defensive intensity in them.  This wasn't about forcing turnovers as much as it was about playing hard-nosed, in your face defense.  I've sensed a very different mentality out of this team this week.  One that has gone from taking a ton of 3's and if they break 90, they don't really need to worry about defense, to one that's interested in taking good shots wherever they may be on one end and takes pride in defending on the other end.  VCU is up next and they will absolutely need to have this mindset for a chance at a second straight win at Siegel.

8) Loved the black uniforms.  (In decades of following this team, I don't think there had ever been a black t-shirt giveaway until last night.

9) However, this does beg the question of whether we are ever going to see the buff uniforms again?  This is year 4 for CC and I don't think GW has worn them even once during his tenure.

10) Something that you probably don't know, and may or may not be bothered by like I am:  You know the 94 foot golf putt promotion where someone can win $10,000 with a made putt?  Well, they are running the same promotion at Mason only the prize is $15,000.  (I'll also add that I've seen this at another game on tv, maybe at Kentucky as a guess, for a chance to win $25,000.) Kentucky aside, why is Mason paying more than we are?  I'm just annoyed by this.

11) Very happy that the school got things right about not only honoring our best players with their jersey unveilings but that they are encouraging fans to stay at their seats to watch the ceremony (unlike the first one for Joe Holup where I was embarrassed by how few people were paying attention).  The next step is to let the honoree speak for 30-60 seconds (I know there's not much time.)  Great that Shawnta was honored.
 

dmvpiranha wrote:

Late getting around to reacting, but what a performance!! It felt like GW was due against Mason and in general for an opponent to have an off night offensively. The Patriots never appeared to really have it on Friday night. GW was able to score on a number of broken plays - something you don't see from Skinn's bunch on defense very often. With Autry's 3 at the end, GW hit the 70 point mark that I felt they needed to win the game given Mason's track record when holding teams under that total. Forcing GMU to shoot threes when they didn't want to was great to see. Also loved seeing fewer unforced turnovers and the refs in general calling fewer fouls. The game had a nice flow to it overall.

Very happy for Luke. Quite frankly what he's done the last few games is stunning and seemingly out of nowhere. Then again, he's showing what happens when you stay ready for an opportunity. To say he's stepped up is an understatement. While I may never love the three point attempts, it's a fact that he's up to 33% from deep - not bad (but probably unsustainable). I fully expect teams to adjust and respect him a bit more than before, which hopefully opens up the perimeter for the guards. As Gwmayhem mentioned, a balanced shot diet is key for consistent offense. Not having to play teams with big centers like Fordham and St. Joe's recently has certainly helped.

On a side note, Luke's and-one that came off a Tre miss reminded me a bit of Pato tipping in a shot against UVA at the Smith Center. Obviously, the Garino shot was against a bigger opponent/was a bigger moment but it was great to see the arena come alive in a similar way. Shoutout to CJ for saving the ball leading up to that play as well.

Jean's emergence has been very beneficial on both sides of the ball. He plays really hard, but has shown a bit more consistency game-to-game compared to CJ at lead guard. That extra effort is something that this team has needed badly (but is something we are seeing more of in general from everybody). Aranguren is not only getting to the basket effectively, but more importantly he's finishing the layups for the most part too.

Of course, the emergence of one player can impact another. Tre is struggling right now, and I can't help but feel that he is pressing a bit with Jean's breakout - especially since he isn't the same level of defender. When the shots are not falling early on, CC has barely played him in the second halves of many games. Funnily enough, that's somewhat analogous to Max's role since he ended up in Duquesne (although nowadays he's not playing at all). I've noticed that Dinkins has been looking to take it inside a lot more frequently, but he seems unconfident right now and unsure of where to go with the ball once he's in the paint. Hopefully he can get his confidence up with some made threes in coming games.

Tricky has been off offensively lately, but I've been liking his extra effort defensively - much like the entire team. Whatever has flipped for the team on the defensive end lately is working. I like the extra effort going after the ball and swiping it away when an opponent is just standing with it in their hands. The team is also winning the battle to the loose/50-50 balls that they weren't early in the year. While I can't help but feel that some of the close losses could have been wins with this kind of effort, it's also true that it takes time for things to click. Woo is also a standout defensively with his energy but man does he miss so many layups offensively.

VCU is gonna be a tough one, especially on the road. Like SLU, they do most things just a bit better than GW on both sides of the ball. I don't doubt that the team will be up for the challenge - they've definitely got up for big games all season - but the improved defense will be tested against a much better offensive team compared to GMU and Rhody. It would be great to get Slim back but I would rather he sit out if he's still limping.
 

Excellent post.  A few responses:

- Luke is 8-19 (42%) in conference play. There’s a chance the 33% (or better) is real. First, the stroke looks pretty good and he seems to have a rhythm on the pick n pops at the top of the key or just right of it.  Second, the NBA often talks about FT% as a way to tell if a guy can improve his three point stroke - Luke is at 78.6% for the season, which suggests a guy with a good shot. 

- I can’t remember if I commented on this before, but the defensive intensity and stripping the ball reminds of the defense we played in conference last year. Im not sure why, but we didn’t really see that D until the second conference game (home when we killed Dayton).  That was the first game Buchanan was out and the team changed to revolve around Castro, instead of Buchanan (and Hutchinson).  Maybe there’s something about playing without an injured star that gets this team to step up its defense. Hopefully Caputo is learning from this and get them playing defense like this earlier next year.

- I think your point about finally getting an opponent having an off night offensively is an underrated one.  I know no one here will agree with this, but I think we’ve been a bit unlucky in that regard.   Both Murray St and Davison were coming off their worst offensive games of the season and put up some of their best the next game vs us (like how we followed an awful defensive performance vs Mason by shooting lights out the next game vs Richmond).  We ran into Duquense and Ginyard on their best offensive day, just like we’ve had some other opponents play/shoot as well as they can against us.  Obviously with better D maybe we could have prevented that, but sometimes you just get a bit unlucky with playing teams at the wrong time (or right time, like Fordham getting to play us the first game without Castro). 

- Good call on that Pato put back.  One thing I didn’t notice about the hunger putback is that when Dinkins shot the ball, Hunger was still on the logo, closer to midcourt than the three point line.  Most guys who have just stopped when that shot went up, but what an effort play to keep going to the glass. 

- Whether Castro plays next game or not, I’ll be interested to see whether we try to play fast or grind it a little more like this past game. All of VCU’s losses are top 45 KenPom teams except the loss at Mason when Mason was playing close to that level. In 5 of those 6 losses, the opponent has scored 80 - which does suggest we need to be on our offensive gam to beat them, but I don’t want to see us try to win a shootout instead of defending like we did vs Mason.

- whether Castro plays or not, VCu’s center Lazar is going to be a handful.  He’s a 6’11” guy who can shoot threes (not a high volume, but he’s made 14).  If Castro plays, Castro he’s someone who doesn’t always want to get out to the three point line.  If Castro doesn’t play, we have to watch out because Lazar draws a lot of fouls (2nd in the league in conference games).  Can’t afford to lose Hunger to fouls if Castro isn’t ready. 

I have a feeling we’ll be fired up for this game, though actually winning there is always tough.