Colossal Meltdown for GW
Any time you blow a 20 point second half lead, it makes for a particularly ugly loss. GW’s 74-65 loss to USC in the John Wooden Classic on Saturday qualifies as such. This one was just plain nasty.
Two minutes into the second half, GW held a commanding 36-16 lead against their counterparts from USC. Up until that point, the Colonials had played sparkling defense, protecting the basket while forcing the Trojans to put up tough shots and commit turnovers. Though the Colonial offense hadn’t put up big numbers, USC came into the game as the second best team in the country in field-goal percentage defense.
The remaining 18 minutes were not so kind to the Colonials. The Trojans broke down GW’s zone defense, drove, and drew fouls. When GW employed full court pressure, USC would find the open man for a 3-pointer. On offense, GW followed the lead of their senior point guard, Carl Elliott, and practiced some absolutely awful shot selection when they weren’t turning the ball over. Elliott finished the game 4-19 from the field with 8 turnovers. Coach Karl Hobbs did little to stop his team’s second half slide, calling a time out only after the Colonial lead was well into the single digits and momentum had swung irreversibly to the Trojans.
GW will have a chance to re-find their shrunken, shriveled excuse for a mojo when they face down the mighty Retrievers of Maryland-Baltimore County tomorrow.
George Mason Succombs to Duke
George Mason dropped to 4-4 on the season with a 69-53 loss at No. 7 Duke. The Patriots traded five- and six-point runs with the Devils throughout most of the first, then got cold and watched the Devils take an 11-point lead into the break. Mason never really threatened from there.
Will Thomas was a bright spot for GMU, hitting all six of his shots and matching Folarin Campbell with a team-high 13 points. Freshman forward Louis Birdsong scored nine points in 23 minutes, both career highs. That was about it on the positive side of things, however, as Mason shot just 42 percent for the game, including 4-of-17 on three-pointers.
There’s certainly no shame in losing at Duke — after all, the Blue Devils have now won 48 consecutive non-conference games in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the longest such streak in the country. However, the Patriots may have missed their opportunity to get a signature win out of conference to impress the NCAA selection committee. None of their four losses are “bad” — Wichita St., Creighton, and Bucknell all project as tournament teams — but Mason is in danger of squandering the equity it built up from last year’s Final Four run. The Patriots need to find a win at Holy Cross on December 21 — the team’s next game — or against Mississippi St. on the 30th to build up their resume.
-Hayden Alfano
