Jan. 2, 2007
The George Mason men's basketball team will be looking for its first two-game winning streak of the season on Wednesday night when the Patriots take on William & Mary at the Patriot Center. The Patriots defeated Mississippi State on Saturday to improve to 6-5 on the year, but Mason is still looking for its first Colonial Athletic Association win.
The Patriots opened the CAA slate at Drexel last week with a 61-49 loss. But the Patriots haven't been defeated at home by a CAA foe in nearly two years. Mason has won a league-high 14 straight CAA home games, a streak stretching back to Jan. 19, 2005, a 66-59 loss to Drexel.
Mason is 31-25 all-time against William & Mary including the past eight meetings. The last time the Tribe beat Mason was Feb. 18, 2002, a 54-51 loss in Williamsburg, Va. The Tribe are 7-4 on the season and they have faced a pair of teams that Mason has played. William & Mary defeated Hampton at home, 72-67, and lost to Holy Cross on the road, 66-57. Mason defeated Holy Cross on the road, 58-46, and downed Hampton on the road, 55-46. Like the Patriots, William & Mary dropped its CAA opener, a 70-63 decision at home to Towson.
The Tribe are paced by Laimis Kisielius who is averaging 13.3 points per game. Adam Payton and David Schneider are also averaging double figures in points, at 11.5 and 10.5 ppg, respectively. William & Mary does not have a player averaging as many as 4.0 rebounds per game. Instead, the Tribe have six players averaging between 3.0 and 3.9 rebounds per game. Payton is tops in that group while Kisielius is grabbing 3.4 boards. He is also third in the CAA with a .582 field-goal percentage. Schneider is averaging 3.25 assists per game to lead the Tribe.
Mason has three players averaging in double figures in scoring - Folarin Campbell (15.4), Will Thomas (13.6) and John Vaughan (11.7). Vaughan has been in a slump, managing just seven points in the past two games and 26 in the past four. Thomas, meanwhile, has averaged 20.5 points over the past two games.
Thomas leads the Patriots with 7.1 rebounds per game and he is second in the CAA with a .594 field-goal percentage. Campbell is seventh in the CAA in scoring and eighth in assists, with 3.54 per contest.
The Patriots lead the CAA in scoring defense, are third in field-goal percentage defense and lead the conference in field-goal percentage. William & Mary is second in field-goal percentage defense but ninth in scoring offense and seventh in field-goal percentage.
Wednesday's home game will be just the fourth of the year for the Patriots. Mason has averaged 7,320 fans per game, tops in the CAA.
Mason's official radio station, Triple X ESPN radio, will not be able to broadcast the game live because of a conflict with the BCS Bowl game at 8 p.m. The game will be aired on the radio after the football game at Midnight. The game will be available online live using CSTV All-Access, which can be found on GoMason.com
