Jan. 30, 2007
The George Mason men's basketball team is coming off a disappointing performance on Monday night as the Patriots fell to one of the Colonial Athletic Association's last-place teams, UNC Wilmington. Mason will get a chance to earn a win against another of the league's second-tier teams as the Patriots host Delaware on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Patriot Center. The Blue Hens are 4-18 on the season, 2-9 in conference action. The game will be televised on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network
The Patriots struggled on the defensive end on Monday, allowing UNC Wilmington to shoot better-than 65 percent from the field in the second half while the Patriots struggled to defend the 3-pointer, allowing the Seahawks to convert 7 of 16 in the game. The Seahawks are last in the CAA in 3-point field goal percentage. Mason is second in the conference in field-goal percentage defense but ninth in 3-point field-goal percentage defense.
Mason will look to right the ship against a team that gets 31.8 percent of its offense from 3-point baskets, second-most in the conference. Mason is 11th out of 12 teams in that category, getting 24.5 percent of its offense from 3-pointers.
The Blue Hens have a dominant post player in junior Herb Courtney. He's averaging 18.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds. Those numbers place him fourth and second in the conference, respectively. He also is second on the team with 30 3-pointers on 90 attempts. On the perimeter, Delaware has freshman Brian Johnson to distribute the ball as he's fourth in the league with 4.59 assists per game. He's drained 23 3-pointers. Junior Sam McMahon leads the team with 31 3-pointers while senior Calvin Cannon has added 27 from behind the arc.
The Patriots also have a dominant post player in Will Thomas, who is 12th in the league in scoring (14.3) and seventh in rebounding (6.8) despite seeing constant double and sometimes triple teams. He is also second in the conference and fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage, shooting 66.3 percent from the field this year. On the perimeter, Mason turns to Folarin Campbell, who is eighth in scoring (14.9) and sixth in assists (3.95).
Mason has won the past three meetings with Delaware and the past four at the Patriot Center. Mason is 11-5 all-time against Delaware, 5-1 in Fairfax.
