Dec. 1, 2007

On Thursday night, the George Mason men's basketball team broke the school record for largest margin of victory against a Colonial Athletic Association school when the Patriots beat Drexel, 85-38. The 47-point margin of victory topped the previous mark of 42 points. The team that win came against, East Carolina, will be Mason's opponent on Sunday in the BB&T Classic at Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Tip time is slated for 5 p.m. with tickets still available.

In 2001, East Carolina's final season in the CAA, the Patriots took a 104-62 win over the Pirates. Mason holds a 32-13 lead in the all-time series and has won seven straight. Under head coach Jim Larranaga, Mason is 9-1 against the Pirates.

The last time before Thursday night that the Patriots had taken a victory by 40 or more points was in the BB&T Classic in 2005 when Mason beat American, 75-35.

The Patriots got five or more points from 10 players and double figures from four players in its big win over Drexel. The Patriots shot better than 50 percent from the field for the first time all season and was 40 percent from 3-point range. Mason also controlled the boards with a 42-28 rebounding edge and the Patriots also had 23 assists. Thursday's contest was just the seventh time in school history that Mason has held an opponent to fewer than 40 points.

Mason is just 1-3 all-time in the BB&T Classic but two of those losses came to top 15 teams. In 2004, Mason lost on back-to-back days to #12 Maryland and #11 Michigan State. Mason enters this year's BB&T Classic as the highest rated squad in the six-team tournament. George Washington plays Auburn at 2:30 p.m. with Maryland taking on VCU at 7:30 p.m. None of the six teams are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll while in the Associated Press poll, Mason has 34 votes while George Washington has 1. In the unofficial RPI (kenpom.com), Mason is eighth in the country. Maryland is the next highest rated school at 82nd.

Will Thomas leads the Patriots in scoring and rebounding as he is averaging a double-double with 16.7 points and 10.9 rebounds. Gabe Blair is the only ECU player averaging double figures in scoring and he leads the team in rebounding as well with averages of 10.8 points and 7.7 rebounds.