Feb. 16, 2007
The George Mason men's basketball team will take the court for Homecoming on Saturday afternoon to play an opponent the Patriots have never seen, but one with which they have been compared. Mason will welcome Kent State as part of the ESPN BracketBusters. The contest, tipping off at 4 p.m., will be broadcast on ESPN360, which is ESPN's Broadband service.
Mason has never faced Kent State but the two teams have two things in common. Both made unlikely NCAA Tournament runs. The Patriots had their historic Final Four appearance last season while Kent State advanced to the Elite Eight in 2002. Both teams have also won 10 or more conference games for each of the past eight seasons, something of which only nine teams in the nation can boast. The Golden Flashes need just one more conference win with four more games to play. Mason's streak, however, is in jeopardy as the Patriots need to win both of their remaining CAA games - at home against Georgia State on Tuesday and at Northeastern next Saturday.
The Patriots are 2-0 all-time in the BracketBuster, having beaten Manhattan in 2005 and Wichita State in 2006. The Golden Flashes downed Butler in overtime last year, lost to Southern Illinois in 2005, beat Creighton in 2004 and lost to Hawaii in 2003.
The Patriots will be looking for their second straight win as they are coming off a victory over Delaware. A win would assure Mason of a winning record at home for the ninth straight season. Will Thomas had 14 points and nine rebounds in the win while Dre Smith and John Vaughan each scored in double figures as well. Mason continues to be led in scoring by Folarin Campbell, who is averaging 14.5 points per game. Thomas is right behind him at 14.0 points and 7.1 rebounds.
Kent State is led by Omni Smith who is scoring 13.8 points per game. He's the only Golden Flash topping double figures in scoring. Armon Gates is averaging 9.7 points with more than half his field goals coming from 3-point range, Mike Scott is scoring 9.4 points and leads Kent State in rebounding with 5.8 per game and Julian Sullinger is scoring 7.8 points on 61.2 percent shooting.
The first 1,000 fans in the door will receive a Coach L Memorable Moment Statue compliments of The Meltzer Group. The game will also be broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio, channel 126.
