Jan. 16, 2008
The George Mason men's basketball team hits the road this week, playing at Hofstra as Mason looks for its first Colonial Athletic Association road win of the year. Mason is 3-0 at home in the CAA but 0-2 on the road. The last time the Patriots played in Hempstead, N.Y., the team was playing as a ranked team for the first time in school history as Mason was No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU and on SportsTalk 980.
Mason (11-5, 3-2) is coming off its second-largest win of the season, a 28-point defeat of Northeastern. Hofstra (3-11, 1-4) is coming off a road loss at VCU. Mason is 6-7 all-time against Hofstra with all those contests coming since the Pride joined the CAA. The Patriots are just 1-4 at Hempstead with four straight losses. The Patriots won the last meeting, beating Hofstra 64-61 in the CAA Tournament. That win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Pride.
The Patriots opened the season 6-1 but are just 5-4 since. However, Mason is 1-3 on the road and just 0-2 in CAA road games. The Patriots have gotten balanced scoring for much of the year and before Dre Smith was held scoreless in seven minutes on Wednesday, the Patriots had been one of three teams with four players averaging double figures. He needs 14 against Hofstra to get back to 10.0 per game.
Hofstra hasn't had much balance this year as Antoine Agudio, the CAA's leading scorer, and Charles Jenkins have accounted for nearly 60 percent of Hofstra's scoring. Agudio is averaging 25.1 points per game in 39.2 minutes per contest. He's shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from 3-point range. Jenkins is averaging 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 42.9 percent. Darren Townes is the Pride's leading rebounder with 6.6 per game. The Pride are 3-2 at home this year.
Will Thomas is the only player in the CAA averaging more than 16 points and nine rebounds per game. He's also third in field-goal percentage. With 12 rebounds against Hofstra, he'll up his season average to 10 rebounds per game. He needs two to reach 800 rebounds for his career.
Folarin Campbell is the first player in Mason history with 1,200 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists, 100 3-pointers, 100 steals and 50 blocks. He needs one assist to tie Steve Smith for fifth on the career list and three to tie John Niehoff for fourth in all-time assists. He is also one 3-pointer shy of tying Tony Skinn for sixth on the career list.
John Vaughan needs just three points to reach 700 for his career. Dre Smith is 14th on the career 3-pointers list with 90, but with just six more, he can jump to 10th all-time at Mason.
