Feb. 15, 2008
The George Mason men's basketball team will play its Homecoming Game on Saturday evening in front of a sell-out crowd on ESPNU. The Patriots will take on UNC Wilmington with tip time slated for 6 p.m. Watch parties are scheduled for Damon's Grill on campus and Brion's Grille. The Patriots enter Saturday's game looking to protect two things - second place in the Colonial Athletic Association and a perfect record at home. Mason is 11-0 at Patriot Center and currently in sole possession of second place in the conference, one game ahead of UNCW and William & Mary.
The Patriots are 31-29 against UNCW all-time with an 18-7 record in Fairfax. Under Jim Larranaga, Mason is 8-2 at home against the Seahawks. The last time UNCW won at Patriot Center was Jan. 6, 2001. Larranaga currently has 399 wins in his career. He is already George Mason and the CAA's all-time leader in wins.
Will Thomas is attempting to become just the seventh player in school history to average a double-double on the season. He currently is averaging 16.1 points and 10.3 rebounds. He is on pace to finish his career first in school history in games played, games started and minutes played. He and Folarin Campbell need six more wins to tie Lamar Butler for most wins in a career. Thomas entered this week eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage and 15th in rebounds per game. He leads the CAA in rebounding, is second in field-goal percentage and fifth in scoring. He is third all-time in CAA history in career field-goal percentage at 61.2
Vladimir Kuljanin is first in the CAA in field-goal percentage, second in rebounding and 15th in scoring. He's averaging 13.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and shooting 65.5 percent from the field. He's one of four Wilmington players averaging double figures. T.J. Carter leads the team with 15.6 points and he's second on the squad with 5.3 rebounds. He's also tops on UNCW with 4.3 assists. Daniel Fountain is scoring 14.0 points and Todd Hendley is scoring 12.3 points, averaging 3.9 rebounds and shooting 55.4 percent from the field.
Mason and UNCW met last month with the Seahawks taking a 61-58 victory over the Patriots. Campbell had 17 points, four rebounds and four assists and John Vaughan had 19 points and four assists. But Dre Smith, who averages 9.9 points was held to just three while Thomas was kept to six points despite grabbing 14 rebounds. Kuljanin had 12 points and 17 rebounds while Hendley, Fountain and Carter each had 10 points. Freshman Chad Tomko had 16 points, double his season average.
