Feb. 26, 2008
The George Mason men's basketball team will host William & Mary on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. in the final home game of the 2007-08 regular season. Senior Night festivities will include honoring Folarin Campbell, Jordan Carter and Will Thomas, all in their final season of eligibility. The game will be televised on MASN.
The Patriots enter Wednesday's game looking to remain in second place in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Patriots are 11-5 in league play, tied with UNC Wilmington. Their opponent, William & Mary, is 10-6 and tied for fourth with Old Dominion. All are chasing first-place VCU (13-3).
The Patriots and the Tribe have not met this season and Wednesday will be the only regular-season meeting of the year. The teams split their meetings last year. Prior to the game, Campbell, Carter and Thomas will be honored for their contributions. Their class has won 80 games and the trio have combined to appear in 361 games with 243 starts.
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 16.3 points and 10.5 rebounds. He is on pace to finish his career first in minutes played. He will tie the school record for games played on Wednesday and break the school record for games started. He has 14 double-doubles on the year, most in the CAA. Thomas entered this week eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage and 14th in rebounds per game. He leads the CAA in rebounding, is second in field-goal percentage and third in scoring. He is third all-time in CAA history in career field-goal percentage at 61.3
Over the past 12 games, Folarin Campbell is averaging 20.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists while shooting 49.1 percent from the field. He is the only player in school history to reach 1,400 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists, 150 3-pointers, 100 steals and 50 blocks. Carter is top 20 all-time at Mason in games played and he enters Senior Night third all-time at Mason in assist-to-turnover ratio and third all-time in 3-point field-goal percentage. Campbell, Carter and Thomas need five more wins to tie Lamar Butler for most wins in a career.
The Tribe have four players averaging in double figures this year. Laimis Kisielius is tops at 10.9 points. David Schneider follows with 10.7 points while leading the team in rebounding, with 4.8 per game, and assists, with 3.6. Nathan Mann is averaging 10.2 points while Danny Sumner is adding 10.1 points. Peter Stein is averaging 7.9 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Despite the shared scoring, William & Mary is averaging just 63.9 points while shooting just 42.1 percent from the field. But the Tribe have shot well from behind the arc, at 35.1 percent, and they are holding the opposition to just 41.6 percent shooting overall. The Tribe are being outrebounded by more than two boards per game.
Fans are reminded that it will be Weiner Wednesday Fans can buy a game ticket, a hot dog, a bag of chips and a 20 oz. soda for $9. Tickets are available at Patriot Center Box Office, by phone at (703) 573-SEAT, or online at www.ticketmaster.com
