Nov. 21, 2009

San Juan, Puerto Rico - The George Mason men's basketball team will take on Indiana on Sunday in the final round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan. The Patriots and Hoosiers will play at 10:30 a.m. EST on ESPNU. A radio broadcast of the game can be heard on WTNT 570 AM.

The Patriots and Hoosiers have met just once with that game coming in the opening round of the 1989 NCAA Tournament, a 99-85 Indiana victory. This year, the teams will meet with each hoping to avoid a three-game losing streak.

Mason fell to #5 Villanova, 69-68 on Thursday in the opening round of the tournament, then suffered a 70-62 loss to #19 Georgia Tech on Friday. Indiana lost to Ole Miss on Thursday, 89-71, then fell to Boston University on Friday, 71-67.

The Hoosiers are being beaten on the boards and are sending the opposition to the line which is one reason they lost the past two games. Maurice Creek leads Indiana with 16.5 points per game. Verdell Jones III is scoring 13.3 while Christian Watford is averaging 11.3 points and 7.8 rebounds. Jeremiah Rivers is averaging 4.5 assists per game.

Mason has been led by Ryan Pearson, who is averaging 12.5 points and 6.8 rebounds. Andre Cornelius is also scoring 10.3 points while Luke Hancock is averaging 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists off the bench. Mason is shooting less than 40 percent from the field and is sending the opposition to the line nearly as often as Indiana, 28 times per game.

The last time Mason had a sub-.500 record was early in 2007 when the Patriots were 6-7. The last time the Patriots won fewer than three of their first five games was 2002-03 when the Patriots began the year 0-3.