Dec. 7, 2009

The George Mason men's basketball team will play its first home game in more than three weeks on Tuesday evening when the Patriots host Dayton at 7 p.m. at Patriot Center. The Flyers and Patriots have faced twice before with each team winning at home. The game will be televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570 AM.

The Flyers opened the season ranked in the top 25 and a 90-80 win over Creighton and a 63-59 win over nationally-ranked Georgia Tech validated that standing. But losses to Villanova and Kansas State dropped Dayton out of the national polls. The Flyers are currently on a three-game winning streak having beating Towson at home, 74-69, earning a win at Miami, 65-58, and topping Lehigh in Dayton, 89-71.

Chris Wright leads Dayton with 16.0 points per game while shooting 62.5 percent from the field. He's also grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game. Chris Johnson is scoring 14.6 points while leading the team with 7.4 rebounds and 12 steals. Marcus Johnson is averaging 8.4 points while handing out more than two assists per game. Dayton is averaging 74.4 points per game on 46.8 percent shooting. The opposition is shooting 45 percent from the field and averaging 70.1 points per game. Dayton is being outrebounded 34.0-33.6.

The Patriots are coming off a big win at UNCW and while they have been outscored this season, most of that differential came in a 17-point loss at GW last Tuesday. Cam Long is averaging 12.1 points per game to lead the team while Luke Hancock is averaging 10.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Hancock is among the CAA leader in field-goal percentage at 55.2 percent. Ryan Pearson is averaging 10.4 points and 6.0 rebounds while Andre Cornelius is averaging 9.9 points and Mike Morrison is averaging 7.8 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds. He's among the CAA leaders in blocks per game with 2.0.

The Flyers last visited Patriot Center in November of 2007 when Mason took a 67-56 win. That year Dayton began the season 14-1 and moved into the top 15 in the nation, with the lone loss coming at Patriot Center. Wright scored 5 points in that game on 2 of 7 shooting.

Last season, Mason fell at Dayton, 66-62 in a game the Patriots led 62-58 with 2:33 to play. The Flyers closed the game with an 8-0 run to even the all-time series at 1-1. Wright had nine points and two rebounds in that game while Chris Johnson had eight points and nine rebounds. Marcus Johnson had 13 points to lead Dayton. Long had 15 points and four assists in last year's meeting while Pearson had five points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.