Feb. 17, 2009

The George Mason men's basketball team had a six-game winning streak earlier this year and a pair of three-game winning streaks as well yet the Patriots have not won back-to-back games in more than a month. The Patriots will look to change that on Wednesday night when third-place Mason battles third-place Drexel at Patriot Center at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on FiOS1 and broadcast on WWRC 1260.

Mason is 10-5 in the CAA and with a win over Drexel, they would come within a game of clinching a first-round bye in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament which begins in two weeks. The Dragons have won 12 of their past 16 games but one of their five conference losses came at the hands of Mason on Dec. 6. The Patriots took a 56-55 win over the Dragons in Philadelphia. Mason was outrebounded but held Drexel to 35 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers.

The Patriots have not lost at home this year and stretching back to the last home game of the 2006-07 season, they are 26-1 at Patriot Center. Mason will look for its 15th straight home win. The school record for consecutive home wins since Mason became a Division I program is 17. Mason has never gone through a season unbeaten at Patriot Center. Mason is 12-0 with two home games remaining.

The Patriots have been led by John Vaughan, Cam Long and Darryl Monroe this year. Vaughan is averaging a team-high 12.0 points per game and he is second in the CAA in 3-point shooting percentage and seventh in overall field-goal percentage. Cam Long is averaging 11.7 points and 3.4 assists and his 5.0 rebounds are second on the team. He is fifth in the CAA in field-goal percentage, eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio and ninth in assists per game. Darryl Monroe is averaging 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds and he is first in the CAA in field-goal percentage and second in rebounding.

The Patriots are shooting 46.4 percent from the field while holding the opposition to 40.1 percent shooting. Mason is scoring 68.5 points per game while holding the other team to 60.6 points. All those numbers are greater at home. At Patriot Center, Mason is shooting 48.2 percent while scoring 72.8 points. The opposition has been limited to 36.7 percent shooting and 55.7 points. Only one team, Mount St. Mary's, has shot better than 40 percent and only one, Ohio, scored more than 60 points. The past six opponents have failed to reach 60 points or shoot as much as 39 percent from the field.

Scott Rodgers has led Drexel in points and assists and is second in steals and third in rebounding. He is averaging 13.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and he has 18 steals. He is the only Drexel player in double figures. Evan Neisler is fourth in the CAA in rebounding at 7.3 per game and he's scoring 9.1 points. Leon Spencer, who is averaging just 6.3 points, is the only player with 100 attempts to shoot better-than 50 percent from the field.

Mason leads the CAA in field-goal percentage and is second in field-goal percentage defense. The Patriots are second in scoring defense and fourth in scoring offense. Drexel has been more one-dimensional. The Dragons are third in field-goal percentage defense and fourth in scoring defense but 12th in field-goal percentage and 10th in scoring offense. The Dragons have been terrific on the boards, standing third in the CAA in rebounding margin at +5.0 per game.

Mason leads the all-time series 10-5 and Drexel's last win at Patriot Center came on Jan. 19, 2005, a 66-59 win.