Feb. 19, 2010
The George Mason men's basketball team will host College of Charleston on Saturday night in a nationally-televised contest on ESPN2 as the Patriots and Cougars face off during Homecoming Weekend as part of the ESPN BracketBusters. The Patriots have dropped four of their past five while College of Charleston has won 12 of the past 15 and five of its past six. Saturday's tip is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Mason (16-11) is slumping of late having lost its past two games. On Tuesday, Mason's school-record 18-game home winning streak against CAA opposition was snapped when William & Mary downed the Patriots, 63-60. Mason has not lost three straight games since February of 2007 when they lost at home to Old Dominion in overtime, dropped a contest at VCU, then lost at home to Hofstra. That's also the last time Mason lost back-to-back home games. Mason is tied for third in the CAA.
Charleston (18-9) is in first in the Southern Conference a half-game ahead of Wofford. The Cougars are tied for third in the nation in 3-point field goals per game and Andrew Goudelock entered the week 36th in the nation in points per game at 19.3 and 41st in 3-point field-goal percentage at 39.2 percent. He is second in the Southern Conference in scoring. Jeremy Simmons is second in the Southern Conference in field-goal percentage, fourth in rebounding and first in blocks. He is averaging 12.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks while shooting 59.3 percent from the field.
The Cougars are averaging 74.4 points per game while allowing 72.3 points per game. Mason is averaging 16.6 points per game and allowing 66.3 points per game. The Patriots are shooting 43.5 percent from the field while holding teams to 42.5 percent shooting. Charleston is shooting 46.1 percent from the field while holding the opposition to 43.9 percent from the field. Both teams have struggled on the boards. The Patriots have a -2.4 rebounding margin while College of Charleston has a -9.4 rebounding margin.
The teams have faced off twice with Mason falling short both times. Both meetings, a 68-56 College of Charleston road win in November of 1997 and a 74-70 Cougars victory at home in December of 1998, came under head coach Jim Larranaga. Mason is 2-3 in the BracketBusters but they have lost the past three, at home to Kent State in 2007, at Ohio in 2008 and at Creighton in 2009. Before that Mason won at home over Manhattan in 2005 and at Wichita State in 2006. The Cougars are 2-1 in BracketBuster games but this is their first appearance in the event since 2006. Their wins came over Georgia Sate in 2006 and VCU in 2005. They lost to West Michigan in 2004.
