Jaire Grayer has been around basketball enough to know that bad shooting nights are inevitable. When he went a combined 0-for-15 in consecutive games against Wright State and Towson recently, he wasn't rattled.

    “I've gone 0-for before,” said the 6-4 freshman guard.

    More than once this season he has heard George Mason coach Dave Paulsen say, “Good shooters have to have amnesia.” They have to forget about misses.

    More than once he's heard that the most important shot is the next one and to expect to make it from his father, Jeff Grayer, the leading career scorer at Iowa State, a 1988 Olympic bronze medalist in basketball and a 10-year NBA player.

   So Jaire knew what to do before Saturday's game against Penn. He took some extra shots in practice to regain his rhythm. He watched film clips contrasting his hot shooting at the Gildan Charleston Classic, where he went an unconscious 22-for-34, with his Wright State and Towson performances.

    “As a freshman, he's going to have games like he had in Charleston and like he had at Towson,” Paulsen said. “We talked about when he was playing great in Charleston, he got offensive rebounds and he got drives. That set up his jump shot. That was a good blend. He also defended well and every shot he took was a good shot.”

   His first shot Saturday against Penn was a good one, a 15-foot bank from the right side that rattled in and out. “I was just focused on my next shot,” Grayer said. “Like forget about that shot, just make the next one.”

    Grayer made 8 of his next 12 shots, finishing with a game-high 20 points, compiled on drives, pull-ups and threes.

    Paulsen liked the mix of points plus Grayer's shooting form: “He was really getting his legs into his shot. He wasn't doing that against Towson or Wright State.”

    Paulsen has liked Grayer's game ever since spotting him last summer at an AAU tournament game in Atlanta where Paulsen was looking at three other players. He wasn't impressed by the other prospects and, because Grayer wasn't listed on the team roster, had to chase down info on Grayer.

    Paulsen assumed Grayer was part of the 2016 class. The coach had assistant Dane Fischer, in charge of Michigan recruiting, research Grayer, who had played three years at two Flint, Mich., schools before playing for Florida's IMG Academy for the 2014-15 season.

   It turned out Grayer had graduated from high school but was contemplating a post-graduate year because he was disappointed in his Division I offers. Grayer was intrigued by DePaul, which had reservations.

    “Like everyone else,” Grayer said, “they wanted me to play another year of high school to get ready.”

    The more Paulsen saw and learned of Grayer, the more the coach liked. “I told him, 'You've got a great opportunity to play in the Atlantic 10,” Paulsen said. “I said there were no guarantees, but from what I had seen there would be plenty of playing opportunities for him. I think it's worked out for both parties.”

   Grayer switched plans from a post-grad year because of Paulsen: “I thought he was a great person and a great coach. I thought he would give me the opportunity to play.”

    Grayer and fellow freshman guard, Otis Livingston II, lead the team in minutes played with 31 and 33.2, respectively. Grayer leads the Patriots in scoring at 11.7 ppg and has the most threes (16) on the team.

    His goals for the season: “I'd like to be the (A-10) Rookie of the year, have the team go to the (NCAA) tournament and win the A-10. I think we have the talent to do it. We just have to come out and play hard every night.”

   The Sons Also Rise: In the late 1980s and early '90s, Jeff Grayer and Brad Lohaus were teammates on the Milwaukee Bucks. The sons of the two ex-NBA players competed against one another in Tuesday's 73-65 loss to Northern Iowa. Wyatt Lohaus, a 6-2 sophomore guard, had eight points in 19 minutes. Jaire Grayer finished with eight points for the Patriots.

   Practice, Practice, Practice: Paulsen has emphasized practice performances in comments after the past two games. The coach rated the practice before the Penn win as the best of the season.

   He referred to the importance of practice again after the Northern Iowa loss in which the Patriots fell behind by 18 in the first half and got to within a point with 5:46 left.

    “We're still not where we need to be as a practice team,” Paulsen said. “So the feeling these guys have of utter exhaustion from a game like this – that has to be replicated in practice. They have to play with that edge every day in practice so that they're not so fatigued where they miss shots. That's a process we're building – not as quickly as I would like, but I can see some progress.”

   The team has Wednesday off before resuming practice Thursday and Friday prior to Saturday's game at James Madison.