At Monday's practice, George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt stayed quiet and let assistants Roland Houston, Chris Kreider and Eric Skeeters do most of the talking.
“I want them to hear a different voice,” said Hewitt of the players.
As the team warmed up, Houston mentioned Furman, the last-place team in the Southern Conference who reached Monday's championship game. (The Paladins wound up losing to Wofford on Monday night.)
Houston's point: The A-10 Tournament, like the SoCon, is up for grabs. “We know we can beat any team in the conference,” he said.
The team travels Tuesday to Brooklyn for the opening round of the A-10 Tournament at the Barclays Center. The 13th seeded Patriots (9-21, 4-14) meet 12th-seeded Fordham (9-20, 4-14) at 6:30 p.m. in the opening game.
“I want it to be a fun experience for the team,” Hewitt said. “We've got nothing to lose. We know we can play with all these teams. We're a few plays here or there or a call here or there from having some more wins.
“There's no pressure, nothing to lose. Let's go play.”
Fordham probably will have the same attitude. The Rams, who beat Mason in last year's opening round of the tournament, won the regular-season meeting, 80-68, at the Patriot Center.
“We played well for about 30 minutes against them last time,” Hewitt said. “We've just got to tighten up our defense.”
In the 2/18 game, the Patriots led 34-30 at halftime, increased the lead to eight early in the second half and led 47-40 with 13:40 left. They were outscored 40-21 the rest of the way with Fordham making five three-pointers.
The Rams, a 30% three-point shooting team for the season, went 11-for-18 (61.1%) from beyond the arc and 17-for-19 (89.5%) at the foul line.
“We have to make an adjustment to the scouting report,” Hewitt said. “They came into the game 300 and something in country in three point shooting so we kind of played a little off the three-point line and they made 11 of 18. We obviously can't allow them to get going from the three.
“We made a decision on how we were going to guard them (last game) and it worked for 30-32 minutes. We were in control of the game until they started making threes.”
The rematch game features three of the league's top freshmen. Fordham gets a boost from 6-6 guard Eric Paschall, who leads the team in scoring (16.5 ppg) but has been bothered by a recent ankle injury, and 6-7 forward Chris Sengfelder (11.4 ppg). Both were named to the A-10 All-Rookie team; Paschall was Rookie of the Year.
The Patriots' Isaiah Jackson, a 6-6 guard, is averaging 8.4 ppg for the season and 10.6 over the past eight games.
“He's going to be a big-time player,” Hewitt said. “He's a better shooter than I thought. He's physical; he's got a great basketball IQ; and he's fearless.”
BEYOND THE ARC: Junior college transfer Shevon Thompson earned All-Conference honors, being named to the A-10 third team. The 6-11 junior is averaging 12.8 ppg and 11.6 rpg, both team highs. He's third nationally in offensive rebounding and fifth overall. “He's been sensational,” Hewitt said. … Freshman Eric Lockett, redshirting because of knee/thigh problems, is feeling better and regaining strength.
