WHEN: Saturday, 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: EagleBank Arena - Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: Mason (12-5, 2-2), Saint Louis (4-12, 0-4)
SERIES RECORD: Mason trails, 3-4 (.429)
LAST MEETING: Saint Louis def. Mason, 83-78, on 3/9/16
TELEVISION: NBC Sports Network
LIVE AUDIO: Click here
LIVE STATS: Click here
GAME NOTES: Click here (PDF)
TICKETS: Click here

RECOGNITION: Mason's 1988-89 team (first team to make NCAA Tournament) will be honored during Saturday's contest at the under-8 minute media timeout of the first half.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Free Mason bracelets for students (with valid Mason ID)
GAME SPONSOR: Virginia529

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason University men's basketball team (12-5, 2-2) returns home for a contest vs. Saint Louis on Saturday inside EagleBank Arena.

Tip-off between the Patriots and Billikens is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday's game will be televised on NBC Sports Network, featuring commentary from Ken Rice (play-by-play) and Ron Thompson (color). In addition, Bill Rohland will call the game on the A-10 Digital Network, with pre-game coverage beginning at 2:15 p.m.

* The Patriots are 11-2 in their last 13 games.  

* Mason has already eclipsed its win total from the entire 2015-16 season (11).

* Last time out, Mason ensured a split of its two-game road trip with a 75-67 win at Saint Joseph's Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

* The Patriots trailed by one (32-31) at the half and with 2:37 to play (61-60), but Mason shot 60.9 percent (14-23) in the second half and outscored the Hawks 15-6 over the game's final minutes.

* Senior Marquise Moore led Mason with his second-straight double-double (10th of the season). He posted game highs in points (24), rebounds (10), assists (7) and steals (4).

* Moore reached the 1,000-point and 500-rebound career milestones in the win. He joins Cam Long  (2007-11) as the only players in Mason history with 1000+ points, 500+ rebounds and 300+ assists.

* Sophomore Jaire Grayer added 11 points and six rebounds vs. the Hawks. He has scored 10+ points in all four A-10 contests and is shooting 50.0 percent (10-20) from 3-point land.

* Redshirt-senior Jalen Jenkins leads the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (.650) and is second in offensive rebounds/game (2.8). He has posted 10+ points in three of four A-10 contests.

* Sophomore point guard Otis Livingston is 10th in the A-10 in assist/turnover ratio (1.8) and 12th in steals (1.5 spg).

* Mason is shooting 40 percent (28-70) from 3-point range in conference play and limiting opponents to 26.6 percent (21-79). The defensive mark is tops in the A-10.

* The Patriots are in the midst of the stretch where they play five of seven games on the road.

MOORE POWER ON THE GLASS
Senior Marquise Moore is putting up elite rebounding totals this season, but when looking at his stats historically, the numbers become even more impressive. Moore averages 8.6 defensive rebounds/game, which is tops amongst all Div. I college basketball guards since Sports-Reference.com began keeping the stat in 2009-10. In addition, Moore's 10.5 rebounds/game overall are the fourth most by a guard in Div. I college basketball since the 1993-94 campaign.

GO AHEAD, TAKE EM!
One of the principles of head coach Dave Paulsen's defensive strategy is to force opponents to hit shots from the perimeter. So far this season, the Patriots have been executing that strategy. The Patriots lead the A-10 and rank 40th nationally in 3-point field goal defense. In addition, Mason paces the conference in 3-point field goal defense in league games (.266). As a rule of thumb, the more triples Mason's opponent takes, the better off the Patriots do. When the team's opponent takes 20 or more 3-pointers, Mason is 11-1 this season. The Patriots are 1-4 when an opponent takes less than 20 3s.

HISTORY vs. SAINT LOUIS
Saturday's game marks the eighth all-time meeting between George Mason and Saint Louis in men's basketball. The Billikens lead the series 4-3, and own a 2-1 advantage in games played in Fairfax. Three of the seven meetings between the teams have gone to overtime, including a pair of contests in 2013-14 when the Billikens were ranked in the top-25. Last season, Saint Louis won two of three games between the teams, including an 83-78 victory in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

A LOOK AT THE BILLIKENS (4-12, 0-4 A-10)
Saint Louis was picked 14th out of 14 teams in the 2016-17 Atlantic 10 preseason poll. The Billikens posted a 4-8 non-conference record and are 0-4 to begin conference play. Saint Louis has struggled offensively this season, ranking 341st out of 351 Div. I teams in offensive efficiency (0.92 points/possession). Sophomore guard Jermaine Bishop leads the team in scoring (11.6 ppg) and is shooting 36.6 percent (15-41) from 3-point range. Junior Davell Roby dishes out a team-best 3.4 assists/game and chips in 10.6 points per contest, while senior forward Reggie Agbeko grabs 8.1 rebounds per game and adds 9.9 points per contest.

UP NEXT
The Patriots will take an 8-day competitive hiatus before returning to action next Sunday (Jan. 22) at Richmond. The 1 p.m. contest will be televised live on the American Sports Network.

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