WHEN: Friday, 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Capital One Arena - Washington, D.C.
RECORDS: Mason (16-16, 9-9) vs. Saint Joseph's (15-15, 10-8)
SERIES: Mason trails, 3-4
LAST MEETING: Mason def. SJU, 79-76, on Feb. 21 in Philadelphia
TELEVISION: NBCSN
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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The No. 5 seed George Mason University men's basketball team (16-16, 9-9) battles No. 4 Saint Joseph's (15-15, 10-8) in the Atlantic 10 Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday afternoon inside Capital One Arena.
Tip-off between the Patriots and Hawks is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday's game will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network, featuring commentary from Paul Burmeister and Jordan Cornette. In addition, Bill Rohland will call the game on the A-10 Digital Network (audio only), with streaming coverage beginning at approximately 2:15 p.m.
PATRIOT POINTS
* With a victory, Mason would advance to Saturday's semifinal round (1 p.m.) vs. the winner of No. 1 URI/No. 8 VCU.
* The Patriots are 2-4 all time in the A-10 Tournament. Mason has now won an A-10 Championship game in each of the past two seasons. The Green & Gold have never earned a berth in the A-10 semifinals.
* ason has won six of its past eight games.
* The Patriots opened the A-10 Tournament Thursday with an 80-75, second round victory over No. 13 UMass. Mason trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but outscored the Minutemen 25-11 over the final eight minutes of the opening half.
* Mason shot just 35.9 percent while UMass hit 53.2 percent of their attempts. But the Patriots grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and held a whopping 26-6 edge in second chance points.
* The Green & Gold also turned 18 UMass turnovers into a 29-14 edge in points off turnovers for the game.
* Junior
Otis Livingston II scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half and got to the free throw line ad nauseam down the stretch. He went 14-for-14 from the charity stripe. It marked the third most free throws made in a single game without a miss in Mason history.
* Mason's four freshmen accounted for 46 of the Patriots' 80 points in the game.
*
Goanar Mar led the freshmen group with 16 points (4-9 FG, 7-9 FT) vs. the Minutemen.
* Mar averaged close to 11 points/game all year long. But through the first 30 games of 2017-18, the freshmen trio of
AJ Wilson,
Greg Calixte and
Javon Greene averaged a total of 12.1 points per game. Over the past two games, the trio is averaging 30.0 points per contest.
* Wilson posted 11 points (4-5 FG) against UMass and grabbed nine rebounds, including a career-best seven offensive boards.
* Greene chipped in 11 points and hit 3-of-4 3-point field goal attempts, while Calixte added eight points and seven rebounds (five offensive).
* Prior to Thursday, Mason was just 1-6 this season when shooting under 40 percent from the floor and 0-4 when its opponent shot better than 50 percent. But while the Patriots shot just 35.9 percent and UMass was at 53.2 percent Thursday, Mason still pulled it out.
* The victory also improved the Green & Gold to 10-1 this season in games decided by five points or less.
* Heading into the game vs. Saint Joseph's, Mason is 2-0 in games played on Fridays this season.
* Mason set a new A-10 Tournament high with 10 steals against the Minutemen.
* Mason is averaging 18.0 wins over the past two seasons under
Dave Paulsen. The Patriots averaged just 10.3 wins over the previous three campaigns prior to 2016-17.
Friday's game marks the eighth all-time meeting between George Mason and Saint Joseph's in men's basketball. The Hawks lead the series 4-3, but Mason has won each of the last three meetings. The Patriots are 3-1 vs. the Hawks under
Dave Paulsen. Both of the meetings this season have been won by the Green & Gold in buzzer beating fashion. On Jan. 10 in Fairfax, with Mason trailing by one,
Otis Livingston II hit a 28-footer as time expired to give the Patriots the 81-79 victory. Then in the Feb. 21 game in Philadelphia, Mason and SJU were tied at 76-76 with five seconds left. Livingston II dribbled up the court and was surrounded by Hawks, but after almost losing the ball, he threw it to
Ian Boyd who nailed a 25-footer as time expired to claim the victory. It was the first of three-straight buzzer beaters hit by Boyd (also hit them vs. UMass and at VCU). In the two games this season vs. SJU, Livingston II is averaging 19.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 53.8 percent from the floor.
MASON MILESTONES
* With 143 assists this season,
Otis Livingston II ties Luke Hancock (2010-11) for ninth most in Mason single-season history.
*
Greg Calixte's .603 field goal percentage this season ties him with Andre Gaddy (1978-79) for ninth best in single-season program annals (min. 100 FG attempts)
* With his 21 points vs. UMass, Livingston II moved past Cam Long (2007-11) and into 16th place on the Mason all-time scoring list. Livingston II now has 1,431 career points.
* With seven rebounds vs. UMass,
Jaire Grayer also passed Cam Long, but on the all-time rebounding ledger. In addition, he passed Carlos Yates. He's now at 524 career boards - good for 19th-most in Mason history.
UP NEXT
With a victory on Friday, Mason would advance to Saturday's semifinal round. The Patriots would play the winner of No. 1 Rhode Island/No. 8 VCU at 1 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
