George Mason (10-9, 3-3 A-10) vs. Richmond (11-6, 1-3 A-10)
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.
WHERE: Robins Center; Richmond, Va.
2021-22 RECORDS: Patriots (10-19, 3-12 A-10), Spiders (16-14, 7-9 A-10)
SERIES RECORD: Richmond leads, 39-25
LAST MEETING: Richmond won, 78-64
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: LINK
LIVE AUDIO: GoMason Digital Network
GAME NOTES: LINK
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason returns to Richmond this weekend to take on the University of Richmond Spiders on Saturday evening for the team's Youth Night.
The Patriots will travel to the Robins Center for the first time since 2021 in the 65th all-time meeting between the former CAA rivals. Mason was dominant over Richmond in the late 90s as CAA opponents, but since joining the A-10, the Spiders hold a 9-3 record over the Patriots.
Richmond most recently fell to current A-10 leader Rhode Island on Wednesday night, 49-74 while both teams fell to VCU last week. On the other hand, Mason is coming off of a huge rivalry win over George Washington, 67-57, on MLK Day this past Monday.
PATRIOT POINTS
- With Monday's victory, the Patriots matched both their season and conference win totals from a season ago. In just her second season at the helm, head coach Blair-Lewis has led Mason to double-digit regular season wins for the first time since the 2018-2019 season.
- Senior Sonia Smith tallied a season-high 20 points against GW, her first 20-point performance at Mason. As a team, the Patriots shot 54.5% from the field and 66.7% from three-point range, both season-high marks
- Graduate student J-Naya Ephraim pulled down 15 rebounds for the second time this season, matching her career-high set earlier this month against Duquesne.
- Mason currently has the fourth-best scoring defense in the A-10, limiting opponents to 61.4 points per game.
- Rebounding continues to be a bright spot for the Patriots, as they rank second in the conference with 13.5 offensive rebounds and fourth with 40.4 total rebounds per contest.
- Taylor Jameson ranks 13th in the A-10 with 13.2 ppg and Nalani Kaysia ranks 12th with 0.8 blocks and 13th with 6.8 rebounds per game.
SCOUTING THE SPIDERS
Richmond began the season with a strong 10-3 out-of-conference record, including a win over common opponent William & Mary (74-62) and head coach
Vanessa Blair-Lewis' alma mater Mount St. Mary's (87-44). The Spiders are 1-3 in A-10 play after dropping their last two games to VCU and Rhode Island.
The Spiders are led on both sides of the court by Addie Budnik who is averaging a team-best 13.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. She has also registered an incredible 32 blocks (1.9 bpg, 3rd A-10), a category in which no other Spider has eclipsed double-digit tallies.
Grace Townsend leads the team with 1.6 steals per game (12th, A-10) and 3.8 assists per game (9th, A-10) and is third on the team with 5.0 rebounds and 9.9 points per game. Katie Hill has also been a major contributor and is second on the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.6 points and 5.2 boards per contest.
UP NEXT
Mason will return to Fairfax for back-to-back home games, beginning with Rhode Island on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Tip-off at EagleBank Arena is set for 7 p.m.
