WHERE: EagleBank Arena - Fairfax, Va.
WHEN: Monday, 4 p.m.
BROADCAST: ESPN+
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LIVE STUDENT RADIO: Click here
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GAME NOTES: Click here (PDF)

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FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason University men's basketball team opens the 2026-27 season with a home contest against UMBC on Monday afternoon in Fairfax.

Tip-off between the Patriots and Retrievers is set for 4 p.m. Monday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+, featuring commentary from Voice of the Patriots Bill Rohland and former All-CAA forward Will Thomas. In addition, WGMU student radio will call the game, led by play-by-play announcer Shaun Gervase.

PATRIOT POINTS
• George Mason is 36-24 (.600) all time in season openers. The Patriots are 24-8 at home, 7-14 on the road and 5-2 at neutral sites. GMU has won seven of its past nine campaign kickstarters, including a 3-0 mark under Tony Skinn ('06).

• The Patriots split a pair of exhibition games in October. Most recently, GMU raced past St. Mary's (Md.) 96-41 on October 25.

• George Mason is one of just three A10 programs during Skinn's tenure to finish in the NET top-100 all three seasons.

• Since the start of the 2024-25 season, Mason ranks second in the A10 and t-32nd nationally in total wins (50).

• On the strength of back-to-back NIT appearances, the Patriots have now made two-straight postseasons for the first time since 2007-09.

• George Mason is picked to finish fourth in the A10 preseason poll. It matches the highest spot the Green & Gold have been picked since joining the league in 2013-14.

• George Mason won 23 games (11-7 A-10) last season despite 2025-26 Preseason All-A10 First Team selection Brayden O'Connor playing in just one game due to a season-ending foot injury.

• O'Connor (the starting PG on GMU's 2025-26 A10 regular season co-championship team) returns for his fifth year. He is joined amongst the returners by senior Malik Presley, who started 22 of 32 games, and sophomore Emmanuel Kanga, who ranked second in the nation in rebounding percentage in his debut campaign.

• The Patriots also welcome back their first boomerang transfer in program history, Baraka Okojie (Oko-jay), who earned 2023-24 A10 All-Rookie honors at GMU in 2023-24 before making stops at Memphis (2024-25) and Mercer (2025-26).

• Last season with the Bears, Okojie was a First Team All-SoCon pick (19.7 ppg, 5.3 apg) and ranked third in the nation in FT made (224).

• Okojie was named to the Preseason All-A10 Second Team, while O'Connor garnered third team accolades.

• George Mason is 49-8 (.860) at home under Skinn, including an impressive 26-1 (.963) non-conference mark.

• The non-conference schedule includes new home-and-homes with projected Top-100 foes High Point (Dec. 2 at HPU) and South Florida (Nov. 21 in Fairfax).

• The Patriots enter the season ranked No. 92 in Bart Torvik's T-Rankings and No. 99 in KenPom. CBS Sports' Matt Norlander has the Patriots No. 47 in his 100+1 annual preseason rankings, while Sports Illustrated's Kevin Sweeney has GMU at No. 76.

OKOJIE REJOINS PATRIOTS AS RARE BOOMERANG TRANSFER
According to a poll of men's basketball sports information directors, George Mason senior Baraka Okojie is one of 11 boomerang transfers playing Div. I college basketball this season. A boomerang transfer (or "Marfo transfer," named after the first college player, Kevin Marfo, to accomplish the feat), denotes a player who transferred out of a program and then returned to it after an interim stop. Okojie earned A10 All-Rookie honors at GMU as a freshman, before making stops at Memphis and Mercer.

IMPACT TRANSFER CLASS
In addition to Okojie, the Patriots' impact transfer class includes former Northern Illinois sharpshooter Makhai Valentine (13.3 ppg in 2025-26) and former Butler defensive stopper Efeosa Oliogu-Elabor, who started the Bulldogs' final 10 games last season. In addition, Emmett Adair (14.6 ppg) earned Patriot League All-Rookie honors last season at Loyola (Md.), while Elijah Jones (13.1 ppg, .386 3pt FG%) was a CUSA Honorable Mention All-Conference pick at UTEP.

WELCOME FRESHMEN
George Mason brings in a talented class of three freshmen, led by Upper Marlboro, Md., product Shane Pendergrass, who is the fourth-highest rated recruit in program history (#85 in Rivals 150). In addition, talented point guard Peyton Miller (Hillside, N.J.) joins the roster after starring for Overtime Elite in Atlanta, while forward Bryton Barrett (Owings Mills, Md.) led D.C.'s Archbishop Carroll to the program's first 20 win season in 30 years as a senior.

HISTORY vs. UMBC
Monday's game will mark the 22nd all-time matchup between George Mason and UMBC in men's basketball and just the fourth since 1990. The bulk of the matchups with the Retrievers came in the 1970s when the two teams were conference partners in NAIA District 19 and the Mason-Dixon Conference (Div. II). Mason has won six straight in the series, including a 79-63 victory in the most recent meeting on December 21, 2019. Current Los Angeles Clippers guard Jordan Miller led the Green & Gold with 17 points (7-11 FG), five rebounds and three steals in 35 minutes of work, while fellow sophomore Jamal Hartwell II (6-11 FG) chipped in 14 points in the 2019 win.

HISTORY vs. AMERICA EAST OPPONENTS
George Mason is 19-12 (.613) all time against teams currently in the America East Conference. Mason's most common opponents are UMBC (13-8), Vermont (2-1), New Hampshire (1-1), and Maine (0-2). In their most recent matchup against an America East foe, the Patriots defeated New Hampshire 61-44 on Nov. 15, 2025, at EagleBank Arena. In that game, Dola Adebayo tallied season-highs in points (14), field goals made (6), rebounds (8), blocks (3), and steals (4).

CINDERELLA SHOWDOWN
Saturday's game features a pair of programs which shocked the basketball world with improbable NCAA Tournament upsets. Mason  - a No. 11 seed in 2006 - famously defeated Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut en route to the Final Four. The win over second-ranked UConn often is mentioned as arguably the greatest Elite Eight upset in NCAA Tournament history. Meanwhile, UMBC made history in 2018, becoming the first No. 16 seed ever to defeat a No. 1 seed during a 74-54 triumph over Virginia in Charlotte.

A LOOK AT THE RETRIEVERS (2025-26: 24-9, 14-2 AMERICA EAST; 2026-27 Preseason KenPom: 275)
Reigning America East regular season and tournament champion UMBC arrives in Fairfax with high expectations once again this season. Fresh off a year in which the Retrievers went 24-9 overall and 14-2 in America East play, the program is picked to finish second in the league, despite welcoming 12 new student-athletes to the program. Rider transfer Flash Burton will be a player to watch after the Philadelphia product averaged a team-best 15.1 points last season at Rider. UMBC is coached by former Duquesne bench boss Jim Ferry, who is 84-77 in five seasons with the Retrievers.

UP NEXT
George Mason returns to EagleBank Arena for the program's annual Gold Rush game on Friday (Nov. 6) vs. Coppin State. Tip-off between the Patriots and Eagles is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.