FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason University men's basketball team (23-8, 11-7) ended the regular season in tremendous fashion, blowing out #25/24 Saint Louis by the score of 86-57 on Saturday afternoon.
Before a raucous 6,461 fans inside EagleBank Arena, the Patriots held the Billikens' top-10 scoring offense (88.8 ppg) 31 points under their season average and limited SLU's 3-point offense, which ranked first in the nation (.412), to just 16.7 percent on the day (.167).
The victory improves the Patriots to 2-0 against top-25 opponents at home under head coach
Tony Skinn ('06). George Mason has 23 overall wins for just the seventh time in the program's 60-year history.
"This was the game we needed," Skinn said. "It's been a long season with a lot of ups and downs. There were some very early ups that I think set us up for a bad February. We needed to get punched in the mouth and I think we've found our way the last couple games. These guys had the sense of urgency we needed, against a really good team, to get our swagger back before heading to Pittsburgh."
Jahari Long put together one of the purest point guard games in school history, notching a game-high 21 points (10-17 FG), to go with nine assists and just one turnover in 38 minutes. He joins Otis Livingston II as the only Mason players to have a 20+ point, 8+ assist game since 2004-05.
Kory Mincy put together another outstanding game for the Patriots with 15 points (6-11 FG), five assists, five rebounds and three steals, while
Nick Ellington and
Emmanuel Kanga each tallied double-doubles for the Green & Gold.
Ellington notched 13 points (5-7 FG), 10 rebounds and his first career 3-pointer, while Kanga added his first ever double-double with 13 points and a career-best 11 rebounds.
The Patriots swarmed the Billikens throughout the game, using an A-10 season-high 10 steals to post a 22-10 edge on points off turnovers for the game. GMU was +2 in turnover margin and is now a perfect 15-0 when winning the turnover battle this season.
GMU shot a blistering 57.6 percent against the Billikens' top-50 defense, including a sizzling 73.1 percent (19-26) in the second half.
Saint Louis led 23-20 at the 10:22 mark of the first half before a 9-0 Patriot run gave the home team a 29-23 edge with 7:57 left in the first half. GMU took a nine-point edge (43-34) into halftime.
A massive 21-3 run early in the second half pushed the Patriots in front by 26 (66-39) with 9:59 remaining and George Mason got it to 30 (73-43) with 6:36 to go. The lead got to as many as 34 (79-45) with 4:50 left.
Next up, George Mason will open the 2026 Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday (March 12) as the No. 5 seed. The Patriots will play the winner of Wednesday's No. 12 vs. No. 13 seed contest in second round action. The 2 p.m. contest Thursday will be broadcast nationally on USA Network.
