Game 1: GMU (0-0) vs North Carolina Central (0-0) on Monday, November 4, at 7:00 PM.

[GMUgemini]

It is the first game, so take anything with a grain of salt. But Johnson needs to start at the 1 next game. I’m sure it had to do with the suspension, given how night and day the team looked.

O’Connor is not a point guard. He needs to stay as much off the ball as possible. I did like his movement off the ball. Hopefully he finds his shot.

Strong suit looks like the 5. I’m pretty comfortable with both Haynes and Emejuru playing there.

We have a low ceiling if we can’t figure out how to shoot. But hopefully it’s early season rust/jitters and it’s the worst shooting game of the season for us.

This is all based on the first half. Going to go home and watch the second.

 

[DRK331]

Mason wins 75-58

 

[Falco]

Begg looks legit too

 

[Patriotsince81]

17 point win on a night when we were 0-10 from 3 in the first half and just 12-18 from the free throw line in the half. I'll take it for the first game of the year. Would like to know about Austin Ball and his whereabouts. Rumor says illness. I loved the fact that when they pressed, we gave it right back. Nice to see. I think we'll see some fluctuations in the starting lineup as time goes by. 1-0. That's all that counts.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Also happy to report that I lost they pregame pool by one measly point. I had us by 16 but @Old Man had us by 17 to win a beer on me before the next home game.

 

[psyclone]

Mason box score from their individual stats page:

2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - George Mason University Athletics

The official 2024-25 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the George Mason University Patriots

gomason.com

It doesn't have plus/minus. I know when KD came in during the first half, we were down 10-9 and when he left after giving Haynes a very nice feed we were up something like 22-10. He looked like the real deal although he only took one shot--hard driving layup. 4 assists (led the team), 1 turnover, 2 rebounds.

Shout-out to Billups--8 pts and team-leading 10 rebounds. Defensive intensity was outstanding. Both he and KD are quite the pair of ball-hawkers.

Maddux was looking for his shot in the second half...took a while to find it after making a few free throws.

Big guys were a force underneath but each were 3-7 from the ft line.

 

[psyclone]

Other observations:

We looked very "choppy" on offense throughout the game. Not at all smooth. That was hindered by the referees being whistle-happy so that no real rhythm ever developed. Made for an ugly game to watch. Pretty good turnout of students---about 3/4 of the way up on their end of the court.

 

[psyclone]

Men's Basketball vs North Carolina Central on 11/4/2024 - Box Score - George Mason University Athletics

The official box score of Men's Basketball vs North Carolina Central on 11/4/2024

gomason.com

With +/- (note: KD +19 in 17 minutes):

2550331 (PDF) - George Mason University Athletics

2550331 (PDF)

gomason.com

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Nice start to the season.

Mason wins 75-58

The Patriots are a massive favorite against the Eagles when the Patriots and the Eagles meet. The Patriots are favored by 15.5 points. The game’s point total is set at 137.5.

 

[psyclone]

Postgame presser:

Men's basketball post game press conference vs. North Carolina Central, 11/04/24 | By George Mason Athletics | Facebook

Men's basketball post game press conference vs. North Carolina Central, 11/04/24

www.facebook.com

 

[Aldousflux]

Definitely a poor shooting night from behind the arc, but just glad to have Mason basketball back. Hoping to see KD start on Friday.

 

[99 Patriot]

NC Central is a completely horrible team and we are struggling against them. I'm trying to be positive but I can't think of a single thing on the plus side for the first half. Completely awful. Very disappointing first half. We should be way ahead of this team.

We held them without a bucket for more than 11 straight minutes and you can’t think of a single positive from the first half? We haven’t seen intensity on defense like that in a very long time.

 

[Sport31]

Observations from section 130: Game was choppy because refs called over 40 fouls. They were not on their A game tonite. As far as the team, trying to be optimistic but if we don't improve our outside shooting ( not just threes) we will not make post season. I counted 3 made FG s in first half the rest of scoring was layups and free throws. Hopefully first game jitters. Se cond half was a little better but mostly from Maddox. Defense was good at times but we gave them a lot of open 3 s .. Good thing they were not great shooters. TUrnovers ugg , too many from veteran players. The film session tomorrow will have plenty of things to work on. Let's give them the benefit of doubt for the first game.

 

[GMUgemini]

A couple of thoughts after watching the full game:

To reach our full potential, Anderson has to find his way. The reason (and I don’t mind too much if Woody Newton is taking his minutes but…) if you’re going to start Johnson, Billups, Newton, Haynes you’ve got four non-shooters around Maddox who will never get open because no one will respect anyone else’s ability to make an outside shot.

Johnson has to be our starting point guard after tonight. If I was to make a depth chart at the one, I’d go Johnson/Begg/Quigley right now.

Speaking of Begg, he’ll finish some of the plays he didn’t tonight later in the season.

Concerned about Haynes’ ability to protect the rim against bigger and more skilled forwards. He’s wide but doesn’t play very vertically on defense. We might see some heavy doses of Emejuru on some nights.

Speaking of our bigs: outside of our bigs, they shot the ball extremely well from the line. Hopefully that continues to be a strength and Haynes and Gio are closer to 60% than they are to 40% in the aggregate.

 

[DRK331]

2 Youtube videos of the game, one post game recap and the post game presser from MTC Media

2 Youtube videos of the game, one post game recap and the post game presser from MTC Media

 

[Verdad]

My take was very much on the same page as everyone elses:

*KD looked like a great fit at PG, its my hope his limited minutes were due to CTS seeing what he needed to and wanting to get more of a look at others and KD will start Friday.

*Jalen is a beast, Gio is MASSIVE (saw him close up when he shook my sons hand, thankfully he was gentle and didn't crush him). Love how when we take Jalen out someone bigger comes in. Clean up the ft’s and these two are a great pairing.

*Maddox is Maddox and my hope is once rotation is settled, we have more of a flow and offense is focused on him more (and Woody passes to him instead of taking off balance 3’s)

*Begg is a good get - excited about his future. Seems to have the most size amongst the 3 PG’s

*Love O’Connor’s energy and willingness to mix it up/attack the basket- I think he will be a fan favorite

*Billups was awesome last night, him and Woody can be huge contributors if they focus on defense, facilitating and rebounding

Team is deep deep deep, and talented across the Board. Im hoping the turnovers/sloppiness/poor shooting will all improve once rotation is settled/reduced and they play a few more games.

Last night very much had an exhibition vibe to it and hopefully we see a more refined product on Friday and pull off CTS’ 2nd top 20 win

Edit - and what the hell is going on with Anderson?! Got to get that guy involved! Looks totally disinterested

 

[Junkees9]

For 99 Patriot: I guess we were at different games. I know everyone wants to be positive, as I do, believe it or not, but that first half was brutal.

 

[Yossarian]

Play looked fairly rough and sluggish a lot of the time, but the kinks should get smoothed out during OOC games. My two worries that might linger for the entire season are sloppy passes (vcu would’ve run a train on the team with the lazy passes last night) and Haynes’ likelihood of having a severe ankle or knee injury coming back to earth under the basket. That’s a LOT of mass to be throwing up in the air and come crashing down in a tangle of bodies over and over again.

 

[mkaufman1]

My take was very much on the same page as everyone elses:

*KD looked like a great fit at PG, its my hope his limited minutes were due to CTS seeing what he needed to and wanting to get more of a look at others and KD will start Friday.

*Jalen is a beast, Gio is MASSIVE (saw him close up when he shook my sons hand, thankfully he was gentle and didn't crush him). Love how when we take Jalen out someone bigger comes in. Clean up the ft’s and these two are a great pairing.

*Maddox is Maddox and my hope is once rotation is settled, we have more of a flow and offense is focused on him more (and Woody passes to him instead of taking off balance 3’s)

*Begg is a good get - excited about his future. Seems to have the most size amongst the 3 PG’s

*Love O’Connor’s energy and willingness to mix it up/attack the basket- I think he will be a fan favorite

*Billups was awesome last night, him and Woody can be huge contributors if they focus on defense, facilitating and rebounding

Team is deep deep deep, and talented across the Board. Im hoping the turnovers/sloppiness/poor shooting will all improve once rotation is settled/reduced and they play a few more games.

Last night very much had an exhibition vibe to it and hopefully we see a more refined product on Friday and pull off CTS’ 2nd top 20 win

Edit - and what the hell is going on with Anderson?! Got to get that guy involved! Looks totally disinterested

Sums up my thoughts perfectly from the rotation to the depth and talent. Game vibe definitely felt exhibition like especially starting O'Connor at point.

I do think Anderson is trying to figure out the flow of the offense and where to go etc. He did have a nice 3 point look that he got fouled on. Teams are going to look to key in on him but they will find a way to get him looks. I think he will be a sniper for us but he might end up being more of a role player (think Newton or Ball off the bench). Hard to tell after 1 game.

 

[GMU79]

A couple of thoughts after watching the full game:

To reach our full potential, Anderson has to find his way. The reason (and I don’t mind too much if Woody Newton is taking his minutes but…) if you’re going to start Johnson, Billups, Newton, Haynes you’ve got four non-shooters around Maddox who will never get open because no one will respect anyone else’s ability to make an outside shot.

Johnson has to be our starting point guard after tonight. If I was to make a depth chart at the one, I’d go Johnson/Begg/Quigley right now.

Speaking of Begg, he’ll finish some of the plays he didn’t tonight later in the season.

Concerned about Haynes’ ability to protect the rim against bigger and more skilled forwards. He’s wide but doesn’t play very vertically on defense. We might see some heavy doses of Emejuru on some nights.

Speaking of our bigs: outside of our bigs, they shot the ball extremely well from the line. Hopefully that continues to be a strength and Haynes and Gio are closer to 60% than they are to 40% in the aggregate.

Honestly, I was more impressed with Gio than Jalen. Jalen is big but doesn't seem very athletic or able to finish consistently.
Also, is it just me, or does he fall down a lot. A guy that big should be pretty well unfalldownable.