Game Thread: Loyola University (MD) (2-2) at Mason (4-0), Tuesday, November 19th, 7 PM (ESPN+)

[GMUgemini]

I’m talking directly after calixte fouled out and they put in eye patch for Dike

But they only gave up one offensive rebound in that entire final 2:37? And I just explained how that happened. A bigger lineup wouldn't have helped there. Holcombe's layup also came from a head fake on the perimeter which AJ just bought and took himself out of the play -- that looked like a busted defense. XJ decides he's guarding Scott, Miller is waiving like what's going on and picks up the ballhandler. AJ has to turn and guard Holcombe on the perimeter.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Don’t worry shitbirds, & you know who you are (we all do) I suspect we’ll lose to Maryland on their court and you’ll finally be able to celebrate an actual loss and not having to settle for complaining about a Winn that we didn’t win by enough.

 

[GMUYoda]

Don’t worry shitbirds, & you know who you are (we all do) I suspect we’ll lose to Maryland on their court and you’ll finally be able to celebrate an actual loss and not having to settle for complaining about a Winn that we didn’t win by enough.

So basically everyone in this thread... got it

 

[Pablo]

Loyola Greyhounds
@LoyolaHounds
·
2h

.
@LoyolaMBB
held George Mason to 19.1 percent shooting in the second half and 27.6 in the game, but the Patriots went to the line 29 times after the break to edge the Greyhounds 65-61 on Tuesday night.

https://loyo.la/35htteP
@Patriot_Gameday
#gohounds#PLMBB



Free Throws Help George Mason Get Past Men’s Basketball
George Mason University made 24 of 29 free throws in the second half to overcome a 19.1 percent shooting performance after the break to edge visiting Loyola University Maryland, 65-61, on Tuesday...
loyolagreyhounds.com

 

[GSII]

When the team is looking ahead at playing Maryland, this is a typical performance leading up to that big game. We shot a terrible % for a reason, which means, imo, it should only go up along with our focus come Friday.

 

[Falco]

Dike didn’t play a full minute after Greg fouled out

Yeah this made no sense to me. It was obvious that we were fouling on purpose. I’m surprised they didn’t take dike out earlier. But once Greg fouled out I would have kept dike in the game

 

[p8triotfan4life]

Don’t worry shitbirds, & you know who you are (we all do) I suspect we’ll lose to Maryland on their court and you’ll finally be able to celebrate an actual loss and not having to settle for complaining about a Winn that we didn’t win by enough.

I know, it's really getting old. We are 5-0, how can these delusional fans even attend games rooting for us to lose? I think the most impressive stat is we found a way to win in an off night. 27% is gonna make you lose most of the time. finding the weakness in the other team (Hack-a-Dike) worked. We need to exploit the other teams weaknesses more frequently.

This strech of games was actually a nice sample size looking into next season's roster as well. 5-0 with no seniors on the court.

 

[Five Two]

Congrats on 5-0. I know we've never started 5-0 and that we've never had 5 home games to start the season before, but still, we all like 5-0 better than 3-2. For what seems like the 5th game in a row, our guys could've have folded when Loyola made their run and they didn't. That says a lot.

Loved the hack-a-dike strategy. Gmutom texted me early in the 2nd half hoping we would do it.

Winning ugly is better than losing pretty.

 

[By George.]

1. 
   

   I know, it's really getting old. We are 5-0, how can these delusional fans even attend games rooting for us to lose? I think the most impressive stat is we found a way to win in an off night. 27% is gonna make you lose most of the time. finding the weakness in the other team (Hack-a-Dike) worked. We need to exploit the other teams weaknesses more frequently.
   
   This strech of games was actually a nice sample size looking into next season's roster as well. 5-0 with no seniors on the court.

   
   Who’s rooting for a loss? I’m confused

 

[p8triotfan4life]

1. 
   
   
   Who’s rooting for a loss? I’m confused

The tone of the posts.

 

[Patriot8]

The tone of the posts.

Wow....

 

[Bricker]

 

[By George.]

The tone of the posts.

Just a couple people expressing concerns, which are probably valid. These boards have been pretty positive, rightfully so. Hell, Pablo’s back...

 

[GMU_DCU]

Was kind of jealous of the way Loyola seemed to have an offense that ran plays and had a purpose. Our offense consisted of Javon Greene or Hartwell dribbling into the free throw line then being surrounded by bigger players and panicking.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I know it's off topic but does anyone have any information about Kier's return?

 

[GMUgemini]

Just a couple people expressing concerns, which are probably valid. These boards have been pretty positive, rightfully so. Hell, Pablo’s back...

A single player can really affect a team in basketball, so it's really hard to know what this team is going to look like until Kier comes back (and we know if he's going to be 100% or if he's going to be like an 80% Kier). But there are some offensive and defense scheme issues that are concerns for me.

DCU, our offense relies on the players reading and reacting to the defense. If they aren't doing that well, it'll look like poo, and it did last night.

 

[GMUgemini]

I know it's off topic but does anyone have any information about Kier's return?

I seriously doubt he'll be back until at minimum ODU. There is zero reason for Kier to play against UMD even if he's basically ready to go.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

My philosophy for any sport early in the season is to win and get better later. Learning to win tight games is not a bad thing at all.

 

[Petey Buckets]

Was kind of jealous of the way Loyola seemed to have an offense that ran plays and had a purpose. Our offense consisted of Javon Greene or Hartwell dribbling into the free throw line then being surrounded by bigger players and panicking.

Thought they had a great game plan for us. Kept running weakside/backdoor action that got their guards and Kostecka isolated in the post against our guards. Help in the paint was either lacking or led to easy kickouts to the perimeter. Felt like we got a little bit lucky that Loyola missed a bunch of open 3s. Javon had his worst defensive game in a long time - was the primary on Kostecka and couldn't even stay in front of him. Hope he learns from it because he'll have to defend better in A10 play.

On the other side, they did a very good job keeping the ball out of the middle. Doubled the ball handler on ball screens to force the ball to the wing and still had time to recover. We'll see that a lot until we have real shooting threats that can make teams pay for leaving the wing open.

Lots of other thoughts, but for now I'll say I loved what I saw from Jordan. No one was hitting shots, so he kept getting into the paint and drawing fouls. Generating points when shots aren't falling is what leaders do.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Thought they had a great game plan for us. Kept running weakside/backdoor action that got their guards and Kostecka isolated in the post against our guards. Help in the paint was either lacking or led to easy kickouts to the perimeter. Felt like we got a little bit lucky that Loyola missed a bunch of open 3s. Javon had his worst defensive game in a long time - was the primary on Kostecka and couldn't even stay in front of him. Hope he learns from it because he'll have to defend better in A10 play.

On the other side, they did a very good job keeping the ball out of the middle. Doubled the ball handler on ball screens to force the ball to the wing and still had time to recover. We'll see that a lot until we have real shooting threats that can make teams pay for leaving the wing open.

Lots of other thoughts, but for now I'll say I loved what I saw from Jordan. No one was hitting shots, so he kept getting into the paint and drawing fouls. Generating points when shots aren't falling is what leaders do.

Do you think we need to abandon the 1-2-2 press? I think it would work better if we were falling back into a zone defense. It's just too hard for everyone to pick up their man when the press is broken.

Also, how many charges do we have through these first 5 games? Seems like everyone is forcing the issue dribbling rather than passing and cutting off the ball. (Can I criticize the movement on offense without being accused of rooting against the team?) Thank god Miller can just will his way to the bucket at times.