By Khush Wadhwa
In their season opener at the Smith Center, the Revolutionaries powered past the University of Maine 67-47 thanks to strong scoring performances from center Luke Hugner and guard Christian Jones.
Offensively, both teams got out to a slow start, with a triad of early fouls from center Rafael Castro forcing him off the court early in the first quarter. Both teams focused on making defensive plays, with loose passes limiting scoring within the opening few minutes. Maine’s Logan Carey delivered a three-point bucket early to put his team ahead 5-2, constituting one of the few three point buckets for either team in the first half.
Tyrone Marshall Jr. Converts a Layup (Photo by Greg Fiume)
GW pulled away from Maine midway through the first half, with Hunger scoring six points in just over a minute of play to grow the Revs’ lead to 18-12. From there, a series of offensive mistakes from Maine limited their scoring potential. Carey shoveled a pass intended for guard Ace Flagg into the seats, contributing to a pattern of unforced Maine turnovers. Later in the half, a pair of technicals were issued to Maine’s Logan and GW guard Ty Bevins after a loose ball struggle broke out into a scuffle. An appropriately timed Maine timeout and a series of fouls by GW would see them enter halftime with just a four point lead.
The Revs shot 0-13 from beyond the arc in the first half, heaving up several contested shots as the shot clock ran low but balancing them with some open looks from distance. Guard Benjamin Bubu nailed GW’s first three two minutes into the second half, though they would hit just two of their 20 attempted three-pointers throughout the game. “I just think we’re a better three-point shooting team than we’ve shown,” coach Chris Caputo said, “Those will fall.”
Coming out of halftime, both teams scored effectively, but Maine pushed ahead offensively to tie the game with a layup from Flagg. However, a barrage of points from within the arc allowed GW to pull ahead and leave Maine in the dust, with a series of well-timed blocks and turnovers holding Maine’s offense silent. “The defensive edge was there the whole game,” Caputo said. “Eventually it kind of wears people down with the size, the athleticism, the speed that you can put on the floor.”
From there, a combination of ineffective shooting from Maine and glass dominance from GW both offensively and defensively built GW’s lead to 20 points, where it stood at the end of the game. The late-game scoring load was split across the entire team, but special contributions from Marshall Jr., who finished the game with a double-double, and Jones, who scored a pair of photogenic layups, helped solidify the win for the Revolutionaries. “He’s a unique layup-maker,” Caputo said about Jones. “He’s able to get off one foot and make some really incredible layups.”
GW dominated the second-chance points, thanks to strong rebounding from forward Tyrone Marshall Jr., guard Trey Autry, and Hunger, who combined for 26 boards. The team recovered 46 rebounds—30 on the offensive side of the court—which they converted into 16 second-chance points, dwarfing Maine’s lone second-chance bucket.
Caputo’s program is now 1-0 on the season as the non-conference season gets underway. Though this GW lineup features a lot of new faces, the team has not struggled to build chemistry on the court. “It seemed like we’ve been playing together for years,” Marshall Jr. said. “We love how everybody is different and how we got so many weapons that we can go at anybody with.”
The 15-point performance from Hunger and strong offensive efficiency from Castro in spite of his limited minutes gives the Revs two strong centers to work with in the future. “I think we’ll probably find ways throughout the season, maybe to play them together at times,” Caputo said.
The Revs travel to Connecticut on Saturday, November 8 for their 1:30 p.m. matchup against South Florida, which will be streamed on Peacock.
