Photo credits: Greg Fiume
By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
The GW basketball teams had a mid-day doubleheader on Thursday at home, taking down Stonehill and Alcorn State, respectively.
The women kicked it off with a 67-34 victory over the Skyhawks (0-12) behind a career high 25 points from graduate guard Essence Brown. Then the men squeaked past the Braves (1-12) 79-75 thanks to a career high 23 points from redshirt freshman wing Garrett Johnson.
“I’m really proud of our team in this holiday season, finishing final exams, staying locked in, staying focused, and just competing and getting better today.” Women’s head coach Caroline McCombs said.
“It’s good to come out of here with a win.” Men’s head coach Chris Caputo said. “It makes Christmas somewhat enjoyable. I’m not really pleased with the way we played. But I’m also never going to be upset about winning.”
Women vs Stonehill
The Revolutionaries (7-5) came out and relied on their defense from the jump, as they have all year. Their ability to force the Skyhawks into bad shots translated into a 15-0 GW lead after the first quarter, the first time since 2017 they’ve kept another team scoreless for a quarter.
Brown paced the Revs all day and had nine points by the end of the first quarter. After substitutions at the beginning of the second quarter (which notably took graduate forwards Mayowa Taiwo and Maren Durant off the floor), Stonehill scored nine points in the first 2:04 of the second stanza. Suddenly GW’s lead was down to 18-9. The Skyhawks would win the second quarter 21-16, trimming GW’s lead to 10 at halftime.
The second quarter woes for the Revs continued, who’ve been outscored by an average of 4.9 points in the second period against Division One opponents this season. This time it was against the team dead last in the NET and in the bottom 3% of scoring offense in D1.
But GW has been just as good in the third quarter as they’ve been bad in the second quarter this year, and that trend continued. The Revs put any concerns of a comeback to bed by outscoring the Skyhawks 17-5 coming out of halftime with Brown outscoring Stonehill on her own (which she also did in the first quarter).
The Revs pushed the lead above 30 in the fourth quarter as some players on the bench got an extended run on the floor. One of the more impactful players that saw the floor was junior forward Maxine Engel, who went 3-for-4 from three point range while also notching a rebound and an assist.
However, Brown was undoubtedly the star of the show at the Smith Center, finishing with 25 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block on 8-for-16 from the field and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc. Her performance set a career high in points, field goals made, three pointers made, and free throws made along with attempts in the final three categories as well.
“I told her at halftime ‘you’re a go-to player. We need you to be that go-to player for us.’” McCombs said.
Her recent performances have been crucial for a team that’s struggled with injuries this season, which has led to a lack of continuity in the lineup. Notably missing from the lineup against the Skyhawks was sophomore guard Nya Robertson (averaging 15.6 points per game), along with graduate guards Nya Lok (averaging 9.2 points per game) and Madison Buford. Lok’s issues figure to be more short-term, but Robertson and Buford have missed the last three games, with the status and nature of their injuries unclear.
“I don’t know the answer to that, quite honestly.” McCombs said when asked about the nature of their injuries and when they can be expected back. “We’d love to have them back, we’re trying to get them healthy. We’ve got great trainers working every day with their rehab and recovery. So we’re hopeful to have them but until we get back to practice, I won’t know more.”
After a break for the holidays, GW will be back at home to kick off conference play against a 10-3 Richmond team that sits 51st in the NET. A win would give the Revs their first Q2 win of the season against a team that is among the favorites in the A10. Tip off is at noon on December 30 and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Men vs Alcorn State
An hour after the conclusion of the women’s game, the men tipped off and got off to a sluggish start against a team they were expected to beat handily. Alcorn State was active on the offensive boards early but graduate center Babatunde Akingbola made his presence known by blocking two shots before the first media timeout.
Johnson and redshirt sophomore wing Max Edwards shouldered the scoring load early for the Revolutionaries (10-2), but the Braves were overpowering GW down low. By the final media timeout of the first half, Alcorn State had an 18-6 advantage in points in the paint. This was complemented by a 23-13 first half rebounding advantage. Akingbola was hampered by foul trouble (and an inadvertent punch to his private square), taking away a key cog in the Revs interior defense.
“We rely on Stretch a lot on defense, probably too much.” Johnson said. “We’ve got to be better guarding the ball. That’s something coach has been emphasizing a lot. When Stretch isn’t in there or he’s in foul trouble we’ve got to be able to keep our man in front of us. That’s on us.”
Overall GW looked to be sleep walking, which isn’t terribly surprising given the circumstances. The team has talked about the importance of students in the crowd all year and the vast majority of students had already gone home for winter break. The lack of George’s Army along with playing a team whose record does not look favorably upon them makes for a potentially disastrous combination, not to mention the fact that many important players for GW are still inexperienced in college basketball.
“I enjoy the holidays like the next guy but I don’t start celebrating them days before.” Caputo said. “I think it’s been a little bit of a pattern with us that we haven’t gotten off to great starts. So it’s probably on me, but we were uncharacteristically flat defensively. We just didn’t have it today.”
At halftime the Revs led 39-38 and only had two points from senior guard James Bishop IV. If they wanted to avoid their first home loss of the season, the Baltimore native would have to get going. In typical James Bishop fashion, he quietly took over. First it was a three pointer (which moved him into 5th place on the GW men’s basketball all-time scoring list) 28 seconds into the second half to retake the lead after the Revs lost it for the second time all day. Then it was a drawn foul and two made free throws. Then a layup moments later. After a half of meticulously keeping Bishop in check, the crafty southpaw undid the Braves hard work in the time it takes you to boil a pot of water.
From there Bishop continued to do what he does best: score. His shot wasn’t falling from three so he got downhill and drew fouls, methodically putting points on the board from the free throw line and opening up opportunities for his teammates.
The largest beneficiary of these opportunities was Johnson, who scored 13 of his 23 points in the second half, including shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc after halftime. After bursting onto the scene and getting loads of media coverage for his inspiring story about his battle with cancer, Johnson has settled into an important role on this team. He’s shown he can put the ball in the basket, with his three point shooting flourishing in particular (41.9% for the season). The next step is growing on the defensive end. But with three years of eligibility remaining, the sky’s the limit for the Oakton, Virginia native who is among the front runners for A10 Rookie of the Year.
But despite the scoring from Johnson and Bishop, GW still couldn’t get stops and struggled with turnovers, as they have all year. The Buff & Blue particularly struggled in the backcourt keeping their man in front of them, posing trouble once a Braves guard flew past a GW one. Graduate guard Jalen Hawkins (who has committed to nine colleges and played for five of them over seven years) tormented the Revs all day, finishing with 24 points, three rebounds and two assists on 9-for-15 shooting from the field. Notably missing for Alcorn State was Jeremiah Kendall, a 6’7 senior forward who takes 36.6% of the team’s shots and leads the Braves with 16.1 points and 6.6 points per game.
“It was our worst defensive game.” Caputo said. “I don’t really know why until I watch it but I thought they manhandled us.”
The poor play around the rim continued into the second half and Alcorn State finished with a staggering 44-16 advantage in points in the paint and a 44-28 rebounding advantage. Some of that can be attributed to Akingbola’s foul trouble but another explanation is that big men were out of position after missed shots because they needed to rotate to account for the Braves guards getting into the paint easily.
Akingbola’s foul trouble continued making it difficult for GW to defend inside and when Alcorn State took a 63-62 lead moments after his fourth foul with 8:32 remaining, it looked like the Revs were in trouble. However, GW gritted out the win thanks to timely scoring offensively and important stops on the defensive end. A few of those stops came from redshirt freshman forward Darren Buchanan, who filled in for Akingbola with two crucial blocks late in the game.
Although I must say that I was dissatisfied with some of the late game possessions for GW. There were multiple occasions down the stretch where GW had a small lead and struggled to get anything close to a good shot up. Draining the shot clock is fine, but heaving up a long three or an off balance shot as the clock expires instead of finding a good shot with 10 seconds remaining is not how you win basketball games.
But GW did in fact win the basketball game. They’re a young team who did not bring the requisite intensity against an Alcorn State team that will likely be towards the top of the SWAC despite one of the lowest budgets in men’s college basketball. Hopefully they will learn from it and be better because of it as they head into conference play.
The Revs have one more non conference game at home against Maryland Eastern Shore on December 30 before they get into Atlantic 10 play. That game tips off at 4 PM and can be streamed on ESPN+.
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