Photo credit: Mitchell Layton
By: Abe Rothstein (@RothsteinAbe)
For the first time since the 2016 NIT championship season, the George Washington Revolutionaries find themselves 4-0 after a 79-67 victory over New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
Coming off three victories, all in decisive fashion minus a few late game follies against William and Mary, the Revs wanted to head into their upcoming MTE in the Bahamas on a good note.
Looking to continue their strong run against a weak out of conference schedule, the Wildcats (2-2) stormed into the Smith Center and looked to make a statement from the outset. But the Revolutionaries couldn’t afford to lose sight of a weaker New Hampshire squad. The Wildcats were ranked 264 in KenPom entering the matinee. With a majority of students already on break, and an upcoming Bahamas trip, the ingredients were there for a trap game.
“Beware of the ides of March, beware of the game before Thanksgiving, beware of the game before Thanksgiving where you go to the Bahamas in two days,” said GW head coach Chris Caputo. “Those are the worst games for coaches, the before Thanksgiving game and before Christmas game, most coaches are a nervous wreck before those games.”
Once again, the Revolutionaries found themselves with a slow start, with early turnovers aplenty. Following a Benny Schröder turnover, and a Dior Davis layup, the Revolutionaries quickly found themselves down 23-9.
A tall task was in front of them with New Hampshire all-conference senior forward Clarence Daniels coming into the game averaging 23 points per game. The win over Hofstra cemented GW as a much improved defensive team. Rather than a game being a race to 80 points, the defense has allowed the offense the ability to grow.
“It’s just stuff to sort of work through as we’re four games in and I’m glad that we’re 4-0, but yeah, there’s things to work through about the start of the game for sure,” Caputo said.
A steal from freshman guard Jacoi Hutchinson and a layup from redshirt freshman Darren Buchanan Jr. in transition marked the start of the Revolutionaries comeback. The Revs would hold the Wildcats scoreless for over five minutes and roar back with multiple threes from redshirt sophomore wing Maximus Edwards (12 PTS, 5 REB) and redshirt freshman wing Garrett Johnson.
The Revs would find themselves with a 35-30 lead going into halftime, finally finding their stride. Johnson, who has been the highlight of media attention, clearly has not let that get to his head. The Oakton, Virginia native finished the first half with 14 PTS, 5 REB on 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
“Yeah, I mean, my shot felt good but I credit my teammates, they were finding me,” said Garrett Johnson. “We’re taught when two come to the ball, you get off it, find the open man and my teammates were finding me.”
Fortunately for the fans in attendance, the Revs came out of halftime firing on all cylinders after a slow start.
Graduate student center Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola contributed on the offensive end with two of his seven points coming on a slam to bring the Revs lead to 48-36. James Bishop IV, who fed the ball to Akingbola was silenced in the first half, with no points on his statline. The start of this season has proved that Bishop doesn’t need to be the scorer as last year and the senior guard had eight assists on the night.
Bishop and his passing opened up his offensive game as all of his 14 points came in the second half. A season after he only scored eight points in the win vs. New Hampshire, the only game in which he didn’t score double figures, Bishop got his revenge, finishing with 14 PTS, 8 AST, and 7 REB..
“You think he had an okay night and he had 14, 8 and 7,” said Caputo.”You’re like, yeah, he was okay. You know, that’s how good he is.”
The Wildcats would creep back within four points but the Revs did not break. With help from Bishop and capped by Akingbola swatting away a Clarence Daniels three attempt, the Revs cruised to a 79-67 victory.
The only blip in the radar for GW was an ejection from Maximus Edwards. It was not clear what Edwards said, but the ref tossed him without even receiving a first technical foul. New Hampshire missed both technical free throws, much to the delight of the fans.
Akingbola, came into the game 6th in the country in blocks per game (3.0 BPG) and finished the night with 5 blocks.
“First of all, I’m blessed with my long arms, 7-5 (wingspan)…I just pay attention to details, like I said earlier, I’m gonna just play, I know what the guy is gonna do,” said Akingbola. “I know what to do best. I’ve been a bad player a couple of times like I suppose, just stay down. Don’t jump at the pump fake.”
GW did a stellar job of guarding Clarence Davis, holding the America East all conference member to 14 points on 5-for-17 shooting.
“I did some homework last night, watch the video, see what they do best. And that’s my mindset coming into the game,” Akingbola concluded.
The coaching staff has consistently given their players the ability to play their game and develop as players.
“Coach gives us freedom out there. We know we’re a big part of what we’re doing and we’ve just got to play our part,” said Johnson. “Do our job and just focus on what the scout is and then what we need to do to help our team.”
Now for the Revolutionaries, it’s time to prepare for their strongest foe in this young season. Ohio will be the first matchup for the Revs in the Bahamas and currently sits at 110 on KenPom. For the first time this season, Chris Caputo and company will be playing outside of the Smith Center.
“I think going away from home is a new challenge for a lot of guys. We’re talking about a number of guys who’ve only played college basketball in the Smith Center,” said Caputo. “So now it’s a chance to play college basketball outside the Smith Center. And that will be the next challenge for this group is to go away from home.”
The team won’t let a slow start ruin the game, but use it as a reminder of what the team identity is. “Oh I say we just talk to each other and look, ‘we gotta get this done,” said Akingbola. “So we just gotta bring the dog out of us and that’s what we did as a group.”
The dog mentality could propel GW to a season of success which has not been seen in years.
The Revolutionaries will travel to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship, where they will take on Ohio on Friday at 7PM. The game can be streamed on FloHoops and coverage can be found on WRGW Sports social media channels.
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