For the first time in over five years, the George Washington men’s basketball team welcomed a ‘power 5’ opponent to the Charles E Smith Center in a 79-55 win over South Carolina on Wednesday night. Whether or not the atmosphere could be considered welcoming is certainly up for debate as the student section was completely filled for the first time in over three years. There is an excitement within the fanbase for a team that has not seen postseason play since they were crowned NIT champions in 2016. Head coach Chris Caputo was on the other side of the last power 5 opponent to play in the Smith Center as he coached under Hall of Fame coach Jim Larrañaga with Miami, who took down GW 59-50.
From the opening tip, the Smith Center was loud, and I do not say that lightly. Senior guard James Bishop echoed this sentiment following the game.
“The crowd was like a sixth player for us on the floor and they got there early.” Bishop said.
After winning the opening tip, the Buff and Blue did not look back. After an early foul from senior forward Hunter Dean, Caputo was quick to pull him and bring in junior center Noel Brown. Early fouls did not hinder GW as Bishop once again took over. His play was highlighted by an acrobatic and-one along with a beautiful outlet pass to senior forward Ricky Lindo, who finished on his opposite hand with a layup. Bishop continues to show massive improvement passing as he finished with a game high eight assists. Dean has also improved his passing ability, as displayed by his alley oop to Lindo. The strong play all around brought the raucous Smith Center to its feet as GW capped its 12-2 run heading into the under 16 media timeout up 55-25.
There were points in which South Carolina worked to adjust, moving to a 1-3-1 zone. GW struggled against the zone at points, missing threes on four straight possessions.
“They did a good job with the 1-3-1. A lot of times teams can steal a few possessions early [in the 1-3-1].” Caputo said before touching on how they were able to beat the irregular defense. “But eventually I think we got the ball inside and found cutters to score a number of times.”
Faced with the tall task of guarding freshman forward GG Jackson, a projected lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft, Lindo did not back down.
“We did such a good job of keeping the ball out of GG’s [Jackson] hands, you know we had a game plan for when he caught it, but we never had to execute it because he was never on the block.” Caputo said.
The defense from the Buff & Blue forced 11 turnovers, and held the Gamecocks to 32.3% shooting from the field. The defense was staunch and did not waver. Lindo was the true anchor of the defense, as noted by Caputo.
“His activity, his effort level. If you watched some of his plays, we turned it over and he was sprinting down. He was playing free of mind.” Caputo said.
GG Jackson, with scouts from eight NBA teams in attendance, finished with 11 points on 4-17 shooting and a staggering -33. This is the second straight year in which GW has shut down a possible NBA draft pick, as they did with Davidson’s Hyunjung Lee, who finished that game with six points on 1-8 shooting.
The second half proved to be slightly closer as GW only outscored South Carolina by four points, but GW stuffed the statsheet with eight players scoring for the Buff & Blue. Lindo once again skied high for a beautiful dunk, and every bounce seemed to go GW’s way. The Colonials shot 50% from 3 in the second half to stay in control, even while USC enjoyed several small runs. Overall, the hot shooting kept GW ahead, completing an all around effort and getting GW the deserved win.
GW will face Radford on Sunday in a rematch of last year’s contest, in which GW was victorious 67-58 at home. The Buff & Blue are 5-2, looking cohesive, playing with energy and a campus that has their back. Wednesday’s game on national TV proved that GW will be a fun team to watch throughout the year and should remain competitive in A-10 play.
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