Photo credit: Greg Fiume
By Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
Men’s basketball continued their tradition of beating George Mason on Martin Luther King Day with a 75-62 win Monday afternoon as snow fell outside.
The Revolutionaries (14-3, 3-1 A10) got out to a fast start and never looked back thanks to 21 points from redshirt freshman forward Darren Buchanan Jr. and 20 points from senior guard James Bishop IV. The Patriots (13-5, 2-3 A10) continued their habit of struggling out of the gates, trailing by 12 by the second media timeout.
“I’m very happy with our defense.” GW head coach Chris Caputo said. “Obviously, we needed a good defensive performance. And I think Mason’s a very good team.”
After winning the tip, the Revs immediately got the ball to Bishop, who found Buchanan cutting to the basket for an easy layup just 12 seconds in. The ease with which GW got on the board would be a sign of things to come, as they led 10-4 at the first media timeout.
As well as GW was playing, it was hard not to notice Mason’s offensive struggles. On the possessions where the Patriots found an open shot, they missed it. When they had success moving the ball around, they inevitably threw it away.
Both teams were playing at a breakneck pace and making errors, but it was obvious why Mason had the slowest pace in the A10 coming into the game. When they tried to play quickly, the mistakes were abound while GW looked more comfortable running the floor and pushing the pace.
“We have a lot of weapons on offense.” Caputo said. “When people are chasing after us trying to get the game going faster and get back in the game, it’s not the easiest against this group because the ball winds up in the hands normally of somebody who can do something.”
GW continued to knock down shots, relying on their three point shooting to propel them to a double digit lead less than 9 minutes into the game. Graduate forward Antoine Smith Jr. showed his three point shooting prowess, knocking down two big shots from beyond the arc in just nine first half minutes.
“He said ‘I want to go to a great school to get a grad degree.’” Caputo said. “Some of these guys come for grad school and are like ‘I don’t care. Am I in class? Am I not?’ He wanted a degree from GW. We put every three point shot up on the board from JUCO, Incarnate Word, Evansville to look at it and say ‘can this guy shoot? Is there a big enough sample size for these numbers to make sense?’ And he can really shoot. He knows how to play.”
Even Buchanan, a 23% three point shooter, got in on the action, hitting two threes of his own before the break. One of those threes came with a hand in his face in front of the Patriots bench and the DC native celebrated accordingly. Buchanan hit the tough shot, pointed a finger gun at the Mason bench and pulled the trigger as he got back on defense.
The Revs pushed the lead as high as 31-13 and it was clear that Mason had no answer for the high pick-and-rolls GW was doing with Bishop and Buchanan. Virtually everything was going GW’s way in the opening half, although there was one exception. Buchanan and redshirt sophomore wing Max Edwards both attempted a posterizing dunk and neither one could convert. If either of them executed those dunks, the roof may well have come off the Smith Center.
George’s Army made their presence known and students filled nearly every seat on the side of the arena with the benches. Although GW fed off the energy from the students, they left something to be desired in terms of their noise making and chanting especially with so many Patriots fans in the crowd. George Mason fans also made up a sizable portion of the 2,585 person crowd (largest of the season) and made plenty of noise when the Patriots found their footing.
The first half ended with a bizarre sequence as George Mason intentionally fouled the Revs three times to prevent GW from getting a good look at the basket since they had some fouls to give before the Revs were into the bonus. At the break, GW led 37-24 although it felt like the margin could have been even higher.
The Patriots came out of halftime knowing they’d need a nearly perfect half to come back, and this was compounded by the fact that they were playing a team averaging 83.2 points per game. After an early three from Bishop, Mason ripped off an 11-2 run and were suddenly within striking distance at 42-37. Caputo neglected to call a timeout, instead waiting for the under 16 media timeout to regroup.
“The game of basketball is pretty simple.” Mason head coach Tony Skinn said. “You see the ball go in the rim and all of a sudden you get happier and all of a sudden the energy picks up and you just start playing harder. The opposite is that you miss and you’re not as confident. So we picked it up in the second half just because we scored it a little bit better.”
But the Revolutionaries immediately struck back thanks to an and-one layup from freshman guard Jacoi Hutchinson coming out of the media timeout. Although his stat line did not stick out (Five points, three assists, one steal in 26 minutes), Hutchinson was one of the best players on the floor from my vantage point. His ball handling has been critical to the Revs success this season and his active hands on defense lead to turnovers and points in transition.
Mason’s offensive success continued as the second half wore on, but GW was equal to it, never allowing the Patriots to get closer than seven points for the final 14 minutes. Buchanan flirted with foul trouble, picking up his fourth with 8:47 left and limiting his minutes down the stretch. But he was still phenomenal despite the foul trouble, finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal on 9-for-13 shooting from the field. The Virginia Tech transfer continues to solidify his candidacy for A10 Rookie of the Year.
“I came back home to be closer to family but also to get a chance to play.” Buchanan said. “And to be out there playing at home, there’s no better feeling.”
Down the stretch GW was aided by timely baskets from their most reliable scorer in Bishop. The Baltimore, Maryland native kept GMU at arms length, scoring 10 of his 20 points in the second half. Bishop complemented his 49th 20+ point game with six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Crucially, Bishop took 10 free throws after going all of the last game without a trip to the charity stripe.
For the first time in over a month, the Revs were spared the drama of a tight finish and picked up their sixth double digit win of the season. With the win, GW matched their home win total from last year and continued their best start to the season since 2015-16 when they won the NIT.
“In the non conference, we never really got it out to big leads.” Caputo said. “So it was kind of a weird place for us to be. So I was encouraged by the way we held that lead.”
The Revs have a week off before they travel to Amherst for a matchup with UMass. Tip-off is slated for noon on Saturday. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and WRGW.
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