Game 12: GMU (10-1) vs Loyola Md. (4-8) on Sunday, December 21, at 2:00 PM.

[psyclone]

Fair enough. With under 2 minutes for Ellington I hardly remember the possessions he was in the game. Kanga did have at least one blocked shot, but missed a set of free throws. Kanga seemed like his normal energy around the rim.

Ellington, as has been typical of him, picked up 2 fouls very quickly.

 

[GunstonsGhost]

Ellington, as has been typical of him, picked up 2 fouls very quickly.

Good catch, I didn't notice that. Even with two fouls I don't think we saw him at all in the second half.

 

[Where's the party?]

I thought Adebayo actually deserved more minutes today. 6 rebounds in 9 minutes. No complete boneheaded plays that I saw.

Happy for Stas though. He played okay. But we’re going to need Adebayo and Ellington in conference play. Their ceilings right now are just much higher. When Adebayo is playing decent, I think it would be beneficial to let him get some more minutes and get his comfort and confidence back.

I wish Adebayo was living up to expectations, but he isn't. He has hands of stone and today threw a couple sloppy passes that got batted away. He had an easy dunk and dropped the ball, Had another easy put back but decided to put the ball on the court and got it swiped.

I worry that Tony will keep him in the starting lineup too long before shifting to the other two. I see more ability under the basket from Ellington. If Stas were more aggressive (like today once or twice), he'd be a good rotation player there.

If Adebayo were living up to my expectations when we landed him, we'd already have a really strong rotation there. We don't have that now. Can he fix it? I hope so.

 

[MASONscott]

Stas may have played more because of Loyola’s Zone defense. Seems to be our Achilles heel, and Stas seems to run the offense better against zone than Kanga and Ellington.

 

[FlPatriot]

Stas may have played more because of Loyola’s Zone defense. Seems to be our Achilles heel, and Stas seems to run the offense better against zone than Kanga and Ellington.

Stas is a three point threat… the other two not so much. Loyola was zone the whole game so we needed more from outside.

 

[MASONscott]

Stas is a three point threat… the other two not so much. Loyola was zone the whole game so we needed more from outside.

Correct

 

[nchocola]

Loyola played very inspired basketball and made a lot of difficult shots at times. I was actually impressed with all the different defensive sets they threw at us. We ran into a team that was firing on all cylinders and certainly gave Mason a fit.

As for Mason, they were certainly uninspired in the first half and were just going through the motions. That led to a close game the whole way.

I didn’t think Tony had his best coaching game either. They should have played some more zone at times. The one time they went 2-3 they forced a turnover. 0 and 6 were eating them alive driving the paint until around the 30 minute mark.

The difference today was Mincy around the 10 minute mark. If you watched closely, he started to play some inspired defense and started trash talking #6 down the floor. That’s when #6 picked up that bad offensive foul and Mincy locked down on defense the rest of the game. The energy was different from everyone after that point even though Loyola drained a few contested threes down the stretch.

We escaped. I give a lot of credit to Mincy for leading the team down the stretch.

 

[Sport31]

Loyola played very inspired basketball and made a lot of difficult shots at times. I was actually impressed with all the different defensive sets they threw at us. We ran into a team that was firing on all cylinders and certainly gave Mason a fit.

As for Mason, they were certainly uninspired in the first half and were just going through the motions. That led to a close game the whole way.

I didn’t think Tony had his best coaching game either. They should have played some more zone at times. The one time they went 2-3 they forced a turnover. 0 and 6 were eating them alive driving the paint until around the 30 minute mark.

The difference today was Mincy around the 10 minute mark. If you watched closely, he started to play some inspired defense and started trash talking #6 down the floor. That’s when #6 picked up that bad offensive foul and Mincy locked down on defense the rest of the game. The energy was different from everyone after that point even though Loyola drained a few contested threes down the stretch.

We escaped. I give a lot of credit to Mincy for leading the team down the stretch.

I was at game and watched it later. I agree with you on Mincy and maybe Stas at times but overall the defense was bad. Guys were blowing by us for layups and had wide open threes. This team has potential but needs to add a ton of intensity on D.

 

[Masonman]

Stas did a great job boxing out his man and creating an open lane for other players to make easy layups. Also, I think that with our record we will ALWAYS get the other teams best games. With Fat I think the margin of victory would have been greater. That said, we have so much talent (like others) I was at the game and I also did not notice he was out.

 

[NewPatriot]

Mason can get away with playing one on one thru the first 4 games of the conference play and still go undefeated but vcu is going to clock Mason by 25 on 1/10/26 unless they starting moving without the ball on offense and sharing the basketball.

 

[psyclone]

Mason can get away with playing one on one thru the first 4 games of the conference play and still go undefeated but vcu is going to clock Mason by 25 on 1/10/26 unless they starting moving without the ball on offense and sharing the basketball.

I agree with Tony--defense is the bigger issue.

 

[hoops10]

I think we won because coach Skinn lit Cory up at half time. He took the challenge and delivered. Missing Fatt was definitely an issue. Going forward he needs to figure out how to get Adebyou and Ellington to be more aggressive and play smarter. Ellington seems overly aggressive at times while Adebyou seems out of sinc. He needs to contribute 10 points a game. That is coaches challenge and Im sure he is trying everything.
Finally I know that Stas is a good kid and works hard but he hardly delivers any points and runs to the corner looking for threes. He gets pushed around underneath. Not sure what his role should be going forward. Kanga has too much talent and needs more minutes. He needs the experience.
Overall we played poor defense but still won. and as coach says I will take it. i expect a much better overall performance against Penn.

 

[NewPatriot]

I agree with Tony--defense is the bigger issue.

He's wrong. Mason's kenpom offensive efficiency dropped 20+ spots to 98 because it's isn't sharing basketball. The ball sticks when we overload the ball on one and choose to drive instead of swinging the ball to the open 3 pt shooter. As such the assist to basket ratio has gone down vs the sunshine slam a month ago...and that hurts the analytics which keep Mason from dropping vs inferior opponents.

In contrast, vcu is blowing out inferior opponents right now by playing with more tempo and sharing the basketball. 22 assists on 38 baskets vs American; their NET ranking has gone up 13 spots while Mason has dropped 30 spots since the Tech loss.

The only way Mason keeps up with vcu is by playing efficiently on both ends of the court.

 

[DRK331]

Loyola Maryland is now on a 4 game losing streak. They are now 4-9 on the season so far

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Kenpom 327 (was 337 before playing us). For the year, they shoot 31% from 3 (45% against us) and 66% from the ft line (82% against us). Their defensive efficiency is ranked 348th.

While they may have looked pretty good against us, the data would appear to show that they are indeed a bad team.

Fair enough - I had a few beers in me so maybe I was just going on looks - They were aggressive on offense and stretched our defense. Some of that was being a bit soft in the first half - but they played better than their record.

 

[TweederGMU]

I wish Adebayo was living up to expectations, but he isn't. He has hands of stone and today threw a couple sloppy passes that got batted away. He had an easy dunk and dropped the ball, Had another easy put back but decided to put the ball on the court and got it swiped.

I worry that Tony will keep him in the starting lineup too long before shifting to the other two. I see more ability under the basket from Ellington. If Stas were more aggressive (like today once or twice), he'd be a good rotation player there.

If Adebayo were living up to my expectations when we landed him, we'd already have a really strong rotation there. We don't have that now. Can he fix it? I hope so.

Agree with Adebayo. Been disappointing so far this season on both sides of the ball. Heard from multiple sources he's still not getting it and Tony is close to wit's end with him.

Almost to the A-10 schedule and if he's not getting it or producing against these lesser skilled teams, will the coaching staff and players be able to trust he get it together against way better competition.

I'd roll with Ellington and Kanga moving forward getting majority of his minutes. Have Dola come off the bench and see if he can find his place there with creating a spark.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Agree with Adebayo. Been disappointing so far this season on both sides of the ball. Heard from multiple sources he's still not getting it and Tony is close to wit's end with him.

Almost to the A-10 schedule and if he's not getting it or producing against these lesser skilled teams, will the coaching staff and players be able to trust he get it together against way better competition.

I'd roll with Ellington and Kanga moving forward getting majority of his minutes. Have Dola come off the bench and see if he can find his place there with creating a spark.

Not sure why we can’t get more out of Dola. Unfortunately, I had the same feeling with Zach Anderson last year. No disrespect for Zach, he played his role. I just had higher expectations and thought he was a better player than was showcased last year.

Is there a reason why it is hard for the transfer 4s to fit in to Tony’s system or just coincidence?

 

[FreeGunston12]

He's wrong. Mason's kenpom offensive efficiency dropped 20+ spots to 98 because it's isn't sharing basketball. The ball sticks when we overload the ball on one and choose to drive instead of swinging the ball to the open 3 pt shooter. As such the assist to basket ratio has gone down vs the sunshine slam a month ago...and that hurts the analytics which keep Mason from dropping vs inferior opponents.

It’s the zone. Teams have seen the tape now and figured out how to play us on D.

To me, they are fundamentally trying to attack the right areas of the zone. We’re just not comfortable and executing yet.