Game 1: GMU (0-0) at #15 Auburn (0-0) on Monday, November 7, at 8:00 PM.

Patriotsince81

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I can sense the excitement building so I decided to post earlier than I originally planned. Let's go Mason!

GMU is 0 - 1 all time against Auburn. We lost to the Tigers 79-63 on December 3, 2017.

Auburn was 28-6 (15-3) last season and lost to Miami in the second round of the NCAA tourney. This season the Tigers are picked to finish 4th in the SEC behind #11 Tennessee, #10 Arkansas, and #4 Kentucky. The majority of preseason polls (ESPN, CBS, AP, USA, SI) have the Tigers at #15 at the time of this posting. Earlier polls this fall had them ranked higher.

Schedule: https://auburntigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster: https://auburntigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Auburn was able to land Johni Broome through the transfer portal. The 6’10 transfer from Morehead State averaged 16.8 ppg and 10.5 reb last season to go along with 3.9 blocks per game. Broome was the Ohio Valley Defensive Player of the Year.

Joining Broome in the front-court is five-star freshman forward Yohan Traore. He’s a 6’10 big man with great athleticism. He’s an “offensive threat” and can “hold his own on defense” according to various pundits. 6’11 center Dylan Cardwell (3.0 ppg & 3.0 reb) will likely be the first big off the bench, giving Auburn a very big and talented front-court rotation.

The Tigers also return three guards in 6’1” Zep Jasper (5.1 ppg), 6’0” K.D. Johnson (12.3 ppg), and 5’10” Wendell Green (12.0 ppg & 5.1 assists). Four-star freshman point guard 6’2” Tre Donaldson also joins the backcourt. The question with the guards is shooting, as Jasper (35.2%), Johnson (38.6%), and Green (36.5%) all struggled from the field last year.

Auburn will have some competition on the wings between top-40 incoming freshman 6’6” Chance Westry and returning 6’6” Allen Flanigan (6.3 ppg). It should be noted that Westry had arthroscopic knee surgery in early October and might not be 100% on game day.

Auburn averaged 78.2 ppg while giving up 67.2 ppg last year. As a team they shot 43.5% from the field and 31.8% from 3. Opponents shot 38.6% from the field and 31.0% from 3. The Tigers shot 73.1% from the free throw line and averaged 12.1 turnovers per game.

The game is on SEC Network+.

My prediction: I watched them play all 3 games in Israel this summer and their defense was impressive. "The biggest takeaway for me is that we've got 12 good basketball players, maybe even 13," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "We're going to put a good point guard out there. We're going to put a good 2 guard out there. I don't know who is going to start at the 3 or the 4 or the 5 because they all had their moments out there.”

Their front court will be an excellent test for Josh and our bigs. We’ll need to take care of the ball. My heart says Mason pulls off the upset, my head says we fall short. Auburn 76 - GMU 69.

Discuss.
 

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Patriotsince81

Patriotsince81

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"SEC Network+ is a complementary digital platform providing hundreds of additional digital only events to fans through the ESPN App on connected devices." https://www.secsports.com/article/23926730

So, does that mean we can see the game via the ESPN app or an ESPN+ membership?
I don't know the answer to that yet although I THINK through ESPN+. I have my "tech" expert looking into it but he's at the beach with the wife this week. Slacker! In the meantime I hope the game is picked up for additional coverage.
 
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GMU79

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I don't know the answer to that yet although I THINK through ESPN+. I have my "tech" expert looking into it but he's at the beach with the wife this week. Slacker! In the meantime I hope the game is picked up for additional coverage.
"the" wife. Meaning his or yours?
 

mkaufman1

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"SEC Network+ is a complementary digital platform providing hundreds of additional digital only events to fans through the ESPN App on connected devices." https://www.secsports.com/article/23926730

So, does that mean we can see the game via the ESPN app or an ESPN+ membership?
It’ll probably be like the SEC network announcers but picked up by ESPN plus.

I always love when the home team network picks up the buy games because it usually means mispronouncing at least one guys name on Mason as well as calling us the colonials.
 
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Patriotsince81

Patriotsince81

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It’ll probably be like the SEC network announcers but picked up by ESPN plus.

I always love when the home team network picks up the buy games because it usually means mispronouncing at least one guys name on Mason as well as calling us the colonials.
Most likely one of those games I listen to through our schedule link while watching on TV. Saved me from torture in the past.
 

TweederGMU

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Will be interesting to see Josh go against Broome or this 6"10 Freshman. Josh needs to have the mentality to go straight at him and eat him up, he has the moves and game to exploit this fresh meat or Broome.

Josh needs to have a solid scoring and defensive game. Thinking this will come down to Guard play and who makes their 3's. If Coop, Bailey, and Ticket and our guards can make their 3's and push some turnovers then we can score the upset.

If Josh gets in to foul trouble early will be bad news.
 

GMUgemini

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Will be interesting to see Josh go against Broome or this 6"10 Freshman. Josh needs to have the mentality to go straight at him and eat him up, he has the moves and game to exploit this fresh meat or Broome.

Josh needs to have a solid scoring and defensive game. Thinking this will come down to Guard play and who makes their 3's. If Coop, Bailey, and Ticket and our guards can make their 3's and push some turnovers then we can score the upset.

If Josh gets in to foul trouble early will be bad news.

Happened at Kansas last season and we managed to push the advantage with small ball (Ticket at the 5) until Kansas matched the lineup and blew us up.
 

GSII

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Happened at Kansas last season and we managed to push the advantage with small ball (Ticket at the 5) until Kansas matched the lineup and blew us up.
"Blew us up"....I think it was pretty close.
 

GMUgemini

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"Blew us up"....I think it was pretty close.

What I meant was we took the lead going small. Then they matched us, scored a ton of points and went into the half up 11. It was close but I don’t think we were really a threat to take that game after halftime.
 

gmujim92

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Will be interesting to see Josh go against Broome or this 6"10 Freshman. Josh needs to have the mentality to go straight at him and eat him up, he has the moves and game to exploit this fresh meat or Broome.

Josh needs to have a solid scoring and defensive game. Thinking this will come down to Guard play and who makes their 3's. If Coop, Bailey, and Ticket and our guards can make their 3's and push some turnovers then we can score the upset.

If Josh gets in to foul trouble early will be bad news.
Auburn is gonna try to prevent us from running offense through Josh by extending the pressure on our guards — they’re gonna have to be strong and smart with the ball because if they commit a slew of turnovers, it’s gonna get ugly quick.

Conversely, Auburn’s guards can’t shoot a lick so pack the paint and let them fire at will lol.
 

GMU79

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Auburn is gonna try to prevent us from running offense through Josh by extending the pressure on our guards — they’re gonna have to be strong and smart with the ball because if they commit a slew of turnovers, it’s gonna get ugly quick.

Conversely, Auburn’s guards can’t shoot a lick so pack the paint and let them fire at will lol.
Not to worry. We have a proven, experienced, upper classman guard to run the point. Don't we?
 

GSII

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Auburn is gonna try to prevent us from running offense through Josh by extending the pressure on our guards — they’re gonna have to be strong and smart with the ball because if they commit a slew of turnovers, it’s gonna get ugly quick.

Conversely, Auburn’s guards can’t shoot a lick so pack the paint and let them fire at will lol.
Hopefully our PG can penaltrate and dish or finish at the rim.
 
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