Game 10: GMU (9-0) at Va Tech (7-2) on Saturday, December 6, at 3:00 PM.
- Thread starter Patriotsince81
- Start date
FreeGunston12
All-American
I don’t want to overact to this loss, but there are 2 recurring themes that bother me. First, we really struggle to recover from the pick and roll and rotate defensively. Also, there is a hole at the 4 on this roster that previous matchups were only able to start to exploit. Adebayo is capable but not playing up to his potential / does not look comfortable in Skinn’s system.
Lot to learn from this one. First game I really felt like we missed O’Connor. Fatt, Long and Mincy committed 13 of our 16 turnovers — Fatt’s 7 were only 2 less than their entire team! —and cost us so many points with lazy passes that led to easy baskets the other way.
Patriot Blue
Four-star Recruit
The turnovers were a killer.
Very poor defense today. Guys switching and 2 players staying on same guy, wide open 3s, and some of our players looking lost on D. 17 turnovers , 7 by Fat Hill he needs to clean those up or spend more time on the bench. Someone said we were overmatched, I don't agree other than the last 3 min of first half we played them even. Lots to work on but hey we are 9-1, we knew we were not going undefeated, so everyone relax .
Troutman was the one who got torched for three 3s at the end of the first half.
All 3 became no shows after that 1st half three show by Tech
I’m not putting this one on Tony. The horrible passes and reckless ball-handling aren’t on the coach — that’s on the players. They just didn’t look like they believed they belonged on the court. It was a tough road game against a mid-pack ACC team. Virginia Tech isn’t Duke or Marquette like last year, and they’re probably not even a tournament team, but they’re still a solid program. Mike Young is a good coach, but I don’t think VT is a tournament team this season.
NC State beat vcu, and vcu killed VT. NC State is a fringe tournament team at best, but still better than Tech. So we know where we stand now. Now we know exactly where we stand and what we’ve got to clean up for A-10 play. They’ve got to settle the nerves on the road. The last five minutes of the first half lost the game. It’s hard to judge how good or bad they are ceiling wise, because today they did some weird things, throwing the ball away and making careless decisions. The defense wasn’t good either, and that might be the most disappointing part. It was pretty bad in the first half.
Missing shots happens. Turnovers and poor defense are preventable. Oh well, this won’t kill their season by any means. Just a missed opportunity for a solid road win. Onward and upward.
thebiasedannouncer
Sixth Man
General Thoughts:
1: Too much uncertainty and passing from Mincy and Long, especially Long, who should’ve taken more shots.
2: Bad games on both ends from Trout and Fatt. Not gonna win when both are off like that.
3: Riley spent too much time on the perimeter.
4: Just not enough pushing the paint in general- would’ve liked to see us throw to Ellington, Riley and Kanga inside more and force that issue.
5: First genuine criticism of Tony all year- should’ve gone to the zone much earlier, maybe even start the half with it, that actually threw them off a bit.
6: What’s up with Dola, and if you don’t want to play him, do you need to play taller with Stas more or smaller with Booker more until BOC comes back. It’s gotta be one of those two at this point.
7: Did not feel like the plan respected Schutt enough when he came off the bench, which was a massive error.
1: Too much uncertainty and passing from Mincy and Long, especially Long, who should’ve taken more shots.
2: Bad games on both ends from Trout and Fatt. Not gonna win when both are off like that.
3: Riley spent too much time on the perimeter.
4: Just not enough pushing the paint in general- would’ve liked to see us throw to Ellington, Riley and Kanga inside more and force that issue.
5: First genuine criticism of Tony all year- should’ve gone to the zone much earlier, maybe even start the half with it, that actually threw them off a bit.
6: What’s up with Dola, and if you don’t want to play him, do you need to play taller with Stas more or smaller with Booker more until BOC comes back. It’s gotta be one of those two at this point.
7: Did not feel like the plan respected Schutt enough when he came off the bench, which was a massive error.
Article on the game with a Tony Skinn quote:
gomason.com
Patriots Drop 73-62 Contest at Virginia Tech - George Mason University Athletics
The George Mason University men's basketball team (9-1) could not withstand a furious mid-game shooting barrage by Virginia Tech (8-2) during a 73-62 setback to
gomason.com
That's fair criticism of Tony. However I think had we not gone down so far we may have seen it sooner but I think the game was over after that 3 minutes stretch like Tony said. The Turnovers kill you. It's hard to change anything when that happens so fast. He wasn't able to adjust enough when you go down 13 at half. I don't know what you do as a coach on the turnovers...... Either way left game with more questions on how they respond anywhere on the road now. Guess we will find out NYE at Lasalle or Jan 13th at Loyola which are both horrible teams. So maybe that's a good thing to get 2 awful teams on the road to start A10 play......
The let's go for the highlight reel alley oops were maddening. Not much to get excited about, but I was glad the team won the 2nd half
Aldousflux
Walk-On
Tough loss and a lot to work on, but I do want to highlight that the watch party had a great crowd. Winning the games were supposed to is making people buy in.
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