Game 16: Davidson College, Wednesday, January 9th, 7 PM, ESPN+

[Washingtonian]

Davidson comes into this game with a 10-4 (1-2 in away games) after beating Duquesne 65-61 on Saturday in Davidson, NC.

The roster is here: https://davidsonwildcats.com/roster.aspx?roster=268&path=mbball
The schedule is here: https://davidsonwildcats.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=287
The stats are here: https://static.davidsonwildcats.com/custompages/mbball/2018-19/teamcume.htm?path=mbball&path=mbball

Last season's box score is here from Fairfax: https://gomason.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8279&path=mbball (an 86-59 loss)

Davidson's message board discussion thread: https://davidsoncats.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=26089&sid=f83affcff5ffa4c2c633e6ccbb47bf5c

Kellan Grady has been out for the past several games with a knee injury, but returned in Saturday's game against Duquesne (got 17 points): https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/sports/article223986510.html

Grady is averaging 19.7 PPG (10 games, got 15 points in last season's game), Jon Ax Gudmundsson is averaging 17.4 PPG/6.1 RPG (24 points and 8 rebounds in last season's game in Fairfax), Luka Brajkovic 12.1 PPG/6.6 RPG, and Luke Frampton is averaging 10.1 PPG.

Discuss.

 

[Patriotsince81]

This is going to be a tough one. We will need to continue to defend at a high level in order to win. It will be statement win if we pull it off. However, my gut says Davidson by 6. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[p8triotfan4life]

Since Grady is back, it's a loss for sure.

However, I am quite pleased and encouraged with our performance the past 5-6 games.

Absolutely love the way Boyd and Kier and Calixte are playing. They have really progressed nicely.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

2-0 is great, especially the margins we won by. But wow, beating the son of David will give us a real sense of excitement. A definitive statement we have turned the corner and are an elite A10 team this year.

 

[Copes4Three]

My bold prediction. Greene and Kier LOCK up Grady however Luka Brajkovic and Jon Axel Gudmundsson will give us fits. Luka Brajkovic will be nailing 3's which will cause Paulsen to either play Mar or Wilson at the 5. It will go back and forth for most of the game, Mason just can't find itself going in these little 3-4 minutes runs without a score, thankfully the defense has picked up so the other team doesn't go on a long run during that span.

The impact players are Wilson, Mar and Otis.

Final Mason 68, Davison 66 on a buzzer beater 3 by Kier who has been playing out of his mind lately.

 

[Petey Buckets]

New post on GiantKiller! Shamelessly pimping it here:

Earlier in the season I used this space to whine about how poorly Mason defended the paint. I had all sorts of numbers that showed they were terrible – 72.4% opponent field goal percentage at the rim, 13th worst in the entire country, and allowing opponents to get almost 38% of their shots at the rim. Those numbers have turned around in a big way – Mason still isn’t great at defending the rim (66.1% on the season), but they are keeping opponents out from getting there in the first place. Only 30% of opponent shots come at the rim – that’s now the 48th best mark in the country, a remarkable improvement.

https://giantkiller.co/2019/01/06/george-mason-basketball-weekly-rundown-at-the-top-of-the-a10/

 

[PoorManProfit]

The Patriot are a hot team right now and they need to ride this to a win over the Wildcats.

Davidson 71
G Mas 72

 

[TweederGMU]

Pats are hot and Davidson playing like crap on the road. We knee them in the balls off the tip and never look back.

Goodguys 70
Opie Cunninghams 67

 

[GreenLantern]

Us - 69
Them - 68
OT

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Us - 69
Them - 68
OT

Maybe the strippers will go into overtime too.


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[GMUYoda]

I have a feeling that this will be another one of those games where we come out slow... then turn it on in the 2nd half again. Close game... but Davidson is able to hold on

Davidson 72
Mason 67

 

[GMUSig03]

I have a feeling that this will be another one of those games where we come out slow... then turn it on in the 2nd half again. Close game... but Davidson is able to hold on

Davidson 72
Mason 67

Variety of factors in this game, 2 most concerning things to me are that they have two stars that need to be stopped, as opposed to 1 (ala SJU and SBU) and it seems like everyone on their team can shoot 3's.

*Avoid slow start for us
*Shoot moderately well from 3
*Catch them on an off shooting night, or at least keep them from going off
*Kier steps up to help Javon defend Grady and JAG
*Continue to limit TO's
*Crash the boards

Probably need at least 4 out of those 6 to pull out win - really excited for this game, wish students were back and it was on the weekend.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t know that I would consider anyone else on Davidson an offensive star the same way Brown, Stockard and Grady are. But Gudmundsson is a lock down defender and we have to be careful about letting that hurt us, especially since I expect him to be on Otis.

 

[psyclone]

Kenpom: Mason by 2 (up from 1 after the results of the last game)
Sagarin: Davidson by .02, so essentially a pick'em game.

Other info from Kenpom:

Davidson is good on offense at:

• effective FG% (82d) and low turnover % (90); 2 pt % (52), FT% (9), and avoiding blocks and steals
• But they do not get a high % of offensive rebounds (314), and have a relatively low % of being fouled on their FG attempts (320)

On defense,

• They defend the 2 well (99), don't allow a high % of offensive rebounds (48) or commit fouls on other team's FG attempts (84)
• However, they don't defend the 3 particularly well (255) or create turnovers via steals (284)

Naturally many of our numbers for conference-only games are quite good, but the sample size is much too small to make anything of that yet.

 

[sleeperpick]

I don’t know that I would consider anyone else on Davidson an offensive star the same way Brown, Stockard and Grady are. But Gudmundsson is a lock down defender and we have to be careful about letting that hurt us, especially since I expect him to be on Otis.

Ya idk about that.. all in the definition of star.. Give me Gudmundsson over the Stockard and Brown on my team... dude does everything

 

[GMUSig03]

Ya idk about that.. all in the definition of star.. Give me Gudmundsson over the Stockard and Brown on my team... dude does everything

Gudmundsson's offensive stats are nearly identical to Grady's across the Board, while adding 6.1 RB's 4.6 assists and 1.1 steals a game:

 

[sleeperpick]

Gudmundsson's offensive stats are nearly identical to Grady's across the Board, while adding 6.1 RB's 4.6 assists and 1.1 steals a game:

JAG as they call him is clearly a top 5 A10 guy. thus I am confused about the comment regarding he is no Brown (volume shooter/super overrated and has less than 1 assist per game) and Stockard (eh)

 

[Washingtonian]

Over/under 139.

 

[Mason2005]

Gudmundsson's offensive stats are nearly identical to Grady's across the Board, while adding 6.1 RB's 4.6 assists and 1.1 steals a game:

We shut one of the 2 out and we win

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[NewPatriot]

I am betting the whole bank

MASON 67
DAVIDSON 52.

Outside Grady and Axle "Rose" good "Charles" Manson, Davidson has a bunch of stiffs.

Now, like Red Aurebach, I will light Mason green victory cigar