Game 16: GMU (14-1 / 2-0) at Fordham (9-6 / 0-2) on Wednesday, January 7, at 7:00 PM.

Patriotsince81

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Zarique Nutter - 12.7 ppg & 5.7 reb - Senior - left the team after 3 games. Groin injury, it remains to be seen if he will seek an extra year.

Preseason predictions:
Fordham was picked to finish last in A10 Preseason Polls.
DeJour Reaves was chosen to the All-Conference 3rd Team. He averaged 17.3 ppg and 5.5 rebounds last year at Iona. He currently paces Fordham averaging 16.4 ppg.

The game is on ESPN+.

KenPom:
Gives us a 70% chance of winning.
GMU - 87
Fordham - 193
NET:
GMU - 84
Fordham - 202

History:
According to the 25-26 prospectus we are 7-10 against Fordham all-time. According to our schedule page we’re 7-9. Pick your poison.
Tony Skinn is 1-1 against Fordham.

Fordham is currently 9-6 on the season and 0-2 in A10 play. They are 7-3 at home, 0-2 on the road, and 2-1 at neutral sites.

The Rams have not played against any Quad 1 teams, they are 0-1 vs Quad 2, 0-3 vs Quad 3, and 6-2 against Quad 4 teams.

Schedule: https://fordhamsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Wins: D3 Mount Saint Mary’s New York (106-37), Wagner College (63-61), D3 Manhattanville U (96-62), LIU (69-53), D2 Franklin Pierce (74-72), U at Albany (88-68), FDU (75-54), Manhattan (82-53), U of New Haven (65-47)
Losses: NJIT (72-61), Iona (76-71), Colgate (72-62), Holy Cross (70-69), Dayton (63-56), Richmond (83-75)

Probable Starters: 9 players have started for the Rams so far this season. The 5 below started against Richmond.
6’0” DeJour Reaves - 16.4 ppg & 4.4 reb - Grad Student
6’9” Rikus Schulte - 11.7 ppg & 10.0 reb - Junior
6’10” Akira Jacobs - 7.0 ppg & 4.9 reb - Junior
6’2” Marcus Greene - 6.8 ppg - Grad Student
6’3” Christian Henry - 12.2 ppg - Senior

Reserves averaging double figure minutes:
6’11” Jack Whitbourn - 7.0 ppg & 8.5 reb - Sophomore (has only played in 3 games but had 12 points & 11 reb against Richmond)
6’7” Roor Akhuar - 6.0 ppg - Freshman
6’10” Abass Bodija - 6.9 ppg & 5.1 reb - Freshman
6’6” Louis Lesmond - 3.5 ppg - Grad Student
6’4” Ryan Pettis - 2.2 ppg - Sophomore - has only played in 6 games

Roster: https://fordhamsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Team Stats:
Fordham averages 74.1 points per game (11th in the the A10) while giving up 61.4 (1st in the A10 and 5th nationally).

The Rams shoot 46.7% from the floor (7th in the A10) and 30.1% from 3 (12th in the A10).
Opponents are shooting 39.3% from the field and 31.7% from 3.

They shoot 66.7% from the free throw line (last in the A10).

They have out rebounded opponents by 11.5 boards per game and average 11.9 turnovers per contest.

Stats: https://fordhamsports.com/documents/2025/12/2/25-26_MBB_Stats.pdf

Thoughts: Three of their wins are against D2 or D3 teams. Their six D1 wins were against teams with NET rankings between 193 and 354. So, their schedule has been weak to date. But, they just played Dayton very tough at home, losing by 7. They are big and tough. Expect a dogfight.

That being said, throw out the records when we play in the Bronx. We’re just 1-7 playing them in New York at Rose Hill Gym or Barclays Center.

The Rams are 5th in the nation in points allowed, 32nd in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, and 10th in rebound margin. Are these rankings partly due to strength of schedule? One could argue that point. Or are they just tough?

Given our propensity to start games slowly and our dismal history in New York I will not be at all surprised if we lose this one. I’ll be disappointed but not surprised. All I can do is hope for is a win, that’s it. Just win. This is a HUGE game.

Discuss.
 

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GMU79

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The Rams play Richmond on Sunday the 4th at Noon. I’ll update everything Sunday afternoon.
Zarique Nutter - 12.7 ppg & 5.7 reb - Senior - left the team after 3 games. Groin injury, it remains to be seen if he will seek an extra year.

Preseason predictions:
Fordham was picked to finish last in A10 Preseason Polls.
DeJour Reaves was chosen to the All-Conference 3rd Team. He averaged 17.3 ppg and 5.5 rebounds last year at Iona. He currently paces Fordham averaging 16.4 ppg.

The game is on ESPN+.

KenPom:
Gives us a 69% chance of winning.
GMU - 87
Fordham - 185
NET:
GMU - 84
Fordham - 202

History:
According to the 25-26 prospectus we are 7-10 against Fordham all-time. According to our schedule page we’re 7-9. Pick your poison.
Tony Skinn is 1-1 against Fordham.

Fordham is currently 9-5 on the season and 0-1 in A10 play. They are 7-2 at home, 0-2 on the road, and 2-1 at neutral sites.

The Rams have not played against any Quad 1 teams, they are 0-1 vs Quad 2, 0-2 vs Quad 3, and 6-2 against Quad 4 teams.

Schedule: https://fordhamsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Wins: D3 Mount Saint Mary’s New York (106-37), Wagner College (63-61), D3 Manhattanville U (96-62), LIU (69-53), D2 Franklin Pierce (74-72), U at Albany (88-68), FDU (75-54), Manhattan (82-53), U of New Haven (65-47)
Losses: NJIT (72-61), Iona (76-71), Colgate (72-62), Holy Cross (70-69), Dayton (63-56)

Probable Starters: 9 players have started for the Rams so far this season. The 5 below started last time out against Dayton.
6’0” DeJour Reaves - 16.4 ppg & 4.4 reb - Grad Student
6’9” Rikus Schulte - 11.7 ppg & 10.0 reb - Junior
6’10” Akira Jacobs - 7.0 ppg & 4.9 reb - Junior
6’2” Marcus Greene - 6.8 ppg - Grad Student
6’7” Roor Akhuar - 6.0 ppg - Freshman

Reserves averaging double figure minutes:
6’11” Jack Whitbourn - 7.0 ppg & 8.5 reb - Sophomore (has only played in 2 games but had 6 points & 12 reb against Dayton)
6’3” Christian Henry - 12.2 ppg - Senior - did not play against Dayton
6’10” Abass Bodija - 6.9 ppg & 5.1 reb - Freshman
6’6” Louis Lesmond - 3.5 ppg - Grad Student
6’4” Ryan Pettis - 2.2 ppg - Sophomore - has only played in 6 games

Roster: https://fordhamsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Team Stats:
Fordham averages 74.1 points per game (11th in the the A10) while giving up 61.4 (1st in the A10 and 5th nationally).

The Rams shoot 46.7% from the floor (7th in the A10) and 30.1% from 3 (12th in the A10).
Opponents are shooting 39.3% from the field and 31.7% from 3.

They shoot 66.7% from the free throw line (last in the A10).

They have out rebounded opponents by 11.5 boards per game and average 11.9 turnovers per contest.

Stats: https://fordhamsports.com/documents/2025/12/2/25-26_MBB_Stats.pdf

Thoughts: Three of their wins are against D2 or D3 teams. Their six D1 wins were against teams with NET rankings between 193 and 354. So, their schedule has been weak to date. But, they just played Dayton very tough at home, losing by 7. They are big and tough. Expect a dogfight.

That being said, throw out the records when we play in the Bronx. We’re just 1-7 playing them in New York at Rose Hill Gym or Barclays Center.

The Rams are 5th in the nation in points allowed, 32nd in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, and 10th in rebound margin. Are these rankings partly due to strength of schedule? One could argue that point. Or are they just tough?

Given our propensity to start games slowly and our dismal history in New York I will not be at all surprised if we lose this one. I’ll be disappointed but not surprised. All I can do is hope for is a win, that’s it. Just win. This is a HUGE game.

Discuss.
Agreed. Fordham seems to be our nemesis.
 

mkaufman1

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I will be there in person. For reference the 3 times they have lost (2018,2022,2024) they had leads in each game (18,24), and the other time they lost ugly (22).

the one time they won was march 2020.
 

beau75

Four-star Recruit
I will be there in person. For reference the 3 times they have lost (2018,2022,2024) they had leads in each game (18,24), and the other time they lost ugly (22).

the one time they won was march 2020.
need to hit up case De mozzarella or Mike’s deli on Arthur avenue. Walking distance from the university.

 

mkaufman1

Administrator
Staff member
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GIVING DAY 2023
need to hit up case De mozzarella or Mike’s deli on Arthur avenue. Walking distance from the university.

While I do love me some Arthur Avenue, I most likely will not have time to venture anywhere before tipoff due to work.
 

psyclone

Hall of Famer
From A10 Talk, a fairly detailed summary of Fordham's December games as background for their Sunday (today) game vs Richmond:
 
For a majority of the first half Fordham was running 3 guys over 6'10". None of the bigs seemed super athletic though and their perimeter defense was terrible, like literally standing there watching guys shoot from 6' away. If we don't allow them to beat us on second chance attempts and can get those slow bigs to foul we'll pull ahead in the late second half as we do. Kanga should be able to feast here.
 

psyclone

Hall of Famer
In watching snippets of the Fordham-Richmond game today, I must admit that I'm not fond of the tv camera angle. Too low. Makes the floor look smaller and more crowded . Not sure if the espn+ stream would be any different for our game with them on Wednesday.
 
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