Game 28: HOMECOMING - GMU (15-12 / 7-7) vs La Salle (13-13 / 7-6) on Saturday, February 18, at 4:00 PM.

[Patriotsince81]

GMU is 7-3 against La Salle all-time.

KenPom: Gives us a surprisingly high 72% chance of winning.
GMU - 155
La Salle - 220

NET:
Mason - 147
La Salle - 223

La Salle is currently 13-13 on the season and 7-6 in A10 play. They are 8-5 at home, 5-5 on the road, and 0-3 at neutral sites.

Wins: Wagner (77-69), Queens Univ. NC (72-60), Binghamton (65-62), Penn (84-81), Bucknell (82-72), Howard (80-76), Rhode Island (77-75 OT), UMass (78-77), GW (75-64), St, Joe’s (73-65), St. Bonaventure (76-70), UMass (86-72), Richmond (68-62)

Losses: Villanova (81-68), Wake Forest (75-63), Georgetown (69-62), Temple (67-51), Drexel (65-58), Cincinnati (78-60), Lafayette (90-65), vcu (80-67), Fordham (66-64), St. Joe’s (71-59), St. Louis (84-71), Davidson (64-57), Rhode Island (72-70),

Schedule: https://goexplorers.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster: https://goexplorers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats: https://goexplorers.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2022/pdf

La Salle is led by 6’1” Khalil Brantley (14.3 ppg & 4.6 reb) and 6’4” Josh Nickelberry (11.2 ppg). Seven others have started over the course of the year all averaging between 9.1 and 3.3 points per game. Their leading rebounder is 6’7” Fousseyni Dame (9.1 ppg & 5.6 reb). Ten Explorers have averaged double figure minutes played.

La Salle averages 69.6 (11th in the A10) points per game while giving up 72.2 (12th in the A10). The Explorers shoot 42.0% from the floor and 34.1% from 3. Opponents are shooting 44.6% from the field and 35.6% from 3. The Explorers shoot 70.1% from the free throw line. They have been out rebounded opponents by 1.6 boards per game. They average 12.9 turnovers per contest.

The game is on MASN2.

My prediction: THIS GAME IS FREAKING HUGE!!!!! GET OUT TO EBA AND GET LOUD! Despite not having any real go to studs they should not be taken lightly, after all they are ahead of us in the standings. This is another in a long string of MUST wins. A drunk and rowdy Homecoming crowd of 6,000 leaves happy. Mason 71 — LaSalle 64.

Discuss.

 

[gmujim92]

LaSalle is riding a 5-game win streak and they have a group of very good guards, which typically gives us trouble. Take the Explorers to send the homecoming crowd home with a sad L

 

[mkaufman1]

I’ll be there and attending the game with @MasonFanatic in section 115 And be in the gold room.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I better see all of you there.

 

[Bricker]

LaSalle is riding a 5-game win streak and they have a group of very good guards, which typically gives us trouble. Take the Explorers to send the homecoming crowd home with a sad L

I agree. We have no chance. Betting big on LaSalle.

 

[GMU79]

There is absolutely no way we will win this game. Period. Mic Drop.
#reversejinx

 

[p8triotfan4life]

My prediction: THIS GAME IS FREAKING HUGE!!!!! GET OUT TO EBA AND GET LOUD!

Discuss.

you lost me there. there is no huge game. we suck. LOL

 

[Patriotsince81]

you lost me there. there is no huge game. we suck. LOL

LOL. I'd rather not be in the PIG. So, yeah it's HUGE! LOL.

 

[mkaufman1]

I'm going to say this game is pretty big.

You have Mason who now is right in the middle of the "mediocre middle" of the league where they can finish anywhere between 5th and 10th.

They knocked off GW which doesn't give them an automatic tiebreaker, and you have Lasalle who like Mason is right in the middle as well. Add to the fact that Lasalle has won 5 in a row and is playing good ball. Also with a homecoming crowd who may actually remember its a basketball game and not the public library, its going to be a good time.

After last night, and after two wins in a row, I am excited about Saturday and hope the team will come ready to play. Mason is 5-0 against Lasalle in Fairfax and hopefully can go to 6-0.

Much like GW, Lasalle is led by good guard play so they will need to defend them well. Really glad that Ticket is back. Since he has been back, it has helped everyone out defensively especially Singleton.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

Mason: 69
Lasalle: 62

 

[psyclone]

Key game for us for positioning for the A-10 tournament. Kenpom projects us in a 4 way tie for the 6 thru 9 seeds with a 9-9 record along with LaSalle, Bonnies, and St. Joe's. The latter two already have head-to-head tie-breakers with us. 6 and 7 seeds have an advantage in that their first game in the tournament will be against (hopefully tired) opponents that just played 24 hrs earlier. The 8th and 9th seeds play against each other in their first game with the winner getting the #1 seed next.

Link to Brackets: https://atlantic10.com/documents/2022/9/14//23MBB_Bracket.pdf?id=7695

Although kenpom has us favored in our remaining home games, the way LaSalle and Fordham (4-2 in conference away games) are playing lately, that certainly is less than a sure thing.

LaSalle likely feeling pretty good with 5 straight wins, including an away win at Bonaventure. Actually they are 3-3 in away conference games. We need a homecoming crowd to make a difference Saturday!

 

[GreenLantern]

Us 68
Them 67
OT

 

[Where's the party?]

I am going to go way out on a limb as say that as bad as we've played getting the last two wins, we have turned a corner and will continue to beat the teams we should beat from here on out. Not so bold as to say we can beat the better teams, but I am expecting us to beat the teams below us at this point.

That also means being willing to trade punches and not backing down when things get rough. We are too big and too old to be getting pushed around. It starts with Josh playing hard, and Ojiako and Malik being even more physical. Tell them both to go out there and not allow any layups or penetration - period. If they are only going to play 5-10 minutes, then let them dish it out.

Homecoming Kings - 67
Lost Frenchmen - 60

 

[TweederGMU]

Seems like we are clicking all around as a team (finally) and guys are buying in to the schemes and overall game plans we are trying to put in place for each team. Clamp down on their guards and we should win this with a great crowd in attendance and feeding off that energy! JF needs to continue to be aggressive.

Goodguys 74
City of Brotherly Fentanyl 66

 

[nchocola]

Another W incoming. Their identity is close to being found after the past two games. Singleton and Ticket are making a significant impact in the way they play defense as a unit.

 

[tblack33]

Coming into this game on a two game win streak was huge. Hopefully they can find a way to convey to the average homecoming fan how big of a game this is so that it’ll be loud. I’m looking forward to Saturday, I think this will be a close one. Fran Dunphy has a well coached team that isn’t going to get blown out or go away easy.

Mason 69
LaSalle 66

Side note, this is my annual reminder that I wish homecoming was in the OOC. Time it with giving day or whatever, and set up booths to sell discounted season tickets and ticket plans throughout EBA. It makes no sense for us to have our most attended game at the end of the season, where if people enjoy it there’s only one more game they can go to before they forget about Mason basketball for another year.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Side note, this is my annual reminder that I wish homecoming was in the OOC. Time it with giving day or whatever, and set up booths to sell discounted season tickets and ticket plans throughout EBA. It makes no sense for us to have our most attended game at the end of the season, where if people enjoy it there’s only one more game they can go to before they forget about Mason basketball for another year.

Agree 100%. First Saturday home game of the season.

 

[twinmom]

First game back in far too long for our family, and was reminded recently that my kids got to meet Jordan and Josh after homecoming in 2020 and get autographs. I just saw on Twitter that they're charging for postgame autographs. Wut? If this is an NIL thing, totally fine...just took me by surprise.

 

[mkaufman1]

First game back in far too long for our family, and was reminded recently that my kids got to meet Jordan and Josh after homecoming in 2020 and get autographs. I just saw on Twitter that they're charging for postgame autographs. Wut? If this is an NIL thing, totally fine...just took me by surprise.

Have a link? They have been doing free autographs after home games for years, so I'm very surprised there is a charge now.

 

[twinmom]

Have a link? They have been doing free autographs after home games for years, so I'm very surprised there is a charge now.

They posted it on Twitter and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1626628798748803072

View: https://twitter.com/MasonAthletics/status/1626628798748803072?s=20
. That's the post that refers to finding out how to get autographs.

It takes you to their linktree, which takes you here: https://offer.fevo.com/george-mason...ason-basketball-post-game-autographs-c98d478/.

Of course, that link doesn't seem to work.