Game 33: NIT Tournament - GMU (23-9) vs Liberty (25-7) on Tuesday, March 17, at 6:00 PM.

[Patriotsince81]

Posting this in a thread at request of admin. Repeat in the NIT thread. Didn't want to step on any toes.

Liberty is a member of Conference USA. They finished the year 25-7 overall and 17-3 in conference which was good enough for 1st place. They won the regular season title by 4 games over their nearest rival Sam Houston St. They lost to #9 Seed Missouri State 77-69 in the opening round of their conference tournament. Missouri St. was 8-12 in league play and just 16-18 overall.

KenPom: 125
NET: 106

Liberty is 1-1 against Quad 1 teams, 1-0 against Quad 2, 9-4 against Quad 3, and 11-2 against Quad 4 teams.

The game is on ESPN 2.

Probable Starters:
Brett Decker 16.8 ppg
Kaden Metheny 13.4 ppg
Zach Cleveland - 11.8 ppg
Colin Porter 11.4 ppg
JJ Harper - 10.8 ppg

Reserves averaging double digit minutes:
Josh Smith 7.0 ppg
Zander Carter 3.2 ppg

Team Stats:

Liberty averages 78.2 points per game while giving up 70.4.

They shoot 51.4% from the floor and 39.8% from 3.
Opponents shoot 45.2% from the field and 26.0% from 3.

The Flames shoot 70.5% from the free throw line.

They have been out rebounded opponents by 3.5 boards per game and average 8.8 turnovers per contest.

Thoughts: Will we want to play and compete is the main question. If our hearts aren’t in it, well…. If we buy in to the chance to keep playing and improve then……

 

[DRK331]

Liberty Flames basketball wiki page:

Liberty Flames basketball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Patriotsince81]

Just got tickets, unlike last year I got to keep my seats. Not general admission which I'm sure has already been covered in the other thread.

 

[DRK331]

Why isn't this game General Admission?

 

[Where's the party?]

Just got tickets, unlike last year I got to keep my seats. Not general admission which I'm sure has already been covered in the other thread.

Where'd you got to get the tix?

 

[Patriotsince81]

Where'd you got to get the tix?

My Mason Nation account. No tickets yet so I just printed the paid invoice to show at the gate in case they don't get to my wallet.

 

[jessej]

Where'd you got to get the tix?

I have women's BBall season tickets and didnt get anything in my account.
I could not find either tix for sale on GoMason.
Went to the normal Ticketmaster acct and purchased seats there.

Had the seats been GA i would have bought at the Box Office and saved the Ticketmaster fees

 

[Patriotsince81]

Why isn't this game General Admission?

I don't know but I am happy to keep my regular seats.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

Tough match up for us. We better play some seriously good defense.

 

[psyclone]

Why isn't this game General Admission?

I think they want to be sure that season ticket holders have a shot to keep their regular seats. Makes more sense if there were an actual demand for seats, but with low attendance mid-week, it won't matter that much as there will be plenty of good seats available.

 

[Pablo]

https://www.aseaofred.com/liberty-at-george-mason-nit-first-round-preview/

"LIBERTY PROJECTED STARTERS​

#0 Colin Porter
Senior Guard | 5’10”, 170
2025-26 stats: 11.4 ppg, 3.5 apg, 3.0 rpg

#3 Kaden Metheny
R-Senior Guard | 5’11”, 170
2025-26 stats: 13.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.1 apg

#4 Brett Decker
Sophomore Guard | 6’3″, 190
2025-26 stats: 16.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 48.1% 3-point field goals

#9 JJ Harper
R-Senior Guard | 6’5″, 200
2025-26 stats: 10.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 59.1% FG

#25 Zach Cleveland
Senior Forward | 6’7″, 220
2025-26 stats: 11.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 6.8 apg, 62.1% FG"

"George Mason and Liberty have faced two common opponents in Florida Atlantic and Dayton. The Patriots defeated FAU, 74-65, on a neutral floor on November 25 and lost at home to Dayton, 82-67, on February 18. The Flames beat both Dayton (64-61 in Dayton on December 20) and FAU (88-68 in Lynchburg on November 9)."

Colleges with the Largest Enrollment in Virginia

Find the biggest size colleges in Virginia ranked and explore detailed college ratings and profiles.

www.collegesimply.com

 

[Portlandian]

• Spread:GMU -5.5
• Total:143.5

 

[GMU79]

https://www.aseaofred.com/liberty-at-george-mason-nit-first-round-preview/

"LIBERTY PROJECTED STARTERS​

#0 Colin Porter
Senior Guard | 5’10”, 170
2025-26 stats: 11.4 ppg, 3.5 apg, 3.0 rpg

#3 Kaden Metheny
R-Senior Guard | 5’11”, 170
2025-26 stats: 13.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.1 apg

#4 Brett Decker
Sophomore Guard | 6’3″, 190
2025-26 stats: 16.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 48.1% 3-point field goals

#9 JJ Harper
R-Senior Guard | 6’5″, 200
2025-26 stats: 10.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 59.1% FG

#25 Zach Cleveland
Senior Forward | 6’7″, 220
2025-26 stats: 11.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 6.8 apg, 62.1% FG"

"George Mason and Liberty have faced two common opponents in Florida Atlantic and Dayton. The Patriots defeated FAU, 74-65, on a neutral floor on November 25 and lost at home to Dayton, 82-67, on February 18. The Flames beat both Dayton (64-61 in Dayton on December 20) and FAU (88-68 in Lynchburg on November 9)."

Uh oh.

 

[psyclone]

Saw this on LinkedIn from Andy Ruge who was head of Mason's ticket office before he left for GW.

"NIT season reminds me of when we hosted Tennessee in 2004. The turnaround for tickets was tight. A few hours before the tip, I received a call from Jack Powers, Executive Director of the NIT for over 20 years. He asked me how many tickets we sold. I told him, and he replied, “That’s terrible.” And hung up on me. I just laughed. It turned out to be one of the best gameday crowds I’ve been part of, as we made it general admission, and the lower bowl was packed and rowdy. Mason defeated Tennessee 58-55 to advance to the next round. That was Head Coach Jim Larranaga’s first postseason win as a head coach, and a sophomore named Tony Skinn had a big game. BTW, we had over 4,100 at the game. What was your memory of it?"

 

[psyclone]

Uh oh.

That common opponent comparison isn't very encouraging for us. We do appear to have a size advantage-they are getting a combined~25 pts and 6-7 assists from 2 guys under 6 feet. Hopefully, they're not Jevone Bennett clones!

 

[Ben Chwarmer]

Liberty is good! This is going to be tough

 

[GSII]

Surley we can last until we see Keyshawn Hall, or is he gonna be in NBA by then.

 

[Pablo]

Saw this on LinkedIn from Andy Ruge who was head of Mason's ticket office before he left for GW.

"NIT season reminds me of when we hosted Tennessee in 2004. The turnaround for tickets was tight. A few hours before the tip, I received a call from Jack Powers, Executive Director of the NIT for over 20 years. He asked me how many tickets we sold. I told him, and he replied, “That’s terrible.” And hung up on me. I just laughed. It turned out to be one of the best gameday crowds I’ve been part of, as we made it general admission, and the lower bowl was packed and rowdy. Mason defeated Tennessee 58-55 to advance to the next round. That was Head Coach Jim Larranaga’s first postseason win as a head coach, and a sophomore named Tony Skinn had a big game. BTW, we had over 4,100 at the game. What was your memory of it?"

George Mason Takes Out Tennessee, 58-55, In NIT Opener - George Mason University Athletics

March 17, 2004 Box Score FAIRFAX, Va. - Three players scored in double figures for George Mason which won its first postseason game in 18 years Wednesday

gomason.com

 

[DRK331]

Being in the NIT means more ticket sales and media exposure for Mason. This game will be shown on ESPN2 I believe.