On Saturday, Jan. 3, the George Mason men’s basketball team was able to drill a season-best number of 3-pointers (13) en route to a 101-60 drubbing of UNC Wilmington.
Two days later, Mason switched gears and game plans.
Facing an early 10-4 deficit Monday night against Georgia State, the Patriots started to pound the ball inside, darting off on a 19-3 run that led to a 23-13 advantage.
But trailing 40-37 with about seven minutes left in the game, Mason switched yet again. This time to a four-guard lineup, with the hope of facilitating some fast-break points, and the Patriots rattled off the final margin necessary for a 58-52 win.
Thirteen games into the 2008-09 season, Mason has shown an ability to re-invent itself at a moment’s notice, with the final seven minutes of Monday’s game serving as the latest batch of evidence.
“The environment is going to be different every time; no game is going to be the same,” said sophomore guard Cam Long, who finished with a game-high 18 points against the Panthers. “I think if we’re mentally prepared, we’re capable of doing anything.”
Head coach Jim Larranaga noted another game-to-game mutation, though this one wasn’t as pleasant as having the ability to score from anywhere on the floor.
“The first question you would ask yourself if you saw us play on Saturday and then watched us [Monday] would be, ‘How do you go from 27 assists to seven assists?’” Larranaga joked at the start of his postgame press conference. “I thought mentally we looked a little tired.”
<b>DESPITE THE</b> lack of assisted baskets, Larranaga’s team improved to 10-3 overall, 3-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association with the Georgia State win.
Though Mason pulled itself out of that mid-game funk when Larranaga moved to the smaller, quicker lineup, fatigue will likely become a factor for the Patriots as they’re in the middle of the toughest portion of their conference schedule.
Starting with a 66-62 loss at Dayton on Dec. 30, Mason will be playing five games in a 12-day stretch. In addition to Wednesday’s game against Towson, the Patriots will host Old Dominion on Saturday.
But against a conference foe, George Mason started sluggish and allowed Georgia State’s Leonard Mendez to score his team's first nine points — all from beyond the three-point line. Luckily, Mason tightened down and held Mendez to 16 for the game.
“Our energy was low,” said senior forward Darryl Monroe, who chipped in with 15 points and 11 rebounds. “We had a good shoot-around. Everybody was ready to go, but we just got off to a slow start.”
“We were not mentally sharp, and some of it had to do with Georgia State’s defense,” Larranaga said. “I thought they did a good job of contesting certain things that we do.”
<b>LARRANAGA KNOWS</b> how rowdy George Mason’s students can make the Patriot Center. A fabled run to the Final Four in 2006 turned Mason Nation upside down and little of that enthusiasm has dissipated in Fairfax.
But even a formidable program like the one Larranaga has built off of University Drive during his 12-year tenure can’t move Christmas.
With the bulk of Mason’s students at home for the holiday break, season ticket holders and older fans got behind the home team, erupting when Dre Smith (9 points) fed Long for a 3-pointer to push Mason’s lead to 50-42 with 2:49 left.
“I thought the crowd was really instrumental in helping us make the comeback,” Larranaga said. “We had some students, but it was mostly our season ticket holders and our adult fans who really lifted us. I’m very, very pleased and thankful for that.”
Larranaga, with a career record at the school of 218-135 — more wins than any other coach in Mason men’s basketball history — is also thankful for his team’s ability to adapt.
Asked when the first time was that he resorted to a four-guard alignment, Larranaga kept the humor coming.
“This season … let me think,” Larranaga said, “… uh, this was the first time.”