SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – George Mason’s 55-52 win at Rhode Island on Wednesday night was like several of their wins thus far. They had to grind the game out at a slower speed than they would like and had perhaps more of a struggle than they should, but their depth and talent won out. While they are 5-2, they have been consistently inconsistent thus far and have some clear work to do to live up to their talent.
“We all believe in each other, that’s our motto,” said sophomore forward Erik Copes, who had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Patriots. “We grinded it out, believed in each other.”
George Mason entered the season as perhaps the most talented team in the Colonial Athletic Association, but with question marks in terms of roles and intangibles. The reason for both is the loss of one of the best classes in school history, a core group of Andre Cornelius, Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson, who won a number of games together over their four years in Fairfax. Pearson was also the CAA Player of the Year last year, so a lot of production was lost with those three players as well.
With those three stalwarts gone, holdovers are in new roles, plus they have Johnny Williams back after he redshirted last season, so the Patriots have a lot of adjustments happening early. Head coach Paul Hewitt is playing a lot of players thus far, as ten Patriots average double-digit minutes and only one, Sherrod Wright, averages more than 29 minutes per game. All ten of those players average at least two points, rebounds and/or assists per game, so they all contribute something as well. Ultimately, they might even go 11 or 12 deep, as Paris Bennett didn’t play Wednesday night but has the talent to contribute to this team.
“I think that’s our strength,” said Hewitt of having a lot of players see minutes. “If we play seven, eight guys, I don’t think we’re as good a team. If we play 10, 11 guys and give the type of energy we really need to give, I think we can have a special year.”
The Patriots used their depth well against a Rhode Island team that lacks depth on Wednesday night. In the first half alone, 11 players saw minutes and the Patriots had a 20-3 edge in bench scoring. Sophomore Vaughn Gray had not scored all season long, but had eight points on 3-4 shooting in five minutes en route to a 10-point night. Behind that, the Patriots had a 35-22 lead at the half, one they would relinquish thanks to a 15-2 run by Rhode Island to start the second half. For the night, the Patriots’ bench had a 24-9 edge.
The depth can come in especially handy at the point guard spot, where Bryon Allen has been the incumbent and has started well, but he’s the kind of player that can leave you feeling uneasy at times as he has a penchant for taking gambles and will turn the ball over. Corey Edwards could start on some CAA teams but comes off the bench here. While that can be a real strength for them, it hasn’t been what it can be thus far and Hewitt feels they need to play better.
“In order for us to be good, they can’t combine for seven turnovers,” said Hewitt. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting us into our stuff.”
Hewitt didn’t place the difficulty of running the offense solely on the point guards, but they are certainly responsible. The entire team isn’t playing at the speed they should be, though.
“I can’t understand why we’re not cutting harder and we’re not running faster,” Hewitt said. “We feel good about our 5-2 record. We knew this was not going to be an easy game no matter what it looked like in the first half. We’ll keep working, keep grinding it out until we get our legs together and be able to run in transition and get easy baskets.”
Wright, who led the Patriots with 14 points on Wednesday night, was thought to be the most likely player to be in the role of go-to guy this season, as he’s certainly talented enough. So far, he seems to be doing that, and Hewitt said he saw a change in Wright’s approach about two weeks after practice started, which seems to have made a big difference. He is shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from long range, and has scored in double figures in all but one game, a nine-point, nine-rebound effort against Boston University.
Last season, the Patriots played at a fast pace. They led the conference in scoring as the only team to top 70 points per game and were by far the best shooting team at over 46 percent from the field. Playing at that fast pace also meant turnovers, and only two CAA teams gave it away more than they did. That will happen with more possessions and sometimes a team can play too fast.
Thus far, George Mason has had to play slower. They have reached 70 points just once in seven games and have scored 60 or more two other times. After Wednesday night, they are shooting below 44 percent. While they are winning, with Wednesday night being their third straight win, they haven’t been doing it the way they would like. That’s good in the sense that a team has to be able to win if the other team can control tempo, but bad in the sense that they haven’t been able to play the best way for them to win.
Hewitt also sees a consistency issue, which happens with many teams early. Given the changes with this team from a personnel standpoint, it’s not entirely shocking, but it’s one thing he wants to solve.
“I think we, right now, have been one good game, one bad game,” said Hewitt. “Tonight, it was one good half, one bad half.”
George Mason has five non-conference games left, three of them away from the Patriot Center. Those games are matchups against Maryland on Sunday in the BB&T Classic, Richmond at the Richmond Coliseum and South Florida. It’s not a slate likely to put the Patriots in position for an at-large bid should they make a good run through the CAA, which increasingly looks like a one-bid conference this season. But it will have them battle-tested, and by then some of the questions may be answered.
