George Washington University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts VCU on Saturday
2/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Rams have dropped three of their last four, with an overtime win over Dayton last Saturday going along with losses to Rhode Island, Richmond and Davidson. Forward Justin Tillman is nearly averaging a double-double with 19.3 ppg and 9.3 rpg, and had 18 & 8 in the first meeting with the Colonials last month. Guard De'Riante Jenkins also netted 18 against GW in that meeting and for the season, ranks second on the team with 13.0 ppg. As a team, VCU ranks third in the league in scoring at 76.9 ppg.TIPPING OFF: After winning two of its last three games, the GW men's basketball team returns home looking for a bit of revenge against its next two opponents, VCU and Richmond, after dropping the first game in the series earlier this season. The Colonials first host the Rams on Saturday at 4:00 before the Spiders come to the Smith Center on Wednesday.
LAST TIME OUT: Five players scored in double figures, led by Patrick Steeves' 16, as the Colonials led for nearly the entirety of an 83-72 win at UMass on Wednesday. Steeves tallied 12 points and nine rebounds by intermission, and went on to finish with 16 points (8-10 FGs) and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double. Joining him in double figures were Yuta Watanabe (13), Terry Nolan Jr. (12), Jair Bolden (12) and Arnaldo Toro (11) while Bo Zeigler nearly made it six by finishing with nine points. GW shot 50.8 percent for the game in tallying its most points since the season opener vs. Howard, when it had 84.
ABOUT VCU: The Rams have dropped three of their last four, with an overtime win over Dayton last Saturday going along with losses to Rhode Island, Richmond and Davidson. Forward Justin Tillman is nearly averaging a double-double with 19.3 ppg and 9.3 rpg, and had 18 & 8 in the first meeting with the Colonials last month. Guard De'Riante Jenkins also netted 18 against GW in that meeting and for the season, ranks second on the team with 13.0 ppg. As a team, VCU ranks third in the league in scoring at 76.9 ppg.
SERIES HISTORY: VCU has won four straight and owns a 12-2 lead all-time. The Colonials are looking for their first victory in the series since Feb. 6, 2016 at VCU, and first at home since Jan. 14, 2014.
YUTA'S SHOOTING SURGE: Since A-10 play began, Watanabe has heated up from the field. The senior is averaging 16.8 points per game in league games and shooting .441 (30-68) from three-point range, including a 3-of-7 effort from distance on Wednesday night. He's reached double figures in scoring in all 13 games.
TORO'S STARTING SURGE: Toro, who started the first 16 games of the season before coming off the bench in five of the next seven games, has taken advantage of being inserted back into the starting lineup. Over the last three games, all starts, Toro is averaging 11.0 ppg and 8.3 rpg, while playing 28.3 minutes per game. During the aforementioned seven game stretch, he had averaged just 2.7 ppg and 3.4 rpg while playing 15.4 mpg. Most recently, he had 11 points and eight rebounds and played a big part in GW dominating the glass, 43-28, against UMass.
MAZZULLA TAKES THE POINT: Freshman Justin Mazzulla has been inserted into the starting lineup as the primary point guard the last five games and performed admirably. He's averaging 3.6 assists per game and owns a 2.1-to-1 assist/turnover ratio. GW is averaging 71.8 ppg in his starts, including two 80-point games, while in the other 21 games the Colonials averaged 63.8 ppg, reaching the 80-point plateau twice.
NOTABLE NUMBERS: GW's plus-15 margin on the glass vs. UMass was its largest all season ... the 25 bench points against the Minutemen were also a season high, as were GW's 18 made free throws ... Wednesday also marked the first time this season GW had five players in double figures scoring ... freshman guard Maceo Jack is averaging 5.3 ppg over the last four games after totaling seven total points in his first 13 appearances ... the Colonials rank fourth nationally in fewest personal fouls per game (14.5) ... Watanabe ranks first in the A-10 and 18th nationally in minutes per game with 36.9.
