George Washington University
Morgan State
Men's Basketball Hosts Morgan St. on Beach Day Saturday
11/15/2019 12:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LET'S GO THE BEACH: Playing its third-straight home game in a span of eight days, the George Washington men's basketball team hosts Morgan State on Saturday. Tip time from GW is 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and the TuneIn radio app at Beach Day at the Charles E. Smith Center.
LAST TIME OUT: Arnaldo Toro had a game-high 20 points and grabbed an all-time A-10 record-tying 24 rebounds. However, the Battle of the Nelsons took center stage with American senior point guard Sa'eed Nelson leading the Eagles to a 67-65 victory with a buzzer-beater jumper after GW rookie Jameer Nelson Jr. nearly sent the game to overtime on a layup with 14 seconds remaining.
ABOUT MORGAN ST.: The Bears (1-2) make the short trip from Baltimore to Foggy Bottom for GW's final home game in the first month of the season. Morgan State is coming off back-to-back defeats to Temple and Saint Francis University. Isaiah Burke led the Bears with 16 points and Stanley Davis had 10 points and eight rebounds last time out.
SERIES HISTORY: Although GW and Morgan State are separated by 50 miles, Saturday is just the fifth all-time meeting with the Colonials holding a 4-0 record. GW is outscoring Morgan State by an average of 27 points per victory during the season series. G-Dub has reached triple digits twice during the four-game series and secured a 73-66 victory on Nov. 29, 2017. Five current Colonials saw action two seasons ago with Arnaldo Toro leading the returners with 12 points and seven rebounds. Justin Mazzulla had five points and six rebounds while Adam Mitola and Maceo Jack each played two minutes. Former Colonial Yuta Watanabe led all scorers with 26 points in 39 minutes. For Morgan State, Stanley Davis had 15 points and is one of four remaining Bears from the last meeting against GW.
LA BESTIA: After a breakout game against Howard, Arnaldo Toro continued his beast mode through American with 20 points and 24 rebounds. Toro tied former Colonial great Yinka Dare (2/6/93 vs. Saint Bonaventure) for the Atlantic 10 and GW single-game rebounding record. In the last two games, Toro is averaging 21 points and 21 rebounds per game. Nationally, Toro is first in rebounds per game (16.3), total rebounds (49), fourth in offensive rebounds per game (6.3), and fifth in defensive rebounds per game (10.0). He is also fourth in double-doubles with two.
BATTLE STAR: First year Jamison Battle sits tied for second among freshmen in the country with 3.3 made 3-pointers per game. Max Abmas (Oral Roberts) leads all rookies with 4.0 made triples per game, through Thursday night. Battle is tied with T.J. Weeks (UMass), Spencer Jones (Stanford), and Cole Anthony (North Carolina) with 10 threes on the season.
