George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Fordham
Men’s Basketball Closes Road Slate at Fordham
3/5/2019 12:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Colonials and Rams are set for a 7 p.m. tip in Rose Hill Gym
TIPPING OFF: The GW men's basketball team closes the road portion of the 2018-19 regular season with a Wednesday night matchup with the Fordham Rams in Bronx, N.Y. Tip is set for 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPN+ and TuneIn.
LAST TIME OUT: For 20 minutes at the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon, GW gave St. Bonaventure all it could handle. Riding a career-best performance from sophomore sharp-shooter Maceo Jack, the Colonials held a 33-27 lead at intermission thanks to Jack's 20 first-half points. The Bonnies, though, who came in as winners of five straight, made the necessary adjustments to control the second half and come back for a 64-58 victory. Jack finished with a career-high 28 points, but the Colonials couldn't get anyone else to join him in double figures. Justin Mazzulla had all nine of his points in the second half, and fellow sophomore Javier Langarica had a team-high 11 rebounds, but GW's size disadvantage yielded a 39-28 rebounding edge to the Bonnies and resulted in a 19-5 deficit in second chance points in the game that was decided by just six.
SERIES HISTORY: GW, which has won the last nine meetings in a row, and 12 of the last 13, leads the all-time series 28-6 including an 11-4 mark on the road. The Colonials took the first meeting this season back on Jan. 30 behind a career-high 30 points from DJ Williams. GW overcame an early 7-point deficit to take a 20-point lead at its largest, and cruised to a 79-61 win.
STANDINGS CHECK: The Colonials remain in 12th place in the conference standings with a 4-12 record and will play on the opening day of the Atlantic 10 Championship, Wednesday, March 13 in Brooklyn, N.Y. GW is two games behind 11th place Saint Joseph's (6-10), and owns the tiebreaker after defeating the Hawks in their lone meeting. Massachusetts (3-13) is in 13th place while Fordham (2-14) is 14th. In the first round of the A-10 Championship, the #12 and #13 seeds meet at 1:00 p.m., followed by the #11 and #14 seeds at 3:30.
MAKING A CASE FOR MOST IMPROVED: After averaging 2.8 points as a freshman, Jack has made a big jump in production as a sophomore, averaging 11.4 points on the season. Jack has a strong case to be called the Most Improved Player in the Atlantic 10, as his increase in scoring is the second largest in the league. The Buffalo, New York, native leads the team in 3-point field goal percentage (.380) and 3-pointers made (60), marks which ranks fifth and ninth in the league, respectively. Jack has been at his best in A-10 play, averaging 14.1 points which is second on the team and 16th in the conference. He's hit double figures in scoring in 17 of the last 20 games, which tops the team in that stretch. His five games with 20 or more points are also tied for the team lead with DJ Williams.
TIP-INS: After fumbling their halftime lead vs. St. Bonaventure, the Colonials dropped to 5-4 this season when leading at halftime. GW went 28-7 (.800 win percentage) in the previous two seasons when ahead at intermission … Wednesday has been the best day of the week for the Colonials this season, who have picked up half of their total wins on hump day (4-5 record) … Langarica leads the team with six double-figure rebounding games, while his three double-doubles match Arnaldo Toro, who played in seven games in November before being lost for the season with a hip injury … DJ Williams continues to lead GW in scoring (14.5) and is averaging 16.4 ppg over the last 13 games.
