George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Navy
Men's Basketball Tips Off at The Veterans Classic Wednesday
11/24/2020 1:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
When the ball is tipped tomorrow at The Veterans Classic at Navy at noon, Year II of the Jamion Christian era officially begins for GW men's basketball. New faces in new places abound for the Buff and Blue. Tune in at 12 p.m. on CBSSN as John Sadak and Pete Gillen will have the call of the game when the Colonials take on the Midshipmen.
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NO SLEEP SINCE BROOKLYN
When GW last took the floor at the 2020 A-10 Championship and Brooklyn, Maceo Jack (40 minutes), Jamison Battle (35 minutes) and Chase Paar (22 minutes) were the lone Colonials who saw action in that game and remain with the team. Jameer Nelson Jr. sat out the final game of last season due to injury.
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NEW FACES OF MAYHEM
New to the GW rotation this season is a tandem of Power 5 transfers in Matthew Moyer, a first year grad transfer from Vanderbilt by way of Syracuse, and James Bishop, a sophomore lead guard from LSU who was granted immediate eligibility. Moyer and Bishop join Sloan Seymour, who played for Head Coach Jamion Christian at Siena in 2018-19, as transfers who will be featured this season.
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BATTLE TIME
Sophomore Jamison Battle made a splash as a first-year last season at GW … 89 times. Battle's 89 3-pointers topped the Atlantic 10 Conference, established a new GW single-season record for 3-pointers made and led the country in triples by a freshman. He hit at least one 3-pointer in all 32 games and finished 32nd in the country in 3s made.
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JACKED UP
Senior Maceo Jack is the only member of the Buff and Blue who is in his fourth year with the program. The steady scorer from Buffalo, son of UB's women's coach Felisha Legette-Jack, has seen his scoring jump every season at GW, from 2.8 ppg as a first-year, to 11.5 as a sophomore to 11.7 last season, in which he finished second in the conference in made 3-pointers with 83, behind only Battle. The duo became the first A-10 teammates to finish 1-2 in made triples since Temple's Mike Vreeswyk and Nate Blackwell in 1986-87.
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#1 SONÂ
Sophomore Jameer Nelson Jr. made an immediate impact last season in his first collegiate contest, debuting by leading the team in points, rebounds and assists in his first game, becoming the only freshman in the country to do so. Nelson went on to put up numbers on the defensive end too, leading all conference freshmen with 1.77 steals per game (55 total), good for sixth in the A-10. With a revamped roster to play with, Nelson Jr. changed his uniform number to #1 this season to signify "new beginnings". Nelson's father and namesake was the 2004 Atlantic 10 Player of Year at Saint Joseph's.
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SEY MOUR THREES
For all of the 3-point firepower GW showed last season with Jamison Battle and Maceo Jack leading the way, this season the team expects to see more 3s courtesy of Siena transfer Sloan Seymour. The 6-foot-9 stretch four buried 94 3s as a freshman at Siena, and now gives GW what's believed to be the only trio in the country who have each hit 80+ 3s in a single season.
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POWER UP
Matthew Moyer and James Bishop were not the only Power 5 transfers to join the program this season, as DC-product Ricky Lindo also returned to the city after transferring from nearby Maryland. Moyer, Bishop and Lindo give GW four Power 5 conference transfers in the last two seasons, after Amir Harris returned to the DMV after playing at Nebraska as a freshman. Prior to this group, GW's last Power 5 transfer was Tyler Cavanaugh, who transferred from Wake Forest and went on to score more than 1,000 points for the Buff and Blue, win the NIT's Most Outstanding Player award in the 2016 NIT Championship and represent GW in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz.
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LOCALLY GROWN
GW features an all-DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) first-year class comprised of Lincoln Ball (Williamsport, Md.), Tyler Brelsford (Ellicott City, Md.) and Noel Brown (Leesburg, Va.). The 6-foot-11, 275-pound Brown figures to see playing time early backing up Paar at the center spot. Ball, Brelsford and Brown are three of nine student-athletes on the GW roster who hail from the DMV. 2021 signee Brayon Freeman is also a DMV product who chose to stay home over multiple Power 5 offers.
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BACK IN THE BRIGHT LIGHT
GW's appearance in the first national-televised tilt of the college basketball season in The Veterans Classic is familiar territory for fans of the Buff and Blue. The Colonials also tipped off ESPN's 24-hour college basketball marathon in November of 2016 when GW knocked off then-No. 6 Virginia at a sold-out Smith Center. GW finished that season defeating Florida, San Diego St. and Valparaiso in succession to win the NIT with the eyes of the college basketball world watching.
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