George Mason’s NCAA Tournament hopes now hinge on winning the A-10 Tournament, after an 82-70 Quad 3 loss at Richmond on Tuesday, in a game that was never close.
Richmond (14-11, 4-8 A-10, NET: 141) led by as many as 25 in the first half; it was 49-29 at the break, and Mason (21-4, 9-3 A-10, NET: 86) made the final look better by closing out garbage time with a 21-7 extended run.
“That’s not George Mason Basketball,” head coach Tony Skinn said. “My message to the team was that Richmond was going to give us everything they had. [The record] doesn’t matter. I just thought the first two minutes, their toughness and their effort level, taking us out of offense, moving and cutting at a high level – that set the tone.”
Fatt Hill led the Patriots with a season-best 23 points (8-of-11 FG) and grabbed eight rebounds in 35 minutes.
Riley Allenspach added 16 points, four rebounds and three steals, while Nick Ellington chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
NCAA Tournament resume
Quad 1: 0-1
Quad 2: 1-1
Quad3/4: 19-2
Non-D1: 1-0
Key
Quad 1: Home (1-30), Neutral (1-50), Away (1-75)
Quad 2: Home (31-75), Neutral (51-100), Away (76-135)
Metrics
Topline
- RPI: 39
- ELO: 52
- NET: 86
Result-based
- KPI: 45
- SOR: 57
- WAB: 62
Predictive
- BPI: 79
- KenPom: 85
- BartTorvik: 119
Average: 70.4
NCAA Tournament seed projection: nowhere near
Key remaining games
- Quad 2: @George Washington (14-11, 45-7 A-10, NET: 92), Feb. 13
- Quad 1: @VCU (18-6, 9-2 A-10, NET: 50), March 3
- Quad 1: Saint Louis (23-1, 11-0 A-10, NET: 19), March 7