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George Mason notched its 27th win of the season with an 86-69 victory over Samford Wednesday night in the first round of the 2025 NIT.
Samford is the squad coached by Bucky McMillan, who is 99-52 in five seasons as a D1 head coach, with four consecutive 20+-win seasons, and whose name has been mentioned in connection with several high-profile coaching searches.
The Mason coach, Tony Skinn, will be there at some point soon. Skinn has led his alma mater to back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two years as a D1 head coach, and the 27 wins this season ties a school record.
“This is a team that continues to make history,” said Skinn, who was a star player on the George Mason team that made the remarkable run to the Final Four in 2006. “I think resiliency is a really, really key word for who this team is, because it’s not easy to come out after the type of game we played on Sunday when emotions are so high.
“You have to come back and play in the NIT when the big fish at the end of the day is the NCAA Tournament. Most teams lose in these games. For this team to come out right away out of the gates and create a little bit of separation in the first half, I’m extremely proud of these guys,” Skinn said.
They did it with defense. Samford (22-11) came into the game averaging 83.3 points per contest, but Mason led 45-24 at the half, holding Samford to 7-of-21 shooting and forcing 12 turnovers.
Zach Anderson tallied his first double-double of the season with 19 points (6-of-8 FG, 3-of-5 3FG) and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes of work.
KD Johnson added a season-best 20 points (6-of-10 FG, 1-of-4 3FG, 7-of-8 FT), to go with five assists, four steals and three rebounds, and Darius Maddox chipped in 17 points (5-of-12 3FG). Senior Jalen Haynes rounded out the scorers with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Next up, the Patriots host NIT second-round action on Saturday at 2 p.m. George Mason will play third-seeded Bradley (27-8) and the contest will air on ESPN+.
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Chris Graham
