The George Mason Patriots & Fordham Rams will square off at Capital One Arena this Thursday night in the 2nd round of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
The George Mason Patriots finished their regular season with an overall record of 14-15 and earned the 9-seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship after finishing conference play with an 7-9 record. George Mason finished their non-conference portion of their schedule with 7-6 record, however, did have some solid wins over Maryland, Navy, & Georgia. George Mason won 4 of their first 5 conference games with a solid win over St. Bonaventure, however, the Patriots struggled a bit since February, as George Mason comes into this game losing 8 of their last 11 games.
On the season, George Mason is averaging 66.8 ppg on 39.8% shooting from the field. The Patriots are averaging 7.6 three-pointers per game on 30.3% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, George Mason has been led by Josh Oduro (18.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.7 bpg), D’Shawn Schwartz (15.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 apg), DeVon Cooper (11.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.1 apg), & Davonte Gaines (10.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.6 apg).
Defensively, George Mason is allowing their opponents to average 69.0 ppg on 42.6% shooting from the field. The Patriots have a rebound margin of 2.3 and a turnover margin of -0.6.
The Fordham Rams finished their regular season with an overall record of 15-15 and earned the 8-seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship after finishing conference play with an 8-10 record. Fordham finished their non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-5 record with their top win coming in a 20-point victory against Akron. Fordham struggled to start Atlantic 10 play, losing 7 of their first 10 games, however, the Rams took advantage of the easier part of their schedule towards the end of the season and come into this game, winning 4 of their last 6 games.
On the season, Fordham is averaging 66.8 ppg on 39.8% shooting from the field. The Rams are averaging 7.6 three-pointers per game on 30.3% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Fordham has been led by Darius Quisenberry (16.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.5 spg), Chuba Ohams (14.6 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.8 bpg), Kyle Rose (7.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.3 spg), & Antrell Charlton (7.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.7 spg).
Defensively, Fordham is allowing their opponents to average 67.1 ppg on 42.6% shooting from the field. The Rams have a rebound margin of -0.7 and a turnover margin of 0.7.
The Patriots are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 Thursday games, however, are just 2-5 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games. The Rams are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Thursday games & 7-1 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games.
Fordham defeated George Mason in their only regular season matchup this season as the Rams defeated the Patriots by a 50-47 margin in late February.
Fordham has been decent defensively this season, however, the Rams have really struggled on the offensive end this season, coming into this game ranked just t-284th in scoring offense, 339th in FG%, & 322nd in 3P-FG%. George Mason has been decent on both ends of the court this season and come into this matchup ranked 159th in scoring offense, 127th in FG%, & 146th in defensive FG%. Fordham was able to pick up a nice win over George Mason, however, the Rams offense really struggled on the road this season in conference play, averaging just 59.2 ppg, and as I think George Mason is no doubt the better team in this one, I think the Patriots do enough to cover this spread. Good Luck!