Breaking Down Kim English and George Mason as they went on a six-game winning streak to close out the regular season
Part III of our series, with impressions, statistics, and video of Kim English's George Mason team getting hot down the stretch of last season.
Behind a stifling defense, George Mason got really hot down the stretch of last season under head coach Kim English.
The Patriots closed the regular season on a six-game winning streak, despite losing an elite shooter in Victor Bailey Jr. Bailey Jr. found quite a home at Mason after starting his career at Oregon and then going to Tennessee. The lefty was a double-digit scorer for Rick Barnes at Tennessee in 2020-21, but at Mason he was his most efficient — shooting 47% from beyond the arc and averaging 11.8 points per game before missing the final month of the year due to injury. The loss of Bailey Jr. had to have felt so significant at the time.
Injuries really hurt Mason much of last season. They struggled at The Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands, playing without point guard Ronald Polite (who really got it rolling in February), went without Davonte “Ticket” Gaines from late December through early February, and then saw their second-leading scorer in Bailey go down for the season down the stretch.
Despite the Bailey Jr. injury, Mason went on a six-game winning streak thanks, in large part, to its defense. During that stretch, they had a defensive rating of 94.8 (98th percentile in the country), ranked in the 97th percentile in defensive rebounding percentage, while opponents shot 39.7% from the field (97th percentile) and 27.6% from three (99th). They gave up just 5.2 fast break points per game, which also ranked in the 99th percentile.
Offensively, Mason lived at the free throw line. They were in the 99th percentile in free throw rate and free throw attempts per game, and did damage in the paint. Josh Oduro averaged 18.7 points and 7.2 rebounds during this span, and was drawing over six fouls per game. However, the biggest jump came from Polite at the point guard spot. He shot 44% from three, while averaging 14.7 points and 5.8 assists per game.
English found a five-some that played at a very high level together with Polite, Oduro, Gaines, sharp shooting guard DeVon Cooper, and 6’6 New Mexico transfer Saquan Singleton. That group had a Net Rating of +21.8 when they were on the floor together. The Patriots spread teams out offensively, and the defensive numbers speak for themselves.
The streak started with a home win over struggling URI, followed by victories at George Washington (behind a massive second half from Justyn Fernandez), La Salle, a big one at Dayton, and then back home versus Fordham before a thrilling game at Richmond to close out the regular season.
Below you find impressions after I watched George Mason’s road wins against GW, Dayton, and Richmond. Subscribers will also see video from all three games. These games were the most intriguing of the bunch for Friar fans, as Justyn Fernandez put on a 3-point shooting clinic to blow the game open against George Washington, they won in a very tough building at Dayton, and Ticket Gaines had a career night (and game-winning steal and score) at Richmond.
Feb. 15 at George Washington: On a night in which seemingly no one could hit a shot for George Mason, freshman Justyn Fernandez buried four 3-pointers over the final seven minutes of the game to turn a one-point deficit into a 13-point advantage for Mason.