First-year head coach Kim English and his George Mason team had little trouble taking home a road win at Georgia during the 2021-22 season. The 80-67 victory marked Mason’s first over an SEC club since 2016, as center Josh Oduro was simply too much for the Bulldogs on the interior.
Oduro, who will play his final collegiate season at Providence next year, finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks, while finishing a +27 in the victory.
The bottom fell out on this Georgia team in 2022, but they were coming off consecutive victories heading into this one, including an upset of #18 Memphis. They lost a pair of starting forwards during the season and never recovered.
Mason got off to a great start thanks to another future Friar in Davonte Gaines, who scored the first eight points for the Patriots on a pair of 3-point field goals. Gaines finished the day with 13 points on 5-7 shooting from the field. His early spurt helped George Mason take a 19-4 lead early.
English’s club shot 52% from the field, 61% from inside the 3-point arc, and made 11-26 from three — headlined by Colorado transfer D’Shawn Schwartz’s five made threes. The left-hander buried four shots from beyond the arc in the game’s first 12 minutes. Schwartz averaged over nine points per game in three straight years at Colorado, before putting up over 15 a night (on 38% shooting from deep) in his lone season at Mason.
Oduro dominated over the final 25 minutes of the game, scoring in a variety of ways in the post and making plays for others both off the bounce and out of the post.
With the win, George Mason improved to 7-5 on the season, but a flurry of canceled games followed. Their next two games were both canceled (at Wisconsin and at VCU), before they played eventual national champion Kansas tough on the road (falling by nine). After the Kansas loss, Mason’s next four games were cancelled.
The win over Georgia is a good opportunity to see English’s offense when it’s rolling. They took nearly half of their shots (48%) from beyond the arc and got good looks throughout, but went to Oduro in the post when the game tightened in the second half.
Watch: Josh Oduro Goes for 20/11/6 in a Commanding Win Over Georgia