George Mason posted a strong start in the first half against Maryland last night but ultimately couldn’t shoot the ball well enough to get past the Terrapins’ runs. They struggled against a zone defense for the most of the night, a recurring theme for this season. They really missed senior Justin Kier in a game like this as they couldn’t get going on offense. The Terps were a much bigger team and Mason had real trouble getting inside of their zone. AJ Wilson still had a solid game with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks while also hitting a three pointer. Mason hasn’t been a great three-point shooting team so far this year and it was a glaring weakness last night once again.

In the second half Mason really struggled to connect from behind the arc going 4-for-14 on three-pointers in that period. From the field they went 8-for-30 in the second half and had some long scoring droughts. The team was looking for junior Javon Greene to help get them going and he struggled to make anything happen. With Kier still out, they really need him to be a volume scorer and we hadn’t really seemed that this year yet.

Jordan Miller also wasn’t able to get going and that hurt Mason in the second half. Foul trouble was an issue for most of the game as Miller did end up fouling out and forwards Greg Calixte and Josh Oduro were hampered with early fouls that limited their time. The Terps had the big advantage on the boards as a result of this.

Mason has a chance to regroup and get some solid wins in the Cayman Island next week in tournament play. They start off playing old foe Old Dominion and then have a chance to play either Nebraska or Washington St. This game against Maryland was probably the punch in the mouth they needed to see where they are as a group and hopefully they can build off it.