George Mason is off to a hot start and have been winning by a wide margin in each of their games. Sure, they haven’t played any world-beaters to date but the efficiency on both ends has been something we haven’t seen from this program in years. Mason started off 5-0 just two years ago before they traveled to College Park and get run over by the Terps 86-63. Unlike that season they haven’t had any close calls leading up to this matchup and confidence is running pretty high. Mason has never beaten Maryland (0-9 all time) but they sure have a good shot tonight.

Transfers on a roll. Grad transfers D’Shawn Schwartz and DeVon Cooper have been shooting the ball extremely well, both over 50% from the field on the season so far. Schwartz has also gone 47.4% on three-pointers. Junior Davonte “Ticket” Gaines has been doing a little bit of everything, scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, and hustling all over the court. The transfers have come in and already made an instant impact on the program.

Oduro looks to have a big year. Josh Oduro is looking like a team MVP and has led the team in scoring thus far. He’s also added a new wrinkle to his game this season by stepping out and knocking down three-pointers. He’ll have a big test tonight going up against Maryland’s 6’11” junior Qudus Wahad, a transfer from Georgetown. Have to hope he stays out of early foul trouble.

Defensive backbone. Mason’s defense has so far held opponents to under 40% and less than 70 points per contest. Maryland will most likely have a better night on offense than those previous opponents but their emphasis here could be the difference. They are certainly more aggressive on this end of the court and have been forcing turnovers while also pushing opponents into uncomfortable shots.

Tempo turned up. Mason been playing much faster than they had been the last couple of years. Gomason.com mentions that they are “27th nationally in average possession length (14.7 seconds). By contrast, the Patriots ranked 124th in the category in 2020-21, 238th in 2019-20 and 158th in 2018-19.” I think this crucial when they face some of the tougher teams in the conference as playing this style is more on par with the current college game.

Have to feel pretty good about Mason’s chances tonight. They will definitely have to watch the turnovers, I don’t think they can have another first half with double-digits TOs and expect to win. They mostly won’t be able to shoot their way out if that happens against the Terps. It will be interesting to see how they handle Maryland’s big inside presence, something they haven’t really had to worry about in their first couple of games. They haven’t had a close game where a lot of free-throws were exchanged and that could be what happens tonight in a slower paced game. Will that throw them off?

Xavier Johnson being strong at the point is another thing to watch, they will pressure him a lot and guys like Cooper and Schwartz will need to be on point to prevent mistakes and miscues. Overall if they keep the strong shooting going and intensity on defense I think they can really surprise Maryland.