Feb. 19, 2008

The George Mason men's basketball team enters Wednesday's game looking to rebound from their first home loss of the season, a buzzer-beating defeat at the hands of UNC Wilmington. The home game, against Delaware, will begin at 9 p.m. and it will be televised on Verizon FIOS. The Patriots are 13-6 all-time against Delaware but they dropped the last meeting, a 73-68 overtime loss at Delaware. The past two times that Mason lost to the Blue Hens it happened on the road in overtime. Mason has won five straight against Delaware in Fairfax and the Patriots are 6-1 all-time against Delaware at home.

In the meeting earlier this year, Mason had a 19-point second-half lead, but Folarin Campbell found himself in foul trouble and with Mason's primary ball-handler on the bench, Delaware rallied behind pressure defense to force overtime. Marc Egerson had 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals in 44 minutes for Delaware. Herb Courtney had 19 points and three blocks as Delaware was outrebounded and outshot but forced 20 Mason turnovers. Despite the miscues, Will Thomas finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds and John Vaughan had 18 points. But Dre Smith, fourth on the team in scoring and a starter for the majority of the season, was limited to seven minutes due to a sprained ankle.

Thomas is attempting to become just the seventh player in school history to average a double-double on the season. He currently is averaging 16.2 points and 10.5 rebounds. He is on pace to finish his career first in school history in games played, games started and minutes played. Thomas entered this week eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage and 14th in rebounds per game. He leads the CAA in rebounding, is second in field-goal percentage and fifth in scoring. He is third all-time in CAA history in career field-goal percentage at 61.2

Thomas isn't the only Patriot who is hot. Over the past 10 games, Campbell is averaging 20.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists while shooting 47.6 percent from 3-point range. Over that same stretch, John Vaughan is averaging 14.7 points per game.

The Blue Hens have been led this year by Courtney, who is averaging 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. Brian Johnson is among the CAA's leaders in assists, with 5.2 per game. He's also scoring 9.4 points. Newcomers Egerson, a transfer, and Alphonso Dawson, a freshman, have had a big impact. Egerson is averaging 12.8 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds while Dawson is averaging 10.9 points and 4.8 rebounds. Over the past 10 games, Delaware is 3-7 after a 5-0 start to conference play. Mason is 8-3 in its past 11 games.

The Delaware game will be Wiener Wednesday. Fans can buy a game ticket, a hot dog, a bag of chips and a 20 oz. soda for $9. Tickets are available at Patriot Center Box Office, by phone at (703) 573-SEAT, or online at www.ticketmaster.com