After some of the strangest circumstances imaginable, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team will host George Washington in the first round of the A-10 Tournament tonight at the Mullins Center.
Not long ago, the Minutemen needed some luck and some wins to host a tournament game, but after a scandal that has rocked the college basketball world, they will host the game without winning a single game on their home court since Feb. 23.
St. Bonaventure, which led UMass by two games before the A-10 handed down sanctions for playing with an ineligible player, gave up their wins and then the rest of their season to propel the Minutemen into the No. 4 spot – the lowest ranking seed to host a home game – despite losses to Rhode Island and Saint Joseph’s.
“We are disappointed in their decision, but look forward to hosting an A-10 Tournament game,” UMass Athletic Director Ian McCaw said at the time.
The Maroon and White (11-17, 6-10 A-10) will host the Colonials (11-16, 5-11 A-10), who clinched the No. 5 seed Saturday with a win over Fordham. Senior guard Chris Monroe leads a young team with 20.2 points per game (third in the conference) and has posted the most 20-point games in the league this year (15 overall, seven in A-10 games).
The rest of the George Washington starting lineup is littered with underclassmen. Sophomore T.J. Thompson, who is second in the A-10 with 6.12 assists per game, starts at point guard. In the frontcourt, freshmen Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall and Omar Williams roam the inside. Mensah-Bonsu and Hall could both end up on the A-10 all-rookie team.
In the teams’ first meeting at GW on Jan. 25, the Minutemen pulled out a 75-70 come-from-behind win despite Monroe’s 28-point performance on the afternoon. Monroe achieved the 2000 career points milestone in that contest as well.
Freshman Mike Lasme notched 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field. Classmates Jeff Viggiano and Gabe Lee chipped in with a combined 28 points and 12 rebounds on the afternoon. The Minutemen overcame a minus-four turnover ratio and a minus-seven rebounding differential to earn their first Division I win of the year outside of the Mullins Center.
UMass comes into the contest on a three-game skid, while GW snapped a two-game losing streak with its win over Fordham.
Tickets for the contest are $20 and may be purchased at the Mullins Center Ticket Office today from 8:30 a.m. until tip-off. Students can get into the game for free by showing their I.D. at the ticket office or in the Campus Center Concourse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also, those with tickets to last Wednesday’s cancelled St. Bonaventure game may use those tickets to get into tonight’s playoff game.
