W&M Travels to George Mason for Televised Affair

The Tribe will battle the Patriots on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 9 p.m. with the game televised on MASN.

02/25/08 6:30PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary men’s basketball team returns to CAA action when it travels to George Mason on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The game will pit schools that are separated by a game and fighting for a top-four finish in the league standings entering the final week of the regular season. Tip-off is slated for a 9 p.m. with the game to be televised on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).

Both teams are coming off BracketBuster losses. The Tribe fell at home to Horizon League foe Loyola-Chicago, 71-66, on Feb. 23. Sophomore wing Danny Sumner led the Tribe with career-high efforts in scoring (18) and rebounding (nine). Junior forward Peter Stein also turned in a solid game with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and eight rebounds. The Patriots dropped a 69-57 decision at Ohio in a game televised on ESPN2. Mason led by 13 at halftime, but could not hold off the Bobcats. Folarin Campbell led the Patriots with 18 points.

Fans can follow the action on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The broadcast can also be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com. Live statistics will be available by visiting GoMason.com or following the link on the schedule page at TribeAthletics.com.

For complete W&M men's basketball notes, click HERE.

Story lines
- The meeting in Fairfax will be the only time W&M and George Mason will squad off during the regular season this year.

- Senior guard Nathan Mann is only seven points shy of becoming the 30th player in W&M history to scored 1,000 career points.

Scouting George Mason
George Mason enters the game with W&M in a second-place tie in the CAA standings at 11-5 in conference play and 19-9 overall. The Patriots are an impressive 12-1 at home this season with its lone defeat coming to UNC Wilmington on Feb. 16.

In its most recent contest at Ohio, George Mason led by as many as 17 points in the first half and took a 13-point cushion, 32-19, into the locker room. The Patriots, who shot 63.2 percent from the floor in the first half, could not hold onto the advantage though, shooting only 28 percent in the second half compared to 58.6 percent from Ohio. The Bobcats outscored GMU, 50-25, in the second half in claiming a 69-57 victory. Folarin Campbell led Mason with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. John Vaughan was the only other GMU player in double figures with 12.

The Patriots rank among the CAA leaders in numerous offensive and defensive categories. Offensively, GMU ranks third in the CAA in scoring at 71.5 points per game to go along with the second-best field goal shooting percentage in the league at 46.7 percent. George Mason also has impressive numbers leading the CAA in rebounding margin (+4.0) and ranking second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.15). Defensively, Mason holds opponents to just 63.6 points per game, which ranks second in the league.

Senior Will Thomas leads a trio of Mason players in double figures at 16.3 points per game. His scoring average ranks third in the CAA, and he also averages a double-double with a league-best 10.5 rebounds per game. He is shooting 63.2 percent from the floor, which ranks as the second-best field goal percentage in the CAA and the eighth-best in the nation. Campbell and Vaughan also average in double digits and rank among the top-15 in the CAA in scoring. Campbell averages 15.4 points per game, which is ninth in the league, while Vaughan chips in 13.5 points per game, the 14th-best total in the CAA. Campbell and junior Dre Smith both rank among the top eight in the league in 3-point shooting. Smith is seventh at 39.9 percent followed by Campbell who is hitting on 39.4 percent of his chances from 3-point range.

George Mason Series History
George Mason leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 32-26, including a 17-10 mark in Fairfax. The two teams split last season with each winning on the others home court. The Tribe tallied its first win in Fairfax since 1998 when it defeated Mason, 67-63, last season. Nathan Mann led the Tribe in scoring with 14 points, including a 4-of-9 effort from 3-point range. David Schneider added 10 points in the win. In the contest in Williamsburg, GMU gained revenge with a 76-63 win. Laimis Kisielius finished with 17 points in the loss, while Mann added 13 on 3-of-5 from 3-point range and Schneider chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.

Sumner Taking On The Scoring load
Sophomore wing Danny Sumner has developed into an important offensive threat for the Tribe during the 2007-08 season. In the College’s BracketBuster setback to Loyola-Chicago, Sumner had a career game and nearly turned in the Tribe’s first double-double in more than two years. He finished with a career-high tying 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor to go along with a career-best nine rebounds.

Over the season, Sumner has seen his minutes increase significantly to the point where he has started the Tribe’s last 15 games. While he is the Tribe’s fourth leading scorer at 10.1 points per game, Sumner’s number jump significantly the more he is on the court and the more shots he takes. When the Fairfax, Va., native plays 25 or more minutes in a game this season, he is averaging 13 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 55.8 percent from the floor. He has only failed to score double digits once in those 11 contests in which he has tallied 25 or more minutes of action.

Sumner’s number increase when he attempts more shots as well. On 15 occasions this season, Sumner has attempted eight or more shots from the floor. In those contests, he is averaging 13.9 points per game, while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor and 40.5 percent from 3-point range. The Tribe owns a 9-6 record in those games.

Picking Pockets
Sophomore David Schneider has long been valued as one of the hardest working players in Colonial Athletic Association. Schneider not only ranks second on the Tribe squad in scoring and has one of the top assist-to-turnover ratios in league, but he is also becoming one of the Tribe’s top defensive weapons in its various zone sets.

In the College’s victory over Drexel, Schneider came up with a career-best six steals to help W&M to a season-best 13 swipes. The six steals were also the fourth-best single-game total in W&M history. He became the first Tribe player since Adam Hess in 2003-04 to register six steals in a game.

On the year, Schneider is averaging 1.8 steals per game, which ranks fourth in the CAA. The steals per game average is 10th W&M history and the third-best since 1986. His 49 steals on the year are the ninth most in school history and the second most since 1998. Randy Bracy has the highest total since 1986 with 57.

Building a Winner
Building a consistent winner at William and Mary was a charge of head coach Tony Shaver when he took over the reigns at the College five seasons ago. Those goals are starting to come to fruition as W&M won its 14th game of the season with its victory over Drexel on Feb. 20. It marked the second straight season that W&M has won 14 or more contests. The last time W&M tallied 14 or more wins in back-to-back seasons was during the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons.

The 14 wins this season marks the fourth time in the last 20 years that the College has collected at least 14 victories in a season. The 2007-08 version of Tribe hoops is the 27th in the 103-year history of W&M men’s hoops that it has won 14 or more games.

Double-digit League Wins
The Tribe currently sits in fourth place in the league standings at 10-6. The 10 wins are the second-most for a W&M team in its 23-year history in the CAA. The Tribe won a program-best 13 league games in 1997-98.

The 2007-08 version of Tribe basketball joined some elite company with its 10th league win against Drexel. In the program’s 71-year affiliation with a conference, it marks only the eighth time a W&M team won 10 or more league games. It occurred six times as a member of the Southern Conference (1948-49 [10], 1949-50 [12], 1950-51 [13], 1951-52 [10], 1959-60 [10] and 1962-63 [10]) and only once as a member of the CAA (1997-98 [13]). W&M was a member of the Southern Conference from 1936-77, before joining the ECAC South from 1977-85. The Tribe was a charter member of the CAA and has been with the league since 1985.

Balanced Scoring
While the Tribe is enjoying success during the 2007-08 season, the College has done so without a marquee scorer further promoting the team dynamic behind the Green and Gold’s impressive play. No W&M player ranks among the top 20 in the CAA in scoring, but four players currently average in double figures. In fact, four different W&M players have led the Tribe in scoring on seven or more occasions. Senior guard Nathan Mann has led the Tribe in scoring on eight occasions, while senior Laimis Kisielius and sophomores Danny Sumner and David Schneider have led the College in scoring seven times.

Kisielius leads the Tribe in scoring at 10.9 points per game followed by Schneider at 10.7. Mann and Sumner round out the double-digit scorers at 10.2 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. It marks the first time since the 1995-96 season that four Tribe players have averaged in double figures. During that season, Carl Parker led the way at 15.2 followed Bobby Fitzgibbons (12.3), David Cully (11.5) and Matt Verkey (10.9).

Reaching the 1,000-Point Mark
Senior guard Nathan Mann is within seven points of joining fellow classmate Laimis Kisielius in the 1,000-point club. Kisielius became the 29th member of the Tribe’s 1,000-point club when he connected on a 3-pointer at the end of the half in the Tribe’s 70-67 win over James Madison on Jan. 30.

Mann could become the 30th member of the exclusive club in the 103-year history of Tribe basketball. Mann has 993 career points and with his current average of 10.2 points per game, should reach the mark at George Mason on Feb. 27.

Once Mann reaches the milestone, the duo would become only the third pair in history to score their 1,000th career points in the same season. Matt Courage and John Lowenhaupt both scored their 1,000th career points in 1977, while Matt Verkey and Carl Parker reached the mark in 1996. Kisielius and Mann would be the first to do it in the same season after spending their entire careers together. Two other duos, Bev Vaughan and Jeff Cohen (1958-61) as well as Kevin Richardson and Keith Cieplicki (1982-85), played their entire careers together, but scored their 1,000th career points in separate seasons.

Kisielius currently sits at 1,055 points in his career and ranks 25th in the program’s annals. The Vilnius, Lithuania native is leading the Tribe in scoring at 10.9 points per game over his senior campaign.