Offense Sputters in Loss at George Mason

Saturday, March 9

Fairfax, VA

2:30 PM

University of Richmond

23-8,15-3Atlantic 10

George Mason

20-11,9-9Atlantic 10

Richmond

George Mason

03/09/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. — Richmond struggled to score against a long, athletic George Mason lineup Saturday on the road, falling to the Patriots 64-46 in the regular season finale for both teams.

"They made it tough," said Spiders forward Isaiah Bigelow after Richmond scored a season-low 46 points. "They did pretty well defensively tonight, but we'll adjust next time."

The Spiders entered the game locked into the No. 1 seed in next week's A-10 Championship. The loss dropped Richmond to 23-8 on the season and 15-3 in the Atlantic 10 and snapped UR's six-game winning streak.

The Spiders led 18-15 with six minutes remaining in the first half before a 7-0 run by the Patriots put them in front for good. George Mason led 29-24 at intermission.

Trailing 45-38 midway through the second half, a three-point attempt by Spiders guard Mikkel Tyne from the top of the key that would have cut the deficit to four bounced in and out. The Patriots would score the next nine points to build their lead to 54-38 with 6:51 to play and put the game out of reach.

"We've got to know that we're not invincible," said Bigelow, whose 11 points were tied for the most among Spiders. "Any team can beat anybody on any given night. I think we needed this though, a reality check."

Neal Quinn also had 11 points for Richmond, the only other Spider to score in double figures.

George Mason blanketed Spiders leading scorer Jordan King from baseline to baseline, holding him to just 1-3 from the field (2 points).

"They were really trying to not let him get the ball," said Spider coach Chris Mooney. "It's very understandable. There have been a few teams that have guarded him very, very well, and [George Mason] was excellent tonight."

As the No. 1 seed, Richmond will play its first game in the A-10 Championship on Thursday at 11:30 AM vs the winner of Wednesday's game between the 8 seed and 9 seed.