George Mason Basketball: Have the Patriots turned it around after rough start?

George Mason Basketball has won four of five after a bad start to the season. Will the Patriots get back to preseason expectations?

The expectations were huge in Fairfax, VA and why wouldn’t it be? George Mason had closed out last season playing well and returned all of their starters. Add University of Virginia transfer, Jarrod Reuter, and this team looked to be a serious contender to win the Atlantic 10.

Funny thing about expectations is you never know how you’re going to handle it until the you experience it. For George Mason, handling the expectations have returned mixed results. There was close losses to Harvard and American University, a blown 20-point lead at Georgia Southern and blowout loss to Cincinnati.

This wasn’t how the season was supposed to play out. A loss to Cincinnati and Baylor are to be expected. But losses to a local Patriot League opponent (American) and a home loss to Vermont is another thing.

Slowly but surely, it looks like they’re getting their mojo back. With their win over Navy, they’ve won three of their last four games. On the floor they look a lot more relaxed. As experienced as the Patriots are, maybe they needed to have the pressure taken off.

Livingston II was the catalyst to last season’s run and he will be key this season. In the 84-63 win against the Mids, he was in double digits for the 4th time in five games. He was giving Navy’s, Hasan Abdullah, all kinds of fits. When Abdullah would try to close out in the 2-3, Livingston II went by him. When he gave him space, Livingston II hit the jumper.

The Patriots also had their three-point shooting return. Coming into Friday night’s game, they were only shooting 31% from the three-point line on the season. Against Navy, the Patriots went 11-25 (44%).

Defensively they shut Navy down throughout most of the game. The Midshipmen had a hard time getting in their sets and even when they did, they seemed hurried. The effort didn’t go unnoticed by Paulsen. “I thought that was a really good effort by our guys for the vast majority of the game,” Paulsen said. “For the most part, I thought we defended at a high level.”

Up next for George Mason is a trip to Kansas State. It’s the last non-conference game before the Atlantic 10 gauntlet begins. Even if the Patriots lose, there’s enough evidence to think that they will compete for one of the top four spots in the Atlantic 10.