George Washington Basketball: Takeaways from win against Davidson

George Washington Basketball upends Davidson in a four-overtime thriller, continuing a soild run in conference play.

In the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, George Washington Basketball was picked to finish 12th in the conference. It was somewhat understandable why the experts would pick them so low. They were bringing in a new head coach in Jamion Christian, who had a completely different offensive philosophy than the outgoing coach.

Going into last night’s contest with Davidson, Christian’s George Washington squad had a chance to get to .500 in the conference. Not too many people outside of Foggy Bottom thought this would be possible eight games into the conference season.

Davidson was picked second in the Atlantic 10 but has gotten off to a slow start in the conference despite returning Jon Axel Gudmundsson and Kellan Grady.

But, it was George Washington that showed a lot of veteran composure in the 107-104 (4 OT) victory.

The game started off nick and tuck before George Washington went on a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead, 31-22. Davidson quickly responded with a run of their own and eventually would take a 38-37 lead. The Colonials would lead 42-40 at the half.

No team would lead by more than four points in the second half. Luka Brajkovic’s short jumper in the lane gave Davidson a three-point lead with 1:01 left. On George Washington’s next possession, Maceo Jack would hit a three-pointer to tie the game. After a Grady miss, the Colonials had a chance to win at the buzzer but Jamison Battle missed a three-pointer with two seconds left in the game.

In the second overtime, Davidson took it’s biggest lead of the game, 86-80. But George Washington would close out with an 8-2 run to send the game into another overtime.

Finally, by the fourth overtime, George Washington had a chance to play from ahead when Jameer Nelson Jr. hit a three-pointer giving Colonials a 100-98 lead. After getting a stop on defense, Battle hit another three-pointer expanding the lead to five points.

Maceo Jack’s career night

Jack had a career-high 35 points. Despite playing 59 minutes, Jack still had plenty of legs to continue to shoot the ball well but, perhaps, his biggest strength was his IQ. Everyone is the arena knew Jack was red-hot. Instead of hunting shot, Jack trusted his teammates enough to let the ball find him. Because of that, he was able to connect 12 of his 19 shots from the field. That includes being 7-13 from the free throw line.

Being patient and letting the ball find you is an underrated skill especially in an offense that allows players a lot of leeway. Jack sticking to the offensive script contributed heavily to his career night.

Toro can still contribute

Toro has been one of the more interesting stories this season. He started off the season averaging 16.5 points and 16.5 rebounds per game before getting hurt. While out, freshman Chase Paar was so effective with the additional minutes that, not only did he take Toro’s spot in the starting lineup, but the senior big man hardly played.

In fact, last night, Toro didn’t see any action until the second overtime. When he did, he took full advantage. In 13 minutes, Toro scored 11 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. His 7-10 performance from the free throw line was key.

He also came up big against Davidson’s strategy to double the ball when George Washington ran screen and roll from the wing. Toro would dive aggressively and when he received the ball would immediately get to the front of the rim. The Wildcats continued to take their chances with the strategy and paid dearly.

Injuries

Unfortunately for George Washington, there was another injury last night. In the second half, Armel Potter was injured. When he came back to the bench, he had a set of crutches. There are no updates at this time.

Potter’s presence was missed last night on both ends of the floor. He finishes well and is working his way to being an elite defender. Most of his minutes were taken by Amir Harris. Potter is averaging 14.5 points and 5.5 assists per game.

Javier Langarica (hand) and Justin Williams (concussion) are still out of the lineup.