Getty The George Mason Patriots will visit the UMass Minutemen on Wednesday.
The UMass Minutemen will host the George Mason Patriots in an Atlantic 10 clash on Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games–and several other sports–every week.
You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including George Mason vs UMass — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
George Mason vs UMass Preview
The Minutemen are 7-9, having lost four straight. They dropped a matchup with Dayton 72-67 on the road on Sunday to fall to 0-3 in Atlantic 10 play.
UMass took care of the ball (11 turnovers), won the rebounding battle (37-26), and shot well (46.6 percent from the field, 40 percent from deep), but the Flyers shot a scalding 11-of-19 from deep and got to the free-throw line 21 times; the Minutemen shot four free throws.
“We’ve got to find a way to get to the free throw line more, 21 to four is a huge discrepancy,” Minutemen head coach Matt McCall said, according to The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. “Give them a lot of credit — we outrebounded them, I thought we guarded them really well in the second half, just didn’t get the stop we needed right there when the game was tied.”
Redshirt sophomore guard Keon Clergeot failed to score in the first half, but he scored the team’s first 10 points in the second period.
“I thought [Clergeot] was great,” McCall told the paper. “Keon, the one thing about him is that he always brings terrific energy no matter what, and I’m really proud of the effort that he gave there. That’s why he’s in the starting lineup — he’s about the right things and wants to play and compete at a high, high level, and he’s going to continue to grow and be a big part of this program going forward.”
The Minutemen trailed from the time the Flyers scored the game’s first basket in the opening minute until 5:54 remained in the contest, when sophomore guard Carl Pierre hit a jumper to tie things up at 63.
UMass would hit just two more field goals from there, however.
“I’ll have to watch the tape and see why we weren’t getting fouled or getting to the free throw line,” McCall said, per the Collegian, “but again another game that came down to the wire, and gave ourselves some chances and some opportunities there.”
The coach added: “Did a really, really poor job of executing down the stretch.”
The Patriots dropped five of their first seven games, but they’re 7-3 since then, including 3-1 in conference play.
George Mason pounded Rhode Island 84-67 on Sunday, shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from deep; the Rams shot 41.5 percent overall and just 3-of-25 from three-point range.
“They beat us for 40 straight minutes today,” Rhode Island head coach David Cox said, according to The Westerly Sun. “Embarrassing effort on our behalf. We were out-coached, out-played and out-worked thoroughly. The result was an almost 20-point loss on our home court.”
Patriots junior guard Justin Kier scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on the heels of a 26-point, 12-rebound effort in a loss against Dayton. For those two performances, Kier was named the A-10’s co-player of the week, with the Flyers’ Jordan Davis.