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The George Mason Patriots basketball team will host the UMBC Retrievers at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, VA, on Saturday.
The game (4 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV anywhere, but you can watch it live on ESPN+:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can then watch UMBC vs George Mason live 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 streaming device via the ESPN app.
UMBC vs George Mason Preview
At 10-1, the Patriots are off to their best start since the 1983-84 campaign, and they’ve won five straight since they fell to the then-No. 6 Maryland Terrapins 86-63 on the road on Nov. 22.
The Patriots haven’t played since Dec. 7, when they pounded the American Eagles 68-53 at home. American managed just 23 points after the midway break.
“That was a great defensive effort in the second half,” George Mason head coach Dave Paulsen said, according to The Washington Post. “We told our guys — we tell them constantly — we are built to win 52-50 or 82-50, but it’s got to be the 50.”
George Mason guard Justin Kier came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points in 26 minutes; both figures were season highs for the senior. Freshman guard Xavier Johnson pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds to go with 12 points, also off the bench.
Last year, Kier led the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game, but he suffered a foot injury ahead of the 2019-20 season, forcing him to miss George Mason’s first six contests. Paulsen’s gradually ramped up Kier’s minutes since the senior returned from injury.
“It’s not always good to get hurt, but something great came out of my injury because guys stepped up and matured, and now, as you see, our guys are a lot better,” Kier said, per The Washington Post. “It wasn’t just one person that had to step up. Everyone had to step up as a group and as leaders, and we’ve gotten better since the day I got hurt to now.”
The Retrievers opened their season with four straight victories, but they’ve won just twice in nine tries since.
On Tuesday, they fell to the Georgetown Hoyas 81-55 on the road, shooting 21-of-60 (35%) in the process.
UMBC sophomore guard L.J. Owens scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, adding 4 rebounds and a block.
“In games like that, you have to kind of take the good with the bad,” UMBC head coach Ryan Odom said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “I think there are going to be some moments where we’ll be able to show our players, ‘Hey, this is how it should look. This is how we want our team to look on this play. The ball was moving, we dropped it off, and a guy gets a layup.’ … But those plays were few and far between.”
The Retrievers had no answer for Hoyas senior center Omer Yurtseven, who scored 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting to go with 13 rebounds and a trio of blocks.
“He’s a load down there,” Odom said, per The Baltimore Sun. “He’s really skilled.”