Fourth Estate/Mitchell Richtmyre
Mason will tip off against St. Joseph’s to begin tournament play on Wednesday
BY TRISTEN SCHAEFER, STAFF WRITER
Mason men’s basketball is firing on all cylinders this season under first-year head coach, Tony Skinn. Skinn has led the Patriots to their best season in over a decade.
The name Tony Skinn might sound familiar. As a former player for the Patriots, Skinn suited up for 91 games from 2003 to 2006 and was an integral part of George Mason’s Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2006. Named the team’s 12th head coach in April 2023, Skinn expressed that he wants to lead the Patriots in a way that mirrors the success of his senior season under Jim Larrañaga.
Mason is eyeing a potential run in the fast-approaching Atlantic 10 Tournament.
“Winning is not easy, but the formula to winning is clear,” Skinn said before the season. It appeared that he did indeed have the winning formula in 2023, as he led the team to wins in 11 of their first 13 games. The team looked like they had the potential to play into March.
The level of success the team experienced during the first half of the season was hardly sustainable, but the Patriots began to falter during the latter half. Halfway through February they sat in seventh place in the A-10 with a 17-8 record.
The A-10 is competitive this year and six of Mason’s losses were in bouts with conference foes.
Mason’s biggest challenge of the season came against Dayton on Feb. 15. Dayton was sitting atop the A-10 with a 21-4 record and slotting in as the No. 16 team in the country at the time.
The Patriots kept up with the competition, as they trailed by six at halftime. However, it was nothing compared to their second half performance. Freshman guard Baraka Okojie scored 19 points in the second half and Mason climbed back to beat Dayton by a score of 71-67.
The Patriots’ comeback victory over Dayton offered a look at Mason’s potential in the Atlantic 10, as they improved to a stellar 13-2 home record on the season with their win over Dayton.
With the A-10 Tournament quickly approaching, the win over Dayton seemed like it was exactly what the Patriot’s needed to gain momentum down the home-stretch of the season. While the team faltered a bit to start the final five-game stretch of the season, they silenced doubters with double-digit victories over Rhode Island and the 23-win Richmond Spiders to cap off the season.
Coach Skinn led the team to a 20-11 regular season record and a .645 winning percentage; the team’s best win percentage since the 2011-12 season.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament is set to kick off on Mar. 12, which will reward the winner an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. While Mason’s path to that bid seems uphill as an eight-seed, the team proved they’re capable of challenging any team in the Atlantic 10 with their victories over two of the conference’s top seeds: Dayton and Richmond.
To begin the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, eighth-seeded Mason will face off against the ninth-seeded St. Joseph’s Hawks. Both schools will travel to the Barclays Center on Mar. 13 for the matchup. Mason will be looking to atone for the teams’ previous meeting back in January, when St. Joseph’s was able to edge past Mason, 75-73.