Jan. 18, 2008

Harrisonburg, Va. - The George Mason men's basketball team will play its second straight Colonial Athletic Association road game on Saturday night when the Patriots take on James Madison in a game televised on MASN. Tip time is slated for 8 p.m. Mason will be looking for back-to-back road wins for the first time all season after beating Hofstra, 85-78 in double overtime on Thursday.

Mason has a sizeable deficit in the all-time series with James Madison as the Dukes hold a 48-33 lead. However, Mason has won the past seven meetings and under Jim Larranaga, the Patriots are 16-6 against the Dukes. The Patriots opened the season 6-1 but are just 6-4 since. Mason is 2-3 on the road and just 1-2 in CAA road games.

Will Thomas is arguably the most potent player in the CAA at the moment. He leads the conference in field-goal percentage, is second in rebounding and third in scoring. Folarin Campbell is the first player in Mason history with 1,200 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists, 100 3-pointers, 100 steals and 50 blocks. Against Hofstra, he moved into fourth place on the career assists list and sixth place on the career 3-pointers list. John Vaughan topped 700 for his career against Hofstra. Dre Smith is 12th on the career 3-pointers list with 93, and with three more, he can jump to 10th all-time at Mason.

Mason and James Madison are two of the four teams in the CAA that have three or more players averaging better than 12.0 points per game. For Mason, it's Will Thomas (16.5), John Vaughan (13.7) and Folarin Campbell (12.1). For James Madison, it's Abdulai Jalloh (15.0), Terrance Carter (14.4) and Juwann James (12.1). Towson and UNC Wilmington are the other teams.

James Madison leads the CAA in scoring offense (77.4 ppg) and is second in field-goal percentage (.468) but the Dukes are 11th in scoring defense (73.9) and 10th in field-goal percentage defense (.451). The Patriots are top four in the CAA in scoring offense (70.8) and scoring defense (63.6) while standing third in field-goal percentage (.459) and sixth in field-goal percentage defense (.429).