Nov. 19, 2008

The George Mason men's basketball team is 2-0 after opening the season on the road at Vermont and returning home to host Brown on Monday. Now Mason faces another early-season test in the form of a long road trip. The Patriots will play at Hampton on Thursday night at 7 p.m. before heading to East Carolina for a Saturday contest at 4:30 p.m.

The Hampton Pirates are 0-1 on the year having suffered a season-opening defeat at Iona. The Pirates were held to 46 points while shooting just 30.8 percent from the field. Hampton was 1 of 12 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 14 times. Michael Freeman had 11 points and four rebounds while Kwame Morgan had 10 points and five rebounds. Vincent Simpson had six points, five rebounds and three assists.

Hampton was playing without Theo Smalling who is the team's leading rebounder. He was serving a one-game suspension and is expected back into the lineup on Thursday. The Pirates were picked to finish second in the MEAC this year in the league's preseason poll and both Freeman and Simpson were selected preseason second-team All-Conference.

The Patriots are averaging 84.5 points per game but it has been a very balanced team effort this year. Darryl Monroe had 19 points and 17 rebounds in the season opener and is averaging a double-double. John Vaughan has scored15 points per game while three freshmen have made tremendous contributions.

Ryan Pearson was named CAA Rookie of the Week after the season opener in which he scored 13 points with six rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. Mike Morrison made his debut against Brown and had 15 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Andre Cornelius leads the Patriots in assists and is seventh in the CAA in that category. He's averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 assists. As a team, Mason is shooting 48.1 percent from the field and outrebounding the opposition by 10 boards per game.