It was last call for GW to pick up the non-conference wins the Colonials needed to boost their tournament resume for this upcoming March, so George rushed to the bar and slammed three Mai Tais to give the Colonials wins over Ohio, Colorado and then No.11 Wichita State in the championship game on Christmas night to do just that.
GW blew out a mediocre Ohio squad before taking a final lead over Colorado with 41 seconds to play, defeating the Buffaloes (kenpom No.74), 53-50. Then, in the championship game, George Washington used a stifling defense to hand Wichita State their second loss of the season, defeating WSU, 60-54.
The teams were tied at the half of that one before freshman Yuta Watanabe gave GW a lead they would not surrender by connecting on a three-pointer with 3:34 to play.
The Colonials held WSU to just two field goals over the final 7:07 of play.
Prior to the event Mike Lonergan’s squad had gone 0-3 against kenpom top-100 squads, losing at Virginia, Seton Hall and Penn State. Their best win prior to the Christmas holiday coming in the form of an eight-point win over No.104 Charlotte.
GW will take on VMI before digging into conference play where they face seven other Atlantic 10 teams currently ranked in kenpom’s top-100 as well as the RPI that plays such a large roll on Selection Sunday.
Six A-10 teams rank in the RPI top-60 including VCU at No.3, Dayton at No.26 and GW and No.28 as of the time of this post.
