Colonials and Flyers square off at 12 p.m. on USA Network

1/6/2022

WASHINGTON – GW men’s basketball hits the floor for the first time in 26 days as it takes on Dayton in the Atlantic 10 opener Saturday. Tip is set for 12 p.m. on USA Network.

SWISS ARMY KNIFE: Ricky Lindo Jr. recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds last game vs. Radford, and continued to stuff the stat sheet with three blocks, three steals and two assists. Lindo is second in the A-10 in rebounds (8.2 per game), fourth in steals (2.0) and seventh in blocks (1.9), becoming the only player to rank in the top 10 of each category and the only player in the nation to average at least 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.9 blocks per game.

In five home games this year, Lindo is averaging a double-double with 10.2 ppg and 10.4 rpg to go along with 3.0 bpg and 3.0 spg.

FREE FOR ALL: First-year Brayon Freeman continued his emergence as a dynamic playmaker vs. Radford, scoring a career-high 16 points in 26 minutes. Freeman dished out two more assists as well and now has a 22:6 assist-to-turnover ratio over his last four games and sits at 1.48-to-1 for the season (34:23).

The D.C. native was the first Colonial to post at least 10 points and eight assists in consecutive games since Armel Potter did so on Feb. 15-19, 2020 with 20 pts/8 ast vs. George Mason and 11 pts/10 ast vs. Duquesne, both GW victories.

IT’S CALLED A WINNING STREAK: GW opened the “second 1/3 of the season” — as dubbed by Coach Christian — by earning consecutive victories for the first time since Feb. 15-19, 2020. In the last two games, GW is averaging 71.0 ppg and shooting 44.5% from the floor while allowing just 60.0 ppg and holding Coppin State and Radford to 39.1% shooting.

The Buff & Blue have also seen noticeable differences in distributing and taking care of the ball, averaging 13.0 assists per game while committing just 9.0 turnovers per game. GW had a season-high 17 helpers in the win over Coppin State and only turned the ball over seven times in the triumph over Radford.

HISTORY IN A-10 OPENERS: Coach Christian is 1-1 in conference lid-lifters following a dominant 71-47 victory at Fordham in last season’s opener. The Colonials have started 1-0 in A-10 play in three of the last four seasons dating back to 2017-18. Saturday marks the first time in program history that GW opens up conference play vs. the Flyers.
A LOOK AT THE FLYERS: The youngest team in the country per KenPom’s experience ranking, the Flyers have had an uneven start to their season. Early home losses to UMass Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay have been balanced out by Power 5 victories over Miami (FL), Kansas and Virginia Tech. UD opened A-10 play with a 53-52 home loss to VCU on Wednesday, falling on a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds.
The Flyers had five straight A-10 Rookies of the Week prior to this past week, three from Malachi Smith and two from DaRon Holmes II. Holmes is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 ppg, behind only Georgia transfer Toumani Camara at 10.8 ppg. Smith chips in 10.1 ppg to give the Flyers three double-digit scorers.

COURTESY GWU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS