Don’t ever ask GW men’s basketball coach Karl Hobbs if he is satisfied. Because when it comes to the play of his team, he almost never is.
When asked if he was happy with the No. 19/22 Colonials’ (AP/USA Today) defensive performance that forced 19 turnovers in a 75-62 win over Boston University Friday night, he would not give.
“In some ways I really wasn’t,” Hobbs said. “It was one of those games where we had to find a way to win.”
The Colonials (4-0) found the way to win on only 44 percent shooting, while the Terriers (0-5) managed 55 percent from the floor. GW shot 50 percent from beyond the arc but had only three players in double figures. The defense that Hobbs did not seem pleased with created 26 points off turnovers and 18 fast-break points.
Sophomore Maureece Rice had a career night, scoring a career-high 17 points including another personal record-setting three 3-pointers. Senior Mike Hall had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, six on the offensive glass. Junior Carl Elliott had 13 points, including three 3-pointers.
Senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu played in his first game back since being suspended for three games due to unspecified violations in declaring for the NBA draft. Mensah-Bonsu was rendered useless, registering four points and three rebounds.
Mensah-Bonsu said his excitement going into the game had been building up.
“Coming into the game I knew I was going to be excited,” Mensah-Bonsu said. “The whole week I wanted to make sure I would calm my nerves just wouldn’t let the adrenaline take me out of my game. As you could see, I was a little more excited than I expected and I really couldn’t get it going.”
Hobbs also anticipated Mensah-Bonsu’s nerves and anticipation going into the game.
“He was a little bit over excited,” Hobbs said. “He was trying to do everything in a hurry and I just told him just relax.”
In the past two contests, GW has seemed to have problems controlling perimeter shooting. Grant Suprenant, of St. Francis (Pa.) had five treys nd 26 points; while BU’s Shaun Wynn had six treys. Hobbs said he is concerned about teams’ offensive prowess against GW.
“Yeah I really am,” Hobbs said when asked if the shooting concerns him. “My concern is teams are shooting high percentages against us and that we have to just control that.”
GW played what some may call their most complete game of basketball against the Terriers. After going down 12-3 3:43 into the game, GW was able to become more patient with the ball and showed fluid ball movement around the perimeter. A flurry of three-pointers by Rice and strong play by Elliott and Hall gave the Colonials a 13-point lead going into halftime.
In the second half, GW seemed to take control of the game. BU was not able to tear the lead from GW but came close. With just more than six minutes left in the contest, Wynn’s three-pointer brought the score to 46-45, but GW was able to squelch the effort with a 12-2 run that brought the game to 58-48 with 11:20 left in the contest.
On Monday, the Colonials will face No. 20/23 (USA Today/AP) Maryland in the BB&T Classic at the MCI Center (see CLASSIC, p. 1). The contest will start no earlier than 9:07 p.m., according to a news release.
