NBC7’s Ben Rosehart provides a scouting report of San Diego State’s opponent - George Washington - in their NIT semifinal
Don’t know much about the George Washington Colonials? You’ve come to the right place.
The Colonials hail from the Atlantic-10 conference and are led by head coach Mike Lonergan who is in his 5th season with the team. GW went 11-7 in conference play and enters Tuesday 26-10 overall.
Lonergan has been coaching for 23 years - almost as long as Steve Fisher (25 seasons). So these guys know how to coach.
Tyler Cavanaugh leads the Colonials in scoring and averages 16.8 points per game. Much like Winston Shepard, he has raised his level of play in the NIT to 21.7 points per game.
He is shooting a sizzling 54 percent from the field and you better not leave him open from downtown either.
Cavanaugh nailed 8 of his 15 attempts from 3-point land in GW’s first 3 NIT games.
Local
He is also hauling in more than 9 rebounds per contest in the tournament.
The other forward to keep an eye on is Kevin Larsen.
The senior stands 6-foot 10-inches and was 4th in the A-10 in rebounding so you know he cleans the glass.
Larsen is actually in the Top 10 of the school’s all-time rebounding list.
Translation: The Aztecs better box out on Larsen or they could be one-and-done on the offensive end.
Colonials senior Patricio Garino is also a streaky shooter from the outside.
Garino scores at a 16.7 point clip but more importantly led his entire conference in 3-point shooting and made 44 percent of his treys this season.
As Mark Jackson would say, "Hand Down?, Man Down!" against this sharpshooter. SDSU needs to identify the shooter every possession on the defensive end.
The Aztecs have won their first 3 NIT contests by an average of 18.3 points.
This is the first time SDSU has ever played GW in men’s basketball.
But even though the two schools have never met before on the hardwood, the Colonials do have history against Fisher.
GW made its deepest NCAA tournament run in 1993, reaching the Sweet 16 that year before losing to Fisher’s Michigan Wolverines 72-64.
If San Diego State can defend the perimeter and limit second-chance opportunities by minimizing the damage that Larsen can do on the boards, the Aztecs should be able to advance.
The winner of this NIT semifinal will face either BYU or Valparaiso Thursday evening for the NIT championship.
