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Follow on Twitter Brooklyn, N.Y. (March 10, 2015) - The Fordham University Rams open the 2015 Atlantic 10 Championship by facing the George Mason University Patriots in the Barclays Center on Wednesday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m.
The game will be televised live on SportsNet NY (SNY) with Ed Cohen (p-b-p), John Griffin (color) and Kim Adams (sidelines) announcing and will be streamed on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network and also broadcast on WFUV (90.7 FM) and
www.wfuvsports.org with Kenneth Ducey and Daniel Sixsmith, Jr., announcing, and can be followed live via livestats. Follow the links above.
Fordham, the 12 seed, enters the game with a 9-20 overall record, 4-14 in the Atlantic 10, following a 66-52 conference loss at St. Bonaventure on Saturday. George Mason, the 13 seed, enters the game with a 9-21 overall record, 4-14 in the A-10, after a 71-60 league loss at VCU on Saturday.
Wednesday night's contest will be the fifth meeting between Fordham and George Mason on the hardwood. The Rams have taken the first four meetings, including an 80-68 win in the Patriot Center on February 18 as
Mandell Thomas scored 25 points and
Eric Paschall netted 21.
Notes
Mandell Thomas* The winner of the game will face fifth-seeded VCU on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
* With his career-high 29 points at Massachusetts on February 28, junior guard
Mandell Thomas became the 35th Ram to score 1,000 career points. Thomas currently has 1,039 career points, good for 31
st on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
* With his three steals at St. Bonaventure on March 7, junior guard
Mandell Thomas brought his season total to 68, the fifth best single season total in school history. Jason
Harris holds the school record with 78 in 1999-2000.
* With his eight rebounds against St. Bonaventure on Saturday, junior forward
Ryan Rhoomes brought his career total to 624, moving him into 18th place on the Fordham career rebounding list.
* Fordham freshmen
Eric Paschall and
Chris Sengfelder are the only set of freshman teammates to be averaging more than 10.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg. Paschall is sixth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring with a 16.5 ppg average while also pulling down 5.6 rpg, while Sengfelder is averaging 11.4 ppg and 7.3 rpg.
* Part of the Ram's recent success in scoring is due to the improvement in free throw shooting. Fordham is shooting 72.6 percent (377-519) from the charity stripe in 2014-2015, tops in the Atlantic 10. Over the past 14 games, the Rams are shooting over 80.0 percent (182-227/80.2%) from the line.
* Through games of March 7, the Fordham Rams have the Atlantic 10's sixth leading scorer, and top freshman scorer, in freshman guard
Eric Paschall (16.5 ppg) while
Mandell Thomas leads the conference in steals (2.3/game). The Rams also have the fifth leading rebounder in junior forward
Ryan Rhoomes (8.9 rpg) while Rhoomes is also sixth in the conference in blocked shots, averaging 1.4/game, and Paschall is fourth in free throw shooting (80.0%) and Thomas is eighth in assists with a 3.6 apg average.
* The Rams are 2-2 all-time in the Barclays Center
apropos of nothing: Originally the Barclays Center was to be designed by Frank Gehry but due to costs, the Gehry plan was scrapped. The actual building, designed by SHop Architects and AECOM features an unusual brown metallic facade that has been the occasion for much humorous-to-caustic jibes, Brooklyn style. The arena's "weathering steel" facade is made of 12,000 unique panels made of 600 tons of steel sheets. And so you can see it at night, too, the whole structure is lit by 1,900 LED lights at night.
In its first year of existence (2012-13), the Barclays Center surpassed Madison Square Garden as the highest-grossing venue in the United States for concerts and family shows, not counting sports tickets. Barclays ranked third in the world at the time, behind only the O2 arena in London and Manchester Arena in England.
