When: 4:00 pm PT
TV: None
Online Stream: Atlantic10.com
Live stats
Note: George Washington's official website indicates that this game will be streamed, for free, at the link above. CGB can make no promises about the veracity of said information or the quality of the stream provided. But if true, it's certainly better than nothing!
For the first time this year the Bears head on the road to our nation's capital, where their mere presence will solve the ills of our country, if only briefly.
The Colonials started the season with a 101-73 win over Jackson State, and the three digit total is certainly eye catching. 2nd year head coach Jonathan Tsipis didn't show any particular inclination to play ultra fast basketball last year, but perhaps with a year to coach his players, he's interested in speeding things up.
No matter what style George Washington brings to the court, this game likely won't be a cakewalk for the Bears. You might recall when Cal first went on the road last year, when they struggled to beat teams like Northwestern and Old Dominion that you would typically expect them to handle with relative ease.
Travelling 3,000 miles away is never easy, and although Cal is surely the favorite tonight, don't necessarily expect GW to be a push-over. They have a solid mix of veteran and young talent and play in one of the traditionally stronger mid-major conferences in the country. I'd also wager that they typically don't have top 10 teams play in their gym too often, so I'm sure they'll be plenty motivated for the occasion.
The Colonials are led by a quartet of upper classmen returning starters and joined by a trio of freshmen who combined to score 42 points in the season opener. Tsipis likes to play a big rotation with frequent substitutions, seemingly a la Charli Turner-Thorne at ASU, so there's not necessarily one player to watch out for. What we can say is that last year GW hung their hat on a solid defense across the board.
If Cal has an obvious advantage, it's inside where George Washington simply won't have the size to matchup against Cal's post rotation. For obvious reasons, Cal wasn't able to dominate the post against Duke the way they typically prefer, but tonight should see a return to double digit rebounding margins. If we're lucky, the Colonials will want to run with the Bears, and we'll see a fun, fast paced game played at Cal tempo.
Either way, it's time to earn a road win. Go Bears!