GAME NOTES: Dead last in the Colonial Athletic Association standings coming into this week, the Hofstra Pride try to get something started tonight as they host the George Mason Patriots. Things have gotten so bad for the Pride this season that they enter this game with a total of only three wins, only one of those against a CAA foe (James Madison). Last Saturday, the squad was dealt yet another setback by Virginia Commonwealth on the road in a 59-49 decision. The loss was the second in a row and the sixth in seven tries for the unit. Meanwhile, the Patriots logged their second win in three attempts over the weekend as well when they defeated Northeastern in Fairfax, 80-52. The victory moved the team to a perfect 8-0 at home this season and 3-0 in league play in their own building. The Pride lead the all-time series with George Mason by just a single game at the moment, 7-6, with the Patriots winning the most recent encounter last season by a score of 64-61 during the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament.

One of four players to score in double figures on Saturday, John Vaughan tallied 16 points as he shot 7-of-11 from the field in the win over the Huskies. Dre Smith chipped in 14 off the bench, Cam Long 12 points and Louis Birdsong 11, while Will Thomas cleared a team-best 10 rebounds to go along with six points, four assists and four steals. Flying under the radar was Folarin Campbell with his seven points and six boards. From a historical perspective, Campbell became the first player in program history to post 1,200 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists, 100 three-pointers, 100 steals and 50 blocked shots, needing just one more dish to move into fifth place on the school's all-time list in that department as well. One of three players to start all 16 games for George Mason, Campbell is third on the scoring list with his 11.6 ppg this season, hitting just 37.4 percent from the floor. However, he is much more than just a scorer, having handed out 48 assists and captured close to four and a half rebounds per game. Will Thomas leads the team with 15.7 ppg and 9.9 rpg, shooting 61.2 percent from the floor along the way for the Patriots.

Back on the floor after missing several games with an injury, it doesn't appear as though Antoine Agudio is back at full strength for the Pride, hitting just 4-of-11 from the field and missing all five opportunities behind the three-point line in the loss to VCU last weekend. Agudio still managed to lead Hofstra in scoring with 14 points, but that's only because the rest of the players on the squad did little to distinguish themselves from the pack. Darren Townes accounted for eight points and seven of the unit's 26 rebounds, but he also shot just 2-of-6 at the charity stripe where the team was a mere 15-of-23 collectively. Failing to convert even one of 11 tries from beyond the arc was another reason for the team's failure. The 14-point effort by Agudio was his second-lowest of the season behind the 10 put up versus St. Francis in November. Already with four games of at least 30 points, Agudio continues to be one of the nation's top scorers with his 25.1 ppg, shooting an impressive 43.5 percent from three-point range and having made at least one triple in every game he played up until this past weekend. Charles Jenkins, the only player to start every game for the Pride, is also the only other double-digit scorer with 13.5 ppg.

Agudio might be a talented player, but this season he has no one else to lean on when the going gets tough. That said, he'll still get his points somehow, but they won't be enough to carry Hofstra to the winner's circle.