FAIRFAX — George Mason dropped an 82–67 decision to Dayton at EagleBank Arena, a fourth loss in five tries, and the Patriots are no longer just slipping, they are coming apart at the seams. The defense is gone. The hustle is gone. The identity that once made this team hard to play against has vanished, and Wednesday night looked like a program staring straight into the harshest part of the season.
Dayton led 43–36 at halftime and never let Mason truly threaten. The Flyers got comfortable early, then stayed comfortable because Mason never made them pay for anything.
The stats back up every miserable second of the eye test. Dayton shot 56% and hit 11-of-21 threes, slicing up a Patriot defense that has stopped looking connected. Mason shot 44%, hit 7-of-14 from deep, and still had no chance because it could not get consecutive stops.
Was Kory Mincy carrying the whole thing before he got hurt?
The question is not quiet anymore.
Kory Mincy finished with 4 points, shot 2-of-10, and went 0-for-4 from three, the kind of line that screams limitation, not just a bad night.
If his hand is affecting his shot, it is affecting everything: spacing, late-clock offense, confidence. And the larger problem is obvious. Mason has nobody who can replicate what Mincy is when he is right. There is simply no replacement.
Add in the loss of preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection Braden O’Connor, and the ceiling gets lower fast. Mason did not just lose a player, it lost a stabilizer, a plug-and-play solution on nights when things get messy. And right now, everything is messy.
Dayton showed Mason what having answers looks like
It was balance. It was having multiple ways to hurt you.
Javon Bennett hit five threes and scored 22, stretching Mason’s perimeter defense until it snapped. Inside, Amaël L’Etang went 9-for-11 for 21 points, finishing everything Mason could not keep out of the paint.
Perimeter. Paint. Rhythm. Counters. Dayton had answers everywhere.
Mason had moments, but never control.
This is not Skinn losing the team. This is talent showing its head.
Nobody is claiming Tony Skinn lost the locker room. This does not feel like a team turning on its coach. It feels like the roster’s limitations are finally arriving at full volume, and Skinn’s hard-nosed style cannot cover for it when the personnel cannot execute it.
Mason got scoring from Jahari Long with 17 points and 4-of-6 from three, Fatt Hill with 15, and Riley Allenspach with 12. But it did not change the game’s temperature because the Patriots could not guard long enough for any of it to matter.
The five spot is a nightly crisis and they are getting absolutely no defense from the Post
Here is the truth nobody wants to say out loud. It is hard to survive in this league if you cannot hold the paint. Right now, Mason is getting absolutely no defense from the post, and opponents know it. They are attacking the rim, forcing help, and turning every possession into a scramble.
The only real solution is Emmanuel Kanga, and that is the problem. You cannot ask a freshman to step in, defend big bodies, rebound without fouling, and log heavy post minutes for a full game and expect it to hold up over weeks in the Atlantic 10. Kanga has shown flashes, real flashes, but the fouls mount quickly and the minutes get complicated fast.
When the paint collapses, everything collapses. Rotations get late. Closeouts get sloppy. Teams start shooting threes like they are in an empty gym.
So what is left to salvage?
At this point, it starts with honesty. Mason cannot fix what it will not admit. The Patriots have to rebuild their defense possession by possession, even if it costs offense, because without stops nothing matters. They have to rebound like it is personal. They have to make the game ugly again, because right now opponents are enjoying themselves.
This is what it looks like when the floor drops out. Not one bad night, a pattern. And patterns do not fix themselves. Mason can talk about toughness all it wants, but until it shows up in the paint, on the glass, and on every possession, the season is going to keep ending the same way, one quiet home loss at a time.
