No. 9 seed Villanova leads No. 8 seed George Mason 35-29 at halftime in their second round game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
The biggest story of the first half is Villanova's three-point shooting. They have taken more field goal attempts from beyond the arc than they have from inside of it, and have made 6 of their 14 three-point attempts. It will be very hard for Mason to hang with Villanova in the second half if they continue to shoot the ball like this. Corey Fisher continues to lead the way for Villanova with
On the other side of the court, Mason has not been shooting the ball well at all. They are shooting just 9-24 from the field and have made just 2 of their 9 three point attempts. Their leading scorer Isiah Tate, and he has just seven points
Frankly, it is kind of surprising that Mason is even this close. They are being out rebounded, out shot and they have more turnovers. Having said that, If they turn some of those things around in the second half, they will have a chance to make a serious run at Villanova.
There was a scary moment about mid-way through the first half when Mason star Cam Long was left writhing on the floor in pain and had to check out of the game. Villanova center Mouphtaou Yarou came down hard on Long's leg while he was on the floor. But shortly thereafter he checked back into the game and appears to be doing fine.
Make sure to check out or main 2011 NCAA Tournament stream for information on all the games, and check out our updated printable bracket which reflects yesterday's action.