Game 20: Men at Binghamton

The men's team travels to Vestal, NY to face Binghamton (1-7) in the Events Center tonight. On Sunday afternoon, GW (3-4) was throttled at Virginia Tech by a score of 68-36. In that one, Cheyenne Moore was the only Colonial in double figures in scoring with 13 points. GW's 36 points were the fewest in the coach Karl Hobbs era.

The Bearcats, who were picked to finish fourth out of nine teams in the America East Conference, return three starters from the team that went 13-16 and lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Binghamton is led by 6-0 senior guard Richard Forbes (16.9 points per game this season) and 6-8 sophomore forward Lazar Trifunovic (14.3 points, 8.6 rebounds). Coach Kevin Broadus is in his first season with the Bearcats. Broadus was one of Hobbs' assistants at GW from 2002 through 2004. For the past three seasons, Broadus was an assistant on John Thompson III's staff at Georgetown.

Binghamton is coming off of a 73-55 home loss to Colgate on December 5. In that one, Forbes had 23 points and four rebounds while 6-0 senior guard Mike Gordon had 10 points, five rebounds, and five assists. However, the squad went just 9-37 (24.3%) from the field in the second half, as Binghamton was outscored 42-26 after intermission. The Bearcats' lone win of the season came on November 14 at home against Quinnipiac. In its season opener on November 12, Binghamton fell at St. Bonaventure by a score of 97-80. The Bearcats have also lost to the likes of Central Connecticut State, Cornell, and Rider.

This is the third-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 2-0. The last meeting came on December 30, 2002, which the Colonials won 68-64 in Binghamton. In that one, Pops Mensah-Bonsu led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Chris Monroe added 14 points, and T.J. Thompson notched 11 points and five assists.

Hobbs' squad is looking for an identity following Sunday's beatdown in Blacksburg. While it was a long and snowy trip to Binghamton, the Colonials should win this one based on talent alone. However, don't be surprised if it's close for a while.

Jordan Teller and David Earl have the call for WRGW with Ross Romano and I handling production duties. You can listen here starting at 6.40 p.m. Our own Paul Marmaro will join Byron Kerr for the 3WT broadcast. You can listen here starting at 6.50 p.m.

Game notes: The Colonials have lost four of their last five games...GW is 11-12 in its last 23 games away from the Smith Center...The Colonials have turned the ball over 130 times in seven games, or an average of nearly 19 per game...Maureece Rice needs nine points to pass Haviland Harper for 37th place on the program's all-time scoring list...Rice needs 15 points to pass Joe Adamitis for 36th place...GW is 25-5 all-time against teams from the America East Conference...The Colonials are 1-1 against America East teams this season with a win against Boston University and a loss at Maryland-Baltimore County...The Bearcats shoot only 29.2% from three-point land...This is GW's first trip to the Events Center...Binghamton is 26-19 in the four-year-old arena.

Starting lineups and other notes to follow from the WRGW studios and the Events Center once we get closer to tip-off. Please check back later.

Update, 7.05 p.m. - Here are the starting lineups:

GW
G - Xavier Alexander (6-6 freshman from Forest Park, OK)
G - Maureece Rice (6-1 senior from Philadelphia, PA)
F - Cheyenne Moore (6-5 junior from Baltimore, MD)
F - Wynton Witherspoon (6-7 junior from Duluth, GA)
F - Hermann Opoku (6-9 sophomore from Vienna, Austria)

Binghamton
G - Mike Gordon (6-0 senior from Plainfield, NJ)
G - Richard Forbes (6-0 senior from Far Rockaway, NY)
F - Reggie Fuller (6-6 junior from Missouri City, TX)
F - Milos Klimovic (6-7 junior from Sarajevo, Bosnia)
F - Lazar Trifunovic (6-8 sophomore from Belgrade, Serbia)

Update, 8.07 p.m. - GW trails by 13 at the half. We don't know what happened to Miles Beatty, but it we do know that he came out for warmups and then stopped shooting about halfway through. Beatty stayed on the bench when the rest of the team went back to the locker room before tip-off, and he didn't play in the first half.

Just when you thought a loss at Maryland-Baltimore County or only scoring 38 points at Virginia Tech was bad, the Colonials trail a team that is currently ranked #321 out of 341 teams in the RPI by double digits. Unreal.

Update, 8.54 p.m. - Rice hasn't played in the second half. You have to wonder about Hobbs' strategy of trying to send a message by playing the likes of Johnny Lee and Dominic Green. The regular players don't seem to play any harder when this happens.

Barring one of the most unlikely comebacks in college basketball history, GW will lose to lowly Binghamton.

Update, 9.01 p.m. - GW joins Quinnipiac as the only teams Binghamton has beaten this season. It's hard to believe that this men's team couldn't bounce back from Sunday's embarrassing loss. Broadus' squad was much better prepared for this one, as the Colonials' lack of an offensive strategy continues to hamper the squad.

Rice didn't play in the second half. Where was Joseph Katuka? Hobbs has some explaining to do.

Update, 9.23 p.m. - Just spoke to David Earl, who was at the postgame press conference. Hobbs said Rice came to him at the half and told him that he was too sick to play. In addition, there was no mention of an injury to Beatty. When asked about the freshman guard, Hobbs said he doesn't expect Beatty to take over the offense. Instead, he's going to let him develop slowly and take his time. When asked who was the team's go-to guy, Hobbs replied, "We don't have one."

That's all tonight. We'll be back in action on Tuesday when the women host Loyola Marymount. Thanks for stopping by.

Update, 11.23 - Apparently Beatty's injury was to his Achilles. This and more in the recap by Joanna Shapes of The Hatchet.