What: Men’s basketball (13-3, 2-1 A-10) vs. Massachusetts (8-7, 1-2 A-10)

Where: William D. Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.

When: Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.

Garnering a No. 20 national ranking after winning 10 of its first 11 games this season, GW went 3-2 over winter break, dropping contests at DePaul and Saint Louis.

But following the 65-62 loss to the Billikens last week, its first in Atlantic 10 play, the Colonials responded with a commanding 27-point victory over Duquesne Saturday, despite senior Joe McDonald, now listed as day-to-day, leaving the game with an eye injury.

With momentum on their side, the team travels to Amherst Tuesday night to spar with the Minutemen, who have lost two in a row and six of their last nine, in hopes of stringing together a pair of conference wins for the first time this year.

The case for the Colonials:

The frontcourt led the way for GW against the Dukes, as redshirt junior forward Tyler Cavanaugh and senior forward Kevin Larsen recorded career-highs, scoring 30 and 25 points, respectively.

Despite the Colonials’ recent slump, Cavanaugh, who has scored in double figures in all 16 games this season, has remained consistent. He leads the team with an average of 16.6 points per game, followed by senior guard Patricio Garino who puts up an average of 12.2 per game.

Larsen adds a team-high 8.1 boards and 3.0 assists per game to an offense that is averaging 38.5 rebounds per contest to Massachusetts’ 36.8. GW’s staunch defense, which ranks 74th-best in the country, also concedes just 66.6 points per game compared to 77.7 by the Minutemen’s.

Even if McDonald, who averages 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, does not play Tuesday, GW’s trio of guards off the bench in Paul Jorgensen, Alex Mitola and Matt Hart proved Saturday they are capable of picking up the slack by combining for 31 points.

The case for the Minutemen:
Senior guard Trey Davis (18.7 PPG) and sophomore guard Donte Clark (18.0 PPG) captain a high-powered Massachusetts offense averaging 77.9 points per game, fourth-best in the A-10, to GW’s 75.9.

The Minutemen hold an RPI ranking of just 135 compared to GW’s 30, but could frustrate the visitors, who are a perfect 10-0 at home but have split their four games on the road, if they are able to solve the Colonials’ defense.

Despite a stellar 75.9 percent clip from the foul line by GW, Massachusetts also holds a slight edge in three-point shooting, going 34.7 percent from beyond the arc on the season. If the Minutemen can exploit their home court advantage by slowing down the Colonials’ offense and staying hot offensively, they could pull off their first Top-100 RPI win this year.

The bottom line:
Still in search of its first conference win on the road, a big victory at Massachusetts would offer a much needed confidence boost for GW before visiting A-10 powerhouse Dayton on Friday. But the Colonials must come out focused and not overlook their opponent in a league where no win comes easily.