Men’s basketball (19-16) fell to the University of New Mexico (25-10) 86-61 on Sunday, ending their season and short National Invitational Tournament run.
The Revolutionaries’ usually potent offense went ice cold in the Albuquerque desert, connecting on just 21 of 64 field-goal attempts — a 34% clip that highlighted their struggles. Ball security proved an issue as well, with the team committing 14 turnovers, including seven from redshirt senior forward Rafael Castro, the team’s offensive centerpiece, who managed only 6 points in the contest.
GW played a truncated seven-man rotation, with redshirt senior forward Luke Hunger out due to an injury and redshirt junior Garrett Johnson, who battled an injury to close the regular season, not logging any minutes. The game was the team’s second in the NIT, after they narrowly pulled out a win against Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Redshirt sophomore Christian Jones led the Revs with 16 points on six-of-15 shooting, while graduate guard Tre Dinkins added 14 points on five-of-14 from the field and a team-high four-of-10 from three. Beyond those two, however, many of the players who had carried the team this far had a quiet night, including junior guards Trey Autry and Jean Aranguren, who had 8 and 7 on Sunday night, respectively.
The Revs didn’t score their first field goal until nearly three minutes into the game, when redshirt sophomore Christian Jones knocked down a floater to bring the score to 4-2. GW, who failed to hold the lead throughout the entire game, kept its deficit mostly within single digits throughout the first, but they never found an offensive rhythm.
The team logged just 12 points at the halfway point of the first half, but a mini barrage of 3-pointers, led primarily by Dinkins, helped close the gap to just 4 points to enter the break at 36-32.
Ahead just two possessions, the Lobos started the half 10-0 to quickly pull away. After knocking down just three 3-pointers in the first half, New Mexico made 8 in the second. Leading their scoring effort was freshman guard Jake Hall, who finished with 19 on the night and made three of six 3-point attempts.
The Revs’ frontcourt, a seasonlong strength led by Castro and Hunger, struggled against New Mexico, with active forwards Castro and Marshall combining for just 8 points and eight turnovers. Defensively, the Revs also faltered, giving up 36 points in the paint and allowing the Lobos 15 offensive rebounds.
After the Revs fought to keep the game in reach for much of the second half, the Lobos’ lead reached 20 points with less than five minutes left in the game. The game ended with both teams trading 3-pointers with less than a minute left, the final belonging to junior guard Jean Aranguren.
New Mexico will play the winner of A-10 foe Saint Joseph’s and the University of California early this week for the opportunity to make the NIT semifinals.
This game marks the end of a Revs season marked by high expectations and key early-season wins but better defined by crushing losses and missed opportunities. While the squad reached a postseason tournament for the second consecutive year, it’s now been 12 years since their last trip to March Madness — the team’s longest gap since before the 1993 season, which brought the team to Sweet 16 play.
