Men’s basketball (8-2) defeated the College of William & Mary (8-3) 99-86 at the Smith Center on Saturday night as the Revolutionaries eclipsed 95 points for the fifth time this season.
Leading by just 1 point at halftime, the Revs pulled away in the second half as the Tribe’s shooting percentage dropped to 32.3 percent after they shot 63.6 percent in the first. The team commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Smith Center during a halftime ceremony that included the retiring of men’s basketball legend Yinka Darre’s 33 jersey.
“This is a great venue for college basketball, and since I’ve been here, we’ve had some great moments,” Head Coach Chris Caputo said of the Smith Center. “It’s been filled, and it’s been awesome. This is a crown jewel of the University.”
Junior guard Jean Aranguren led the Revs in scoring with 20 points. Aranguren, in addition to other bench players, contributed towards a dominant day from the Revs reserves, outscoring the Tribe’s bench 48-21.
“I’ve been happy with him,” Caputo said. “But I also thought there was more in the tank, and I talked to him at shootaround. I’m just saying, hey, I really want you to let it rip today. I don’t want you to be thinking. And I want you to be able to look a little bit more comfortable.”
Following Aranguren in scoring was redshirt senior center Rafael Castro netting 18 points and graduate student forward Tyrone Marshall, who earned 15 points.
Marshall recently returned from an undisclosed injury after being out for almost two weeks, playing just seven minutes in the loss to Murray State and missing the team’s previous game, a win against the United States Military Academy, West Point.
“I wanted to make sure I bring that energy off the bench because it was kind of rough,” Marshall said. “But I had my teammates beside me, pushing me and telling me, ‘It’s your go time.’”
The Revs’ offense opened to a sloppy start as the Tribe opened the game to a 17-9 lead just over five minutes into the game. William & Mary’s fast-paced offense and aggressive defense proved difficult at first, but Castro said the team was able to adjust as the game continued.
“We just had to settle down, calm down,” Castro said. “Just move the ball. They had a jumpy team.”
The Revs struggled from 3-point range throughout the game, going 6-27 from outside the arc but were able to make up for poor deep shooting by outmatching William & Mary on the inside, notching 62 points in the paint compared to 44 by the Tribe.
GW responded to the Tribe’s early lead with a 13-2 run to retake the driver’s seat and never let William & Mary lead by more than one possession throughout the rest of the half. Marshall scored 5 of GW’s last 7 points in the half as the team maintained its narrow lead. They began to pull away in the second half, earning their largest lead of the game so far with 11 points halfway through the second. They secured their largest lead of the game of 19 points at 93-74 with four minutes left to play as the Tribe’s offense collapsed.
Throughout the second half, the Revs began to match the Tribe’s tempo, quickly inbounding the ball after a made shot to initiate the offense. They also improved their ball movement to evade the high press.
In addition to being more comfortable with the ball, they also improved their play on the other side of the court, limiting the Tribe to 32.3 percent from the field.
Caputo said he stressed at halftime that not every game will be a blowout, especially against a William & Mary team that entered the game with a top-75 NET.
“College basketball is not winning by 47 points,” Caputo said. “In general, college basketball is one-possession games.”
The Revs will face off next against the University of Delaware at the Smith Center on December 10.
