RICHMOND, Jan. 22 -- With a win at Richmond on Saturday, George Washington likely would have returned to the top 25, where it spent six consecutive weeks this season.
Instead, the Colonials suffered a 70-59 loss in front of 5,316 fans who braved the snow and ice that descended on Richmond.
George Washington (12-4, 4-2 Atlantic 10) hasn't won at Richmond since Dec. 22, 1979. It only feels like it's been that long since the Colonials, who have lost two of their past three, earned a spot in the national rankings with upsets of Michigan State and Maryland in December.
The Colonials must now prepare for tough home games against Xavier and Dayton followed by a nationally televised game at Temple.
Rankings? RPI? NCAA tournament seeding? Forget that. George Washington Coach Karl Hobbs simply wants to see his team return to the kind of basketball that earned it a spot in the top 25 in the first place.
"The problem is, we're not as good as everyone said we were and I've said that all along," Hobbs said. "People are saying we have all these NBA players, but I don't see Ray Allen. I don't see Richard Hamilton. I don't see Emeka Okafor. All those guys that I recruited to Connecticut. I know what NBA players look like, and I don't see those kinds of players."
The Colonials certainly aren't going to win many games when point guard T.J. Thompson and forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu combine for eight points, as they did Saturday.
The other issue was turnovers. The Colonials looked sloppy early, looked really sloppy late and finished with a season-high 26 turnovers, which Richmond (7-9, 2-3) cashed in for 28 points.
"I really thought that the 15 turnovers in the first half affected the outcome of the game more than anything," Hobbs said. "Then, we come out in the second half and turn it over 11 times. You can't do that, on the road, against a well-coached team like Richmond and expect to be in the game let alone win it."
Many of the turnovers, especially in the first half, came on careless passes while trying to force the fast break or resulted from sloppy ballhandling. Richmond's defense also was a major factor.
Three days after watching his zone defense get torched in an 81-57 loss at Xavier, Richmond Coach Jerry Wainwright got out of bed Saturday morning and decided that a new approach was in order.
"We had about five alternate defenses we were going to run today," Wainwright said. "Then I woke up this morning not feeling very well, and I ripped it up and decided that other than a few possessions we were going to line up and play them man to man."
When he walked into the locker room Saturday morning and approached the dry-erase board, Wainwright thought about diagramming X's and O's but elected for a more simple approach. He simply wrote, "Guard your man."
"What a concept, huh?" Wainwright said.
It worked. George Washington, which entered the game with the highest-scoring offense in the conference and the 11th-highest scoring offense in the nation (82.7 points per game), scored a season low and hit a season-low 19 field goals.
Thompson, George Washington's leading scorer and best outside shooter, attempted only two shots and finished with three points. Thompson briefly left the game in the first half with what Hobbs said was cramping in his calf.
He returned after a few minutes but never found a rhythm and couldn't offset the scrappy play of Richmond guard Daon Merritt, who scored 11 points, had six assists and played excellent on-the-ball defense.
Mensah-Bonsu, who was wearing a mask to protect a broken nose for the second straight game, was in foul trouble throughout and finished with five points and six rebounds. He picked up his fourth foul on a questionable call while battling for an offensive rebound with 9 minutes 15 seconds remaining and the Colonials trailing 44-42. He never returned.
Following the game, Hobbs said Mensah-Bonsu wasn't held out because of injury. When a reporter asked if he has been happy with Mensah-Bonsu's production of late, Hobbs paused before letting out a sarcastic laugh.
"You're a funny guy," Hobbs said. "In all seriousness, in the last two games, he's 4 for 14 or something like that. . . . It was not nose related. But he'll be okay. He'll bounce back strong."
Hobbs is hoping his team will do the same.
