Michigan State upset by George Mason

The Michigan State Spartans still managed to lose even while Drew Neitzel was having one of his best games of the season. How is this possible? Shannon Brown was broke.

Brown is usually MSU's most consistent player, but he had the worst game of his career at the wrong time. His shot was just off and he continued to settle for jumpers rather than take the ball to the hoop and get to the free-throw line. (Oh wait, nobody on the team got to the line). The knee injury only compounded his struggles as he obviously didn't have the same explosiveness after it happened. If he plays half the game he usually does, MSU wins convincingly.

Meanwhile, Drew Neitzel layed it all out for the Spartans Big 3. He defended well, looked for his shot and ran the offense to the best of his ability. He was basically calling out all the Neitzel naysayers and playing the way he is capable of. Ager had 27 points but Brown and Davis left him a lot to be desired.

Folarin Campbell, of George Mason, scored 21 points and made all eight of his shots from the field, Will Thomas had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis each had 13 points for George Mason.

In his last three games, Thomas has scored a career-high 21, followed by games of 19, 17 and now 18. Over those four games, he has made just under 75 percent of his shots from the field.

The Patriots didn't make it easy on themselves, hitting just 10 of 21 free throws over the final 3 1/2 minutes. But they made 59 percent of their shots from the field (29-of-49). I question the Spartans decision to shoot 3's down the stretch rather than attack the hoop and get to the line. Instead, MSU had Ager shooting 30-footers with a hand in his face.

This game really makes you wonder why Hofstra was not invited to the tournament...