Tuesday, December 15, 2015

GW Men’s Basketball Ranked in Top 25 for First Time Since 2006

Colonials head coach Mike Lonergan

From our friends at GW Athletics...

Colonials Check-in at No. 21 in Associated Press, No. 22 in USA Today/Coaches Poll

The George Washington men’s basketball team has earned its first top 25 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Polls since the end of the 2005-06 season.

After dismantling Rutgers 83-49 on Saturday, GW’s second consecutive win against a Big Ten team, voters put the Colonials No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the coaches poll which were released Monday. It marks the first ranking for GW since the final poll of the 2005-06 season, when it was 14th in the AP’s and 19th in the coaches.

At 9-1, the Colonials have matched their third-best start in school history over 10 games and own victories over teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and SEC. GW has cruised to a 7-0 record at home, winning by an average margin of 15.1 points per game, including wins against then-No. 6 Virginia, Seton Hall and Penn State.

The Colonials also own a road victory at South Florida and a neutral-site win over Tennessee in the Barclays Center. The lone blemish through the first 10 games is a 61-56 loss at the hands of then-No. 24 Cincinnati in the Barclays Center Classic championship game.

GW has three games remaining on its non-conference schedule, with the first of those coming Saturday when it plays host to Saint Peter’s at 1 PM. Following that, the Colonials travel to DePaul (December 22 at 9 PM on Fox Sports 1) and UCF (December 29 at 7 PM on ESPN3) before opening Atlantic 10 play at home vs. Fordham on January 3, 2016 at 7 PM on NBCSN.