By PAUL GOTHAM
Jordan Fouse, Daniel Hamilton, Ben Simmons and Kevin Larsen.
Among the nation’s forwards Green Bay’s Fouse, UConn’s Hamilton, LSU’s Simmons and George Washington’s Larsen rank among the top 35 for assists per game. They also make up the top four of forwards when it comes rebounding.
Per BBState, Hamilton and Simmons lead the nation’s forwards with 5.1 apg. Fouse hands out 3.3 helpers. Larsen has 3.1. These big men, though, combine their play-making abilities with tenacious efforts on the boards. Simmons is third in the nation and leads all forwards with 13.1 caroms per game. Hamilton grabs 8.5 while Fouse gets 8.3 and Larsen 8.1.
If GW’s Mike Lonergan has anything to do with it, Larsen might show a selfish side in the future.
“I feel like he’s always been a great passer,” Lonergan said during this week’s Atlantic 10 tele-conference. “He should be a much better offensive player.”
The fifth-year coach points to the impact of junior transfer Tyler Cavanaugh who has tallied double figures in all 16 of GW’s games and leads the Colonials with 16.6 ppg including 41.2 percent (21-of-51) behind the arc.
“Cavanaugh is having such a good year that Kevin’s not getting that much attention,” Lonergan explained. “He’s not getting doubled and stuff like a lot of people would do. You can’t be a great passer if they’re not doubling you.”
Larsen averages 11.8 this season on 8.1 attempts per game. A year ago, the 6-10 forward from Copenhagen, Denmark accounted for 10.9 on 8.4 shots. Even as a sophomore, Larsen took more shots (8.3) than he is currently.
“We’re trying to get him to look to be more of a scorer,” Lonergan added. “He passes really well out of the double team, but now they can’t leave Cavanaugh like they were able to leave some of our guys the last couple of years.”
Larsen scored a career-high 25 in GW’s 91-64 victory over Duquesne, Saturday. He has averaged 14.8 over GW’s last six contests.
“Kevin’s taking advantage for the last three or four games.”
George Washington (13-3/2-1) will look to make it two straight in Atlantic 10 play when they travel to Amherst to take on the University of Massachusetts Minutemen (8-7/1-2). Two of the Colonials’ three setbacks have come on the road including a loss to Saint Louis (6-9/1-2) earlier last week.
“We’ve got to become a much better road team this year,” Lonergan stated. “You got learn from those losses. You got to be more game ready on the road. We just don’t have the same energy on the road, and that just shouldn’t happen with an experienced veteran team like we have.
“We’re a very good team. If we want to be a great team, we got to get more consistent. We’re too up and down as individuals. We go to bring it every night.”
A 7 p.m. tip off is scheduled. The game will be televised on CSN in the D.C. area and on SNY in New York.
The Atlantic 10 is one of only four conferences (along with the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12) to have nine teams with double digit wins. In addition, seven A-10 teams have at least seven wins in the last 10 games, and three teams are on multiple game winning streaks, including VCU, which has won five straight and St. Bonaventure, which has won four in a row.
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