It’s not always pretty, and often times might remind you of the old guy with the short shorts, high socks and ragged Reebok’s at the Y on the weekends, full of head fakes, off-balance fadeaways and spinning bank shots.
But there’s no arguing with the results that Ryan Pearson’s style of play has produced in his career at George Mason. And this year, the last for the 6-foot-6 senior forward, has seen the New York City product take his game to another level.
After playing in the shadow of Cam Long for the previous two seasons, Pearson has flourished in his role as the go-to scorer this year for the Patriots, who are 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association entering Wednesday’s game against Duquesne. Pearson leads the team averaging 18.1 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field, doing so with an unorthodox game that expands from under the basket out to the 3-point line.
Given the green light by first-year Mason coach Paul Hewitt, who’s offense is built around the perimeter, has tasked Pearson with facing his opponents up more this season than in past seasons.
“He basically just wanted me to continue playing my game and to try to become more of a perimeter threat because of his style of play,” Pearson said. “I think he’s put me in different positions on the court, different spots on the court, and given me more opportunities to score.
“I play as the game comes to me, take what the defense gives me. If the defense gives me a post up, I’ll take a post up with my back to the basket. If I’ve got an opportunity to face up and go by somebody, I’ll also do that. It’s all about reading the defense, and whatever they give you, you’ve got to take it.”
Hewitt, who used future NBA first-round picks Chris Bosh and Thaddeus Young in a similar role while coaching at Georgia Tech, has been impressed with the evolution of his small forward.
“I tell you what, he’s just a basketball player,” Hewitt said. “You can put him at the 3, you can put him at the 4, you can post him, you can face him up, you can clear him out on the wing, and he just knows how to score.”
Pearson has been Mason’s leading scorer in all but one game this season, has topped 20 points four times and continues to climb the ladder among the all-time scorers in program history. In fact, with 1,245 career points, he has a legitimate chance to climb as high as fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list, a spot currently held by Robert Dykes (1,642 points).
Since joining the Patriots for the 2008-09 season, Pearson has increased his scoring, rebounding and foul shooting every year, and has increased his shooting percentage in each of his three seasons as a starter. Since averaging 7.0 points as a freshman, he has improved his scoring average to 11.9 as a sophomore and 14.2 last season en route to becoming one of the top scorers in the conference.
“It’s just come from working hard, not taking summers off, and trying to improve on something in my game every year,” Pearson said. “I think from my freshman year to now, I’ve become more of an inside-outside guy. I have improved my shooting, ball handling, and taking guys off the dribble. Just been trying to be come a harder player to guard.”
His success in doing so has benefitted players such as Mike Morrison, who has started alongside Pearson on the front line the past three years.
“He scores effortlessly, and in very weird ways. He makes a lot of weird shots,” Morrison said. “But you don’t have to worry about double-teams, and that frees up points for me and the rest of our team. So I try to emphasize to my teammates to get him the ball early because it helps everyone else score. “
After over 100 games, hundreds of practices and countless pick-up games together, Morrison is as good a witness as any to the awkward shots by Pearson that more often than not find their desired result.
“I’ve been with him for four years now, and he still hits shots where I’m like, ‘That was lucky’ or ‘That just shouldn’t have went in’,” Morrison said. “But he makes them. And in practice and pick-up [games] it gets worse. It gets really ridiculous.”
More of those shots finding desired results is what the Patriots will need in the coming months to meet expectations, which included Top 25 consideration in several national preseason polls and being tabbed by many as the favorite to win their first CAA title since 2008. After hosting Duquesne and Manhattan next week, Mason will travel to play the College of Charleston the following week before diving into its conference slate once the calendar flips.
That is the stretch in the season, Pearson knows, when his teammates will rely on him the most to come up big. It’s also when he expects a heavy dose of bodies to be thrown at him as opponents more familiar with him look for ways to slow him down.
“I’m anticipating a lot of double-teams, and it’s stuff that I’ve got to get ready for in practice,” Pearson said. “I’ll just have to make the right decision, attack when I can and make the pass out of the double-team and give my teammates some opportunities for open shots and to make plays.”
And if opponents figure out how to slow him down, they’ve done something Hewitt has yet to be able to do.
“He’s a lot of fun to coach because you can throw a lot of different looks to try and get him in position where he can be effective,” Hewitt said. “And I haven’t found a place yet where we can say, ‘All right, this is a weakness of his’.
“He just knows how to play.”
Ryan Pearson Career Statistics:
2011-12: 18.1 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 54.5 FG%, 73.1 FT%, 1.0 SPG – 181 points
2010-11: 14.2 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 51.1 FG%, 70.8 FT%, 0.9 SPG – 482 points
2009-10: 11.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 45.7 FG%, 65.4 FT%, 1.1 SPG – 357 points
2008-09: 7.0 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 48.8 FG%, 64.3 FT% - 225 points
