Fordham Set to Take on George Mason in Atlantic 10 Opener

Fordham received some welcome news Tuesday when the Atlantic 10 Conference announced its postseason awards.

Eric Paschall, the Rams' leading scorer who is averaging 16.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year and was placed on the conference's All-Rookie team. Christian Sengfelder, averaging 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, was also named to the All-Rookie team. And Jon Severe, who has had a rocky season, was selected to the All-Academic team with a 3.21 grade-point average.

In 2014-15, Paschall and Sengfelder combined to win the conference's Rookie of the Week award seven times. They were Fordham's two best players on the court. Severe was in and out of the lineup this year and averaged just 6.6 points per game. The Rams can only hope that being recognized for what he did in the classroom will help his confidence going forward.

The awards were nice. Fordham's focus, however, is on the A-10 tournament, which begins tonight with an opening-round matchup against George Mason at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

It will be the second meeting of the season between the two schools. Back on Feb. 18, Fordham (9-20, 4-14) picked up its only A-10 road win of the year, an 80-68 victory over the Patriots (9-21, 4-14). Fordham beat George Mason twice last year and is 4-0 all-time against the Patriots.

Head coach Tom Pecora says the only thing that matters is how his team plays Wednesday night.

"All that stuff goes out the window," he said about the Rams' previous success against George Mason. "It doesn't have anything to do with past performance.

"It's not a horrible matchup for us. The key is how well [the Patriots] shoot the ball. We have to respect that. They play really hard for [head coach] Paul [Hewitt]. There's no quit in them."

He added: "It's the A-10 tournament. It's going to be hand-to-hand combat. It's going to come down to one or two possessions."

The biggest question mark for the Rams as they make the short trip from the Bronx down to Brooklyn revolves around Paschall's status. The conference's sixth-leading scorer sustained a high ankle sprain in practice last Tuesday and missed the last three games of the regular season as a result.

At practice yesterday, Paschall mostly rode a stationary bike and took a few shots off on a side basket. Pecora knows how important he is to the team and expects him to play, though not at 100 percent.

"The key will be Eric," he said. "Where's Eric's health at as we go into this game? I met with him and said to him, 'You're not going to be 100 percent, but at 80 percent, you're still pretty darn good.'"

Fordham will need Paschall tonight. After winning four of six, the Rams lost all three games that he missed.

"Eric being hurt the last couple of games kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit as far as momentum, but other than that, they're still engaged, they're still enthusiastic, they're still locked in," Pecora said. "There are a lot of teams that could have the same record as us that are just dying for the year to be over. I don't believe that's the case with this group."

Tuesday's practice was the 88th of the season. Pecora said the team has had three "duds."

"For a young team, that's impressive," he said. "Young teams come out some days and they just want to go through the motions. I threw them out of practice once all season. The other two days I just got on them."

"Playing hard and competing is a big-time skill," Pecora added. "It's hard to find in a lot of kids. There's been a lot of positives."

This will be Fordham's second game at Barclays this season. On Dec. 22, the Rams lost to Manhattan, the eventual MAAC champion, 71-57 at the Brooklyn arena. Pecora said the experience playing there in the past will help his team this time around.

"Anytime you can get a young team on the floor and they get exposed to something for the first time...it's really just about exposing them," he said. "As tough as it was to lose to Manhattan, it got us in the building. That was as big a part of this for me as anything else. We've been in that building. We've played in that building. Hopefully there's a little bit more familiarity for us. Hopefully, we have a bigger crowd than our opponents moving forward in that building. That's key."

In 2013-14, Fordham lost its last eight regular-season games but still managed to beat George Mason in the first round of the tournament. This year, Pecora says the Rams are in a better position heading in.

"Because they've learned how to win," he said. "I think their confidence, because of those A-10 wins, is there." 

Tonight will be an important game for Fordham, though it's hoping to extend its stay a few more days. After an up-and-down regular season that saw the Rams lose their first nine conference games before rebounding in February, getting a win or two this week would do wonders for the growth and development of a young team with a solid nucleus and more help on the way.

"Anytime you can get a win in your conference tournament...nobody wants to be the first team out. No one wants to go home day one," Pecora told Bleacher Report after Tuesday's practice. "If it were back-to-back years and we had A-10 wins, obviously it would be great for the kids.

"That's how I look at this as we move forward. It really is about them gaining confidence and the way they look at themselves and the way they view themselves and this basketball program. If they feel good about themselves and they're competing at a high level, I think everything takes care of itself."

A win Wednesday night would be nice. Some might say it's crucial. Regardless, Pecora is excited about his team's future.

"These young guys inspire me," he told B/R. "They come in every day, and they want to get better, and they want to work hard. Their work ethic is such that they've never laid down. I think that speaks volumes for where we are as a program."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello