Checking In On George Mason Basketball Transfers

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After the 2019-20 season, multiple players exited Dave Paulsen’s George Mason basketball program. Most notably, Justin Kier, arguably the team’s best player, moved onto bigger and better things at Georgia. Goanar Mar, a former starter who struggled toward the end of his Mason career, moved on to get a fresh start and Jason Douglas-Stanley went back home to New York City after minimal playing time in Fairfax. Here’s how the trio is doing thus far this season.

It should be noted that transfers were able to play without sitting out a year this season.

Justin Kier

Kier, an all-conference selection at Mason, decided to move on to a bigger program after medically redshirting his senior season in Virginia. He chose Georgia as a grad transfer and immediately cracked Tom Crean’s starting lineup. He’s started all 20 games he’s played in thus far for the Bulldogs (13-8) and is coming off a big game (16 pts) where he led the Dawgs to an upset win over No. 20 Missouri.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpPRhf7bBGs

The Grottoes, VA native has scored in double figures nine times so far this year, including a season-high 25 against LSU on January 6th, and is doing big things on the defensive end. Kier leads the entire SEC with 1.9 steals per game — a career-high — and recently snagged five in a win over Kentucky.

’20-21 Georgia Stats: 

  • 30.6 MPG
  • 9.9 PPG
  • 3.6 RPG
  • 2.7 APG
  • 1.9 SPG
  • 41.5 FG%
  • 35.7 3P%

’16-20 George Mason Stats:

  • 31.1 MPG
  • 10.4 PPG
  • 5.1 RPG
  • 2.0 APG
  • 1.1 SPG
  • 45.7 FG%
  • 34.0 3P%

Goanar Mar

A four-star recruit, Mar started every game at Mason his freshman year while averaging 10.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, the next few seasons were marred by — pun intended — injuries and inconsistency, particularly with his jump shot. After shooting well from the outside as a freshman (35.7 percent), Mar was just 13-of-73 (17.8 percent) in his sophomore and junior seasons. His overall field goal percentage also fell drastically from 43.1 as a freshman to 30.4 in his next two seasons. After last season wrapped, Mar entered the portal and landed at Northern Iowa.

Mar was planning to sit out this season before the NCAA allowed immediate eligibility for transfers. He missed the team’s first five games leading up to the decision — all non-conference games — then joined the active roster in time for MVC action. In his first nine games, he was in the rotation (14.4 mpg) and even started a pair of games. Since, however, his playing time has been spotty and his shooting hasn’t improved much.

’20-21 Northern Iowa Stats:

  • 11.2 MPG
  • 1.7 PPG
  • 2.4 RPG
  • 0.2 APG
  • 0.4 SPG
  • 32.3 FG%
  • 0.0 3P%

’17-20 George Mason Stats:

  • 23.3 MPG
  • 5.9 PPG
  • 3.1 RPG
  • 0.7 APG
  • 0.5 SPG
  • 38.2 FG%
  • 28.6 3P%

Jason Douglas-Stanley

JDS was used as a spark off the bench during his run at Mason, but it always felt like he could be a real piece somewhere if given the chance. After seeing his playing time diminish in his sophomore season, he transferred to Manhattan — JDS is from New York — where more minutes were waiting. He has been a huge part of the Jaspers’ rotation thus far and is letting it fly when he’s out there. JDS averaged 11.9 field goal attempts per game in Manhattan’s first seven games — five of which he started — though he wasn’t making all that many. He’s seen a dip in his minutes since but he’s still a regular part of their lineup. All in all, it seems like he made the right decision.

’20-21 Manhattan Stats:

  • 21.5 MPG
  • 6.3 PPG
  • 2.2 RPG
  • 0.6 APG
  • 0.7 SPG
  • 25.4 FG%
  • 20.5 3P%

’18-20 George Mason Stats:

  • 7.3 MPG
  • 1.6 PPG
  • 0.5 RPG
  • 0.2 APG
  • 0.1 SPG
  • 21.8 FG%
  • 24.6 3P%