Mazzulla named captain at GWU

By DAVID DRIVER
Posted 12/18/18

By DAVID DRIVER It is not normal for a sophomore to be named a tri-captain with a Division I basketball team. But that is the case this season for Justin Mazzulla, the Bishop Hendrickson graduate from Johnston, Rhode Island. The 6-foot-3 Mazzulla is in

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Mazzulla named captain at GWU

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It is not normal for a sophomore to be named a tri-captain with a Division I basketball team.

But that is the case this season for Justin Mazzulla, the Bishop Hendrickson graduate from Johnston, Rhode Island.

The 6-foot-3 Mazzulla is in his second season at George Washington and was the only player to start the first nine games for the Colonials. He was named a captain along with junior forward Arnaldo Toro and junior guard Adam Mitola before the season.

“It was an honor to be named with Adam and Arnaldo. It is great to see my teammates have my trust and I can trust them and be confident,” said Mazzulla, who averaged 30.1 minutes, 6.9 points with a team-high 17 assists in the first nine games.

But Mazzulla said being a point guard is not how he became a tri-captain.

“I am a leader with whatever position I play,” he said. “It is not because I am a point guard. I like helping others. I don’t think that comes (just) with the role of being a point guard. Being a point guard, you lead the team but you don’t always have leadership abilities.”

Last season he played in 33 games with 11 starts and averaged 17.1 minutes and 2.6 points per contest.

He also won the Shawnta Rogers “Grit and Glue Award” for the effort and energy he brings to the team. Rogers was a standout guard for GW who went on to play several years overseas.

“It is a true honor to receive those kind of awards,” Mazzulla said. “It is just who I am. I accept that; I am myself. It shows being yourself is very important.”

Last season he was teammates with Yuta Watanabe, who made his NBA debut this season with Memphis. GW is the only Atlantic 10 school to send a graduate to the NBA three straight years, after Patricio Garino played for the Orlando Magic in 2016-17 and Tyler Cavanaugh (now with Utah) played last season with Atlanta.

“It is great to see him at that level,” Mazzulla said of Watanabe, from Japan. “I got to know him over the years and I got to see how hard he works on and off the court.”

This has been a challenging year for GW and it could even more so when Atlantic 10 Conference play begins Jan. 6 at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia.

The Colonials have just one senior on the roster and were picked to finish near the bottom of the 14-team Atlantic 10 race. The conference sent three schools to March Madness last season: Davidson, URI and St. Bonaventure.

“I am not really worried about the future right now,” said Mazzulla, who is majoring in Exercise Science. “We have a full season to go right now. That is the most important part, living in the moment. You don’t know the outcome of any game until the ball goes up (for the tip). I am not worried about where we are in the standings.”

GW improved to 2-7 overall with a 68-64 win at home December 5 against Towson in a non-conference contest.

The Colonials led by 13 points in the first half, only to come back from a deficit of seven midway through the second half to beat the Tigers.

Mazzulla was the only player to see action in all 40 minutes as he had four points and three assists while making five of his team’s 13 turnovers.

“I’m proud of our guys, how they battled,” said GW head coach Maurice Joseph, a former player at the University of Vermont. “It’s very important; all wins are great. We did not fold. We competed. I’m just proud of our guys across the board.”

Mazzulla is eager for a road game December 22 at Harvard, when he expects to have many family and friends on hand near Boston.

Last year many family and friends from Rhode Island made the trek to GW as the Colonials hosted in an exhibition game against Fairmont State, a Division II school in West Virginia that was coached by Joe Mazzulla, his brother.

GW is in the same conference as Rhode Island, who played here just blocks from the White House last season in the only meeting between the schools in 2017-18.

This season GW will play February 26 at Rhode Island and Mazzulla is eager for that opportunity as well.

“It is going to be neat going to my home state and seeing people that have always supported me,” he said.

Editor’s note: Freelance writer David Driver has covered GWU and the Atlantic 10 for more than 20 years. He can be reached at davidsdriver.com

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