Game 12, 2020-21: at Richmond (2/23)

[NilesGold]

I hope people are mentally preparing themselves for UMass to lose, and possibly lose in embarrassing fashion. My pessimism is not due to a negative opinion of UMass in general, but rather due entirely to this particular matchup, and more importantly the timing of it.

[Juice Stand]

he's gotta have a feel for who's locked in, who's sucking wind, and how to find and sustain rhythm.

I came here to say just this thing. If ever there was a game for McCall to figure out who has it and who doesn't, tonight is the night. He can't keep his favorite players in the game if they look off. Go with the hot hand.

I also agree with others that this is a tough matchup. Not just because Richmond is really good, but because of the style offense they play. Over the last 15+ years, we tend to have "roll it out and let them play" type teams and struggle against teams with a defined scheme and game plan (Davidson, Richmond). Hopefully "roll it out and let them play" works in our favor and our guys pick up where they left off. GW was on pause for over a month and came out red hot against URI. Our guys were on pause for something out of their control, unfairly punished. May the basketball gods be on their side tonight.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

I'm not expecting much for tonight. I'll be happy to see them back on the court but after a 2+ week layoff with just a few individual workouts... this might be tough to watch.

[devildawg3010]

Game day boys!!! About time, been waiting for this day. We might win we might lose idk and I really don’t care. Just want to see the our team play. I’m not gonna tip my cap and bow down to Richmond bc I believe this is a winnable game. This year has proved we not a basement dweller in the A10 anymore. We can be consistent and are trending upwards.

[bobolink]

Finally game day. I don't expect much, but at least hope we can get the rust off and the injured players show they're fine. Dibaji will be missed (assuming he's out as reported),
I'm reading that Richmond's fans and coach are unhappy about the schedule changes. I'm not pleased that this game was moved a day earlier and down there instead of in Amherst. Wondering why Richmond is unhappy.
https://www.a10talk.com/spiders-take-on-minutemen/

[Camby4Life]

A few facts about Richmond and why this could be a tough game.

1. Same 5 starters for all 17 games. Nobody is this lucky.
2. They don't beat themselves. They cause 5.2 more turnovers a game than they commit. Steals are 8.8 to 5.0 per game.
3. All 5 starters are in double figures so you can't slack off anyone.

Their major weakness is rebounding, down by almost 5 per game.

We will have to play our best game of the year to beat them. It could happen.

I wonder what Richmond is saying about Umass. We have 4 starters at double figures, the 5th at 9.0 and 6th man is at 9.9. The Richmond bench has no one averages even 5.

[uz2b-len]

Here's what Richmond is saying. Our game tonight is not a very hot topic over there.
https://richmond.forums.rivals.com/threads/umass.12744/

[baseline47]

Why not play zone against a team that runs a Princeton style offense?

[PreecherJenkins]

Why not play zone against a team that runs a Princeton style offense?

how many zones work in college basketball for an extended period of time? Do we have anyone who can teach the zone? Do we have the length on the wings to play zone? My belief zones work best against teams that play motion offense or flex. This is where you have a lot of screening.

The Princeton offense is predicated on ball and player movement. what beats a zone? Ball and Player movement.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

how many zones work in college basketball for an extended period of time? Do we have anyone who can teach the zone? Do we have the length on the wings to play zone? My belief zones work best against teams that play motion offense or flex. This is where you have a lot of screening.

The Princeton offense is predicated on ball and player movement. what beats a zone? Ball and Player movement.

Zones seem to always work well against UMass for extended periods of time

[Upstate10]

Only 13 teams in the country use their bench less than Richmond. Press them and get Golden in foul trouble and we have a real chance.

[Juice Stand]

I'm reading that Richmond's fans and coach are unhappy about the schedule changes. I'm not pleased that this game was moved a day earlier and down there instead of in Amherst. Wondering why Richmond is unhappy.
https://www.a10talk.com/spiders-take-on-minutemen/

Right, what exactly do they have to complain about? We get a top team on the road two days after ending a 14-day pause instead of having them at home after getting our legs back at St Joes. I haven't seen specifics, but it sounds like we haven't even been able to do much in terms of practice time. We definitely got the short end of this particular stick.

[uz2b-len]

There's no griping on the Richmond message board in the UMass thread. About a dozen other threads have more recent comments than the UMass thread. They're just taking it as as given that they will win this game. I hope McCall is waving it in front of our guys. There's some general griping in some other threads, nothing major. The most intersting thing is the campus paper, also called the Collegian, just busted them for repeated covid failures that caused SLU to cancel on them. And they do have a thread called "Next Coach." One of the many that are more popular than the UMass thread. Man, I hope we kick their butts like we did to Rhody. That felt g-o-o-o-o-o-d.

[Floyd]

Game day boys!!! About time, been waiting for this day. We might win we might lose idk and I really don’t care. Just want to see the our team play. I’m not gonna tip my cap and bow down to Richmond bc I believe this is a winnable game. This year has proved we not a basement dweller in the A10 anymore. We can be consistent and are trending upwards.

I'll ride with the devildawg. I think we play solid and might take this one!

[capezona]

Lineup shows Gasperini starting. I'm assuming Tre will be in there doing his thing after a few minutes.