MHERST — Mike Babul knows he's never approached All-America basketball status, but that hasn't stopped the University of Massachusetts senior from becoming All-Other Things.

Babul always draws the tough defensive assignment, here guarding Kansas' Paul Pierce in 1997.

In the Atlantic 10 Conference, he's made the all-defensive and all-academic teams. He's been a starter almost all the time for three years.

And he knows that soon, he'll be all done at UMass. He does not intend to cheat himself on the way out.

"I know I'm not going to score in double figures," said Babul, who came close Saturday with a season-high nine points in a 76-65 victory over St. Joseph's at the Mullins Center. "But everybody else seemed to be in foul trouble, so I tried to do whatever I could.

"I want to go out as someone who was known to play hard," the 6-foot-6 forward said. "I want to go out the right way."

Perhaps Babul has never played harder than he has this month. Hurling his body all over the floor, he helped UMass launch a vain second-half comeback against Texas. He had six assists in a win over La Salle, and five Saturday, when he also had five rebounds and three steals.

A lot of Babul's points have come on the jam.

He has also made 23 of his last 40 shots, although it has taken him 13 games to shoot them.

But beyond that, Babul has been sprawling to retrieve loose balls, and quietly offering the intangibles that have helped UMass win eight of 12 games since Jan. 8.

"He played tough," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said Saturday. "His steal and layup (a dunk for a 64-55 UMass lead with 5:31 left) was a big turning point."

Tomorrow night in Providence, UMass faces Rhode Island not far from Babul's North Attleboro home. Four years ago, he came to UMass as part of John Calipari's final recruiting class, a big-time schoolboy scorer in a league of very modest reputation (the Hockomock League) who had been recruited by North Carolina but chose UMass.

But Babul, whose twin brother Jon went to Georgia Tech the same year he came to Amherst, had scored many of his points in transition. Those opportunities have rarely existed at UMass.

Babul has ruled the Midnight Madness dunk contest.

Even without scoring, Babul's UMass portfolio is interesting. He's a captain, and he's been the four-time dunk champion at Midnight Madness. He started all but one of 62 games over his sophomore and junior seasons, the exception being Senior Day last year.

After briefly coming off the bench this season, he's a starter again.

"December was tough," said Babul, who missed much of the preseason with back trouble. "But I've been getting more minutes in the last few games. That's helped."

He's averaging only 3.5 points per game, and has scored 412 points in 112 career games. Monty Mack has 477 points this season alone.

But the list of Babul's defensive assignments in the last two years — Ron Artest (St. John's), Richard Hamilton and Kevin Freeman (UConn) and Kenny Gregory (Kansas) among them — attests to his real value. Flint also said recently that since Babul's pro chances seem slim, this season takes on heightened urgency.

"He knows that next year, he could be buying his own sneakers, playing in a rec league," Flint said. "He wants to finish strong. Any player does when time is running down."

But Babul is not done yet. The big-time high school scorer is determined to leave a legacy as a player who did his best to adjust to whatever his team needed, perhaps with the exception of scoring.

"I just tried to run the plays, and get a couple of rebounds and assists when I could," he said Saturday. "As long as I know I've contributed, and we win, that's good enough for me."