Game 1, 2024-25: New Hampshire (11/4)

[LS71]

Hard to be unhappy about a 29-point win. Too often UMass teams play down to the level of their opponents. Not tonight.

I lik ariunf e that they forced a lot of turnovers and scored off them.

I want to see them do this against a good team.

The crowd was pretty small, but bigger than I expected. I’m guessing Dr. J got the number right.

[Juice Stand]

Mullins sounds dead - anyone there guess at attendance and also how many students are attending?

Ah, one of my favorite types of posts. The person that complains about the size or energy of the crowd, but was not there. Come to the next home game, Econ, plenty of good seats available at reasonable prices!

It's tough to get a good crowd for a Monday night game against UNH, but being in the building, I actually thought there was good energy in there.

[Juice Stand]

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not going to take away too much from a team standpoint since it's only the first game, and UNH was so clearly overmatched, but here are my takeaways:

Positives:
Lots of them. 'Sool, Curry, Shahid and Malek, and the defense was swarming. I don't think UNH got off a single comfortable shot. Passing lanes were restricted, Shahid posed a major problem in the paint, and closeouts on 3's were decent for the most part. I even liked what I saw from Foster. He only got in at the end of the game, but he was very active and seemed to be in the right places. Good stuff from him in limited time.

Negatives:
- Outside shooting. I know Rahsool went off, but they mentioned in the radio postgame that the rest of the team was 4/19 (21%) on 3pt shots. If Rahsool isn't hitting, who can we rely on from outside?
- I hate to pick on individual players, but Rivera is a tough one for me. He made some good plays and is very active, but he can not shoot, at all. I think he jacked up three 3's and all were badly missed. He should not be taking 3's, ever. And I'm sorry to say it, but I just don't see what Marquis brings to the table. He doesn't seem willing to shoot, and he's not tall or long enough to be disruptive on defense.

We're off and running now. Looking forward to the matchup with West Virginia.

[Worcester_To_Amherst]

You can see what Frank was did with the roster, they look super athletic. Could be a great defensive team if they gel together as a unit.

They’ll need to force turnovers and get fast break points consistently to be a good team. Can’t take much from this game since they overwhelmed UNH with talent and athleticism. Overall I’m excited. Good non conference slate, and I’m interested to see how Frank fits these pieces.

PS- I think this team would win the MAC

[UMassFan99]

Nate’s shot looked nice also. Second what you all said about Marqui. Was hoping he would show progress and light it up but he was a liability last night against some not great guards.

[DanaDingle3]

Negatives:
- Outside shooting. I know Rahsool went off, but they mentioned in the radio postgame that the rest of the team was 4/19 (21%) on 3pt shots. If Rahsool isn't hitting, who can we rely on from outside?

2 of the 4 makes were quick catch and shoot 3s from Guerengomba. If he's able to get time and grow his confidence, he could be the x factor to help open up the floor on offense.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Nice win, good to see them essentially dominate an inferior team from the jump.... I feel like we don't often see that.


I was disappointed to not see Jayden start, or frankly even play much (box score says 10 minutes). Not sure what is up with that, but he had a great year as a freshman last year and did everything asked of him... I really thought he would have been one of the main players from the start.

[Juice Stand]

^ I'm with you on the Jayden comment. He should start. He earned it last year and in my opinion, he's a much more well-rounded player than Rivera (based off of the exhibition, last night, and stats from last year).

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^ I'm with you on the Jayden comment. He should start. He earned it last year and in my opinion, he's a much more well-rounded player than Rivera (based off of the exhibition, last night, and stats from last year).

I'm hoping it is simply that he is a bit injured/dinged up... but who knows. It was just really disappointing to see.

[Floyd]

My guess is Rivera is touted as more of a scorer and as everyone is saying, beside Rahsool we need another one on the floor. Personally I think we have more than we think, and our scoring will be spread out most games and come in the flow of the game off our defense and breakouts. Defensive havoc will create opportunities and we have lots of guys who can take advantage. I think that's how Frank wants to play, not the 1 or 2 man takeover style
Jayden does what he did last year, he'll get his minutes.
Kid is well rounded

[69MG]

Replay on NESN at 11:00 this morning. I agree that Rivera should not be allowed to shoot 3's. Feel sorry for Worthy, he looks so timid on offense. I can see Sool being the backup PG and Nate getting the backup SG role. Nate looked pretty confident in the 2nd half and his shot looked good.

Some quick notes from the guys off the bench:

Watson - 14 points in 14 minutes
Nate - 9 points in 10 minutes
Foster - 8 points in 8 minutes

I know it was UNH, but if we can get half that against good teams our offense will be good enough to win a lot of games. The D will be very good if they clean up the rotations on ball screens.

Let me add 3 more items:
Curry - 12 assists, 4 steals and ZERO turnovers.
Shahid - Should have been credited with 6 blocks. That goaltending call early in thee game was BS. He had 4 vs. Prov., so this was no fluke.
Malek - 12 + 12 for a double double. Almost the same numbers vs. Prov. He might be better than we thought.

[LS71]

Until last night, with Diggins wearing number 7, I had never seen a college player wear number 6, 7, 8, or 9 or any two digit number that ended with 6,7, 8, or 9. My understanding was that it had to do with hand signals refs used to indicate who committed a foul to the scorer’s table.

I looked it up up…the NCAA changed the rule before last season. Players can now wear 00-99.

[eldonabe]

Interesting game but for me I don't think too much was learned that has not already been discussed here. I am happy that Umass was the better team and they played that way (as far as the scoreboard goes).

I do think they may struggle with a more athletic big, but I do like their size in general.

As someone noted, most games will come down to Curry (and Rashool) taking care of the ball and pushing the action.

[Camby4Life]

Replay on NESN at 11:00 this morning. I agree that Rivera should not be allowed to shoot 3's. Feel sorry for Worthy, he looks so timid on offense. I can see Sool being the backup PG and Nate getting the backup SG role. Nate looked pretty confident in the 2nd half and his shot looked good.

Some quick notes from the guys off the bench:

Watson - 14 points in 14 minutes
Nate - 9 points in 10 minutes
Foster - 8 points in 8 minutes

I know it was UNH, but if we can get half that against good teams our offense will be good enough to win a lot of games. The D will be very good if they clean up the rotations on ball screens.

Let me add 3 more items:
Curry - 12 assists, 4 steals and ZERO turnovers.
Shahid - Should have been credited with 6 blocks. That goaltending call early in thee game was BS. He had 4 vs. Prov., so this was no fluke.
Malek - 12 + 12 for a double double. Almost the same numbers vs. Prov. He might be better than we thought.

The goaltending call was BS and somehow the refs went back at looked at it during the next timeout and reversed the call and took 2 points off the board for UNH.

Looks like Frank has the roster to play his style of 10 guys for 10-30 minutes. He’s going to be quick to pull guys who make mistakes again. Couldn’t do that last year with the roster and lack of players/rotation.

This team has potential, can’t wait to see how they do against WVU.

[Berkman]

Looks like we have a legitimate shot blocker. He had 5 that I heard of.