Games 28 & 29, 2021-22: Fordham (away 2/28, home 3/2)

[Berkman]

Looking good and lead by 12 at the half. Looks like only about 1,000 people in the stands.

Our development landscape people cut our grass today for the first time. Could be 80 deg on Friday.

[Floyd]

^ any fertilizer?

[Berkman]

They did that last week.

Got the win. A nice way to finish a bad season. Victor Cruz was at the game.

[Merlin Samuels]

makes yah miss Tim Kenney, even if he spent 50% of the game yelling at the refs!

Or food!

Tim Kenney did have the greatest rant I think on a DK radio show about Xavier. Paraphrashing. I hate Xavier, I hate that blue, I hate the letter X I hate everything about that place. It was great. It is time for a real broadcasting group, if Jay (who is okay, nothing special but will be at UMass forever) is doing more TV games, they need to invest in a real radio guy. I like this Nathan kid who does games on MUA for the women.

Wow, that brings me back! He was always so mad it seemed haha. What years was Kenney on?

I loved that team of Maurer and Kenney. I listened to the games on the radio so much about ten years ago.

[PreecherJenkins]

think it was about 10 years ago. TK had a nickname for everyone the mantis,

OH BABY

[econalum]

So they won? Good. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... /401365870

[Berkman]

Box score says the attendance was 2186. Sure did not look that much on TV.

[SignMan]

^ nah, no way that many were there

[69MG]

I would have guessed around 1,500. This game belonged to TJ. He had a few hustle plays that don't show up in the box score that seemed to fire up a few of the other guys.

[LS71]

Love that they pulled off a W on Senior night. The dad in me always loved this event…pre-portal days of honoring kids who went from inexperienced freshmen to mature young men. It’s rare to see guys play their entire careers at the same school anymore. Things change…

I saw the 2nd half and was happy to seem the hold Fordham off.

I doubt it’ll be on the ESPN+ replay, but I’m curious about introductions and the Senior day ceremonies…how was MM greeted by the fans when he was introduced? Anything of interest in the Senior day part of the program?

[Juice Stand]

^ Good receptions all around. It was interesting that all the seniors were escorted by family members, except for Greg Jones, who was escorted by CJ Kelly.

I think there was a lot of respect for McCall last night. He got a round of applause during introdcutions, and I didn't hear any booing at all. The players clearly love him, and he's handled himself well. His postgame comments were excellent:
https://twitter.com/MLBergman_/status/1 ... 8322982914
Also some excellent comments from the players after the game: https://www.gazettenet.com/Matt-McCall- ... r-45342696

[Floyd]

Good to see them keep battling thru this adversity. Especially when Fordham came back to tie it up after the UMass halftime lead. TJ so much better when he hits the boards and last night he was big on the offensive glass too.

I'm glad the team is still playing hard for MM. As was said before, he seems like a solid guy. Things haven't worked out for him here, but its good that they just didn't mail it in and have pride in each other. Good group of kids

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Was great to see them get the win on Senior night and for McCall, even if the normal struggles reared their ugly head in the 2nd half. They played hard. TJ was stellar. And JG.... I want to see him on the floor all the time. The one sequence where he ball hawked the player, stole it THROUGH THE GUY'S LEGS, and then went down and swooped in for a finger roll style layup was magical.

McCall looked like he had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders. His sideline demeanor was so much more calm than what we've seen all season, while still coaching as best he can. You could really tell just how much this all weighed on him... and that he really knew this was coming.

[jj]

I appreciate Coach staying to coach these guys last night. Solid. Thank you for your hard work. I know it didn't go as planned.

[DirSport]

This Masslive story gives us three different final scores: 77-73 in the headline and the URL, 79-73 in the first paragraph, and 81-73 in the embedded Twitter graphic. Ummm, only one of these is correct, guys.
https://www.masslive.com/umassbasketbal ... enter.html