Game 9, 2023-24: vs Georgia Tech (DHC, 12/21)

[DanaDingle3]

It was 66-55 with like 5 min left and ball. Diggins missed an easy floater, then UMass doesn't get back on transition and gives up an and 1.

That was the beginning of the end.

Yup, then bricked layups, airball, and turnovers. This team showed a lot, but freshmen, other than Jayden, weren't ready, and we're missing a guy like RJ to get a basket. I love what Frank's building, and it's hard to keep perspective when blowing a game like this. Sucks

Honestly, if Diggins hits that floater and UMass makes a stop on the other end — they probably win going away.

But alas this UMass team is allergic to playing smart and closing out games.

Ya, totally. Feels like they'll get there, though. Hopefully this year

[Upstate10]

I am nervous that they implode this weekend

[Camby4Life]

It was 66-55 with like 5 min left and ball. Diggins missed an easy floater, then UMass doesn't get back on transition and gives up an and 1.

That was the beginning of the end.

Yup, then bricked layups, airball, and turnovers. This team showed a lot, but freshmen, other than Jayden, weren't ready, and we're missing a guy like RJ to get a basket. I love what Frank's building, and it's hard to keep perspective when blowing a game like this. Sucks

Honestly, if Diggins hits that floater and UMass makes a stop on the other end — they probably win going away.

But alas this UMass team is allergic to playing smart and closing out games.

The tv scoreboard said 66-55 but it was really 64-55 because of that stupid 3 minute later review. Need a Felger rant on too many reviews in every sport.

Either way the team blew an easy win. We all knew the ft’s would kill them. GT only attempted 50 shots, we had 16 steals. Just weird stats all around that show how bad we blew it.

[WillHerndonFan]

Disappointing loss as we are definitely a better team than GTech. Are chances of a NCAA bid are hopeless unless we beat a ranked team which means St Joe and Dayton need to keep winning to get ranked and or we win the A10 tournament Feel like Frank did not call a great game tonight as the management of the lead in the last five minutes was horrible and his decision not to play Davis more to open it up as clearly they packed it in on Cohen and Cross. Even Njdigue played more than he should as Frank valued defense over offense and it cost him. Play to win! If curry and worthy want more time then prove you deserve it as better competition has exposed the both of them. finally. Crohen duo did not get the 35-40 points and 15-20 rebounds which has been are formula for success as Crohen was held to 27 and 12 for this game.
Here is my player summary:

Cohen: Grade - B. Not his best game. But GTech definitely had a plan to limit his points tonigh. Grade

cross: Grade. - A- Workhorse who did his part tonight

Digging: Grade. A-Mr Reliable as another double digit performance and a Dennis Johnson steal.

Thompson. Grade - B. - Not his best game but plays hard and moves the ball abound and doesn’t turn it over much and does his part to win.

Ndjigue. grade. - B. Grate defensive and solid offense but his presence allows teams to pack it in on offense.

Hankins. Grade C. Inconsistent tonight as he did not bring his inner Lou Roe tonight. Where were the one arm rebounds against WVU that said I’ll rip your fuc..g arms off tonight!

Worthy and Curry. Grade D - Both played tight. Need to Rise to the Occasion as we not playin UAlbany anymore!

[69MG]

It wasn't just the free throw shooting. We took 16 more shots than they did. Free throw attempts were about even. You should win when you have 16 more chances to make a bucket. Our 2 point shooting was awful.

[Jackson96]

Tough loss. Hit some free throws and/or play a little tougher down the stretch, they win. They play hard though and shit like this is gonna happen when you have a youngish team.

I don’t love the review 74 minutes after it happened even if it was the correct call and also that was a loose ball after the call that Cross could have grabbed. Instead it became Georgia Tech ball after the goaltending call.

They should have one loss on the year now but free throw shooting is an important part of the game and it’s costing them big-time.

I like this team, though. It’s going to take some time (whether or not we have that time in this day and age is another story) but I like them.

Two quick individual notes. Jayden is just a player man. One of my favorite players in a long, long time. Diggins’ shooting was great, but man he struggles finishing around the hoop. Seems like he does a better job of getting where he wants to go compared to last year but the finishing is still a struggle. I think for a few of our guys finishing inside is an uphill battle.

Would’ve been a nice win and it sucks because they should have won it, but big picture I feel pretty good.

[Floyd]

You don't beat power five teams shooting 2-12 from the line. We should be up 10-14 points but instead they are two possessions away.

Disgusting shit from a division one basketball team. I will be shocked if it doesn't bite us in the ass tonight.

But we were down what 7, at the half and now up 6. We'll be alright

Narrator:
They weren't

Holy shit, we were up 10 or 11, I fell asleep and now see we lost. What the fuck happened?

[Worcester_To_Amherst]

Disappointing. From an outside perspective, Frank is doing good coaching the team this year, but after he screamed at Diggins for taking those 2 wide open 3s late in the game, UMass turned it over on the next 2 possessions forcing it into the paint. Those were good shots by Diggins IMO, just didn’t go down. Guys need to be confident to close out a game, not tight.

Frank seems more balanced on the sidelines this year, but the last 2 minutes of a close game require steady coaching. Bad spot to have one of his fits. Save the life lessons for the first 18 minutes.

[LS71]

Such a disappointing loss. They found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I don’t blame Frank for being pissed at the end. I thought Cohen should gone to the basket instead of passing to Diggens for that ill fated 3. He would have drawn a foul and would have either an and one or two free throws and stopped the clock.

[Plano Minuteman]

Thanks to not having ESPNNews, I didn't even get to see it until after the first 6 minutes when we were up 15-6. Can't believe that this got delayed because of a stupid G League blowout.

Just didn't really have a go-to guy at the end to steady the ship. Felt like Cohen was a bit overwhelmed by Ga Tech's size and athleticism and their focus on stopping him. Hopefully, just an off-game. Cross's foul situation was huge, he couldn't be as aggressive.

Despite the collapse at the end, there were a lot of positives. Ndjigue was tops on that list for me. This could've been an easy win if we could just execute on the FT line.

[eldonabe]

Disappointing loss as we are definitely a better team than GTech. Are chances of a NCAA bid are hopeless unless we beat a ranked team which means St Joe and Dayton need to keep winning to get ranked and or we win the A10 tournament

An NCAA Bid? Are related to Maz?

[Juice Stand]

I think that we have a pretty darned good team here with one fatal flaw, free throws. Close losses to Harvard and GT both at around 40% from the stripe. That's pathetic. If they improve to awful, maybe around 60% in those games, they win and we're all on the hype train. I have no doubt that this team will compete hard and be in a lot of games, but close games are won and lost at the free throw line, and unfortunately this team has the yips right now.

[stevemaz]

I am nervous that they implode this weekend

dont be. they beat Portland and Temple/ODU handily. UMass is definitely a top 100 team, but unfortunatley free throws are our biggest weakness which will cost them more games during the year. It is too bad Ndjigue is terrible FT shooter as I really like his game (I would never recruit guards or wings who cant hit FTs at a 75% clip)

[stevemaz]

Disappointing loss as we are definitely a better team than GTech. Are chances of a NCAA bid are hopeless unless we beat a ranked team which means St Joe and Dayton need to keep winning to get ranked and or we win the A10 tournament

An NCAA Bid? Are related to Maz?

NCAA bid would be in play if they had won last night and got a win vs Nevada or TCU. Lets just try to win 22 and get into NIT.

[WillHerndonFan]

Disappointing loss as we are definitely a better team than GTech. Are chances of a NCAA bid are hopeless unless we beat a ranked team which means St Joe and Dayton need to keep winning to get ranked and or we win the A10 tournament

An NCAA Bid? Are related to Maz?

Yes! Losing to Tech cost us an opportunity to gain credibility with a win against an ACC team (who beat ranked teams Duke) as well as the opportunity to play TCU from the Big 12 in the Diamond Champ Game or Nevada from the Moutain West in the 3rd Place Game, which could build our out of conference resume and national TV exposure.Anyhow, We have potentially 24 games left (including the A10 Tournament Final and losing to Dayton or St. Joe’s) and let’s say we win 18 of them giving us a record of 24-9. However, we will not be at-large bid without wins against power conference teams including the Moutain West regardless of the flawed final NET Rankings (GTech is currently #140 even with a 3-2 record in Quad 1/2)