Game 17, 2023-24: at Loyola Chicago (1/17)

[69MG]

We need some of our supporting guys to step up. Between DHS, Davis, Diggins, Thompson, just gotta have more production.

That's how I felt going into the game. I'm 100% convinced that we win this game if Matt plays. DHS might have still gotten his 6 & 6 in 19 minutes coming off the bench and Matt gets us more points, more rebounds and he's a decent free throw shooter.

I'm not going to go nuts over the overall free throw shooting. Loyola was worse than us (21/31 vs 22/31). Alston missed a FT with 12 seconds left that would have tied the game. He was 4/9 from the line before he made the one that mattered.

On the positive side, Curry is starting to look like a highly recruited player. I would like to see him work a little harder to set up his teammates for easy shots. He doesn't get a lot of assists and that's an issue for me. 1 assist last night in 27 minutes. If he adds playmaking to his game, he's a future star.

I watched the last play a bunch of times. Earlier posters were correct. Cohen was the only guy fighting for the initial rebound, everyone else was standing around. Would Matt have been standing around?

If we can get Sool and Keon to start playing like they did earlier in the season, and keep Matt and Josh healthy, we can compete with anyone in the league. The GW game is now a MUST WIN.

[skizz]

For the life of me I don't understand Martin decision to play with 4 guards. It hurt them at crucial periods. I remember one sequence where Loyola must have gotten at least 4 boards in a row on the offensive end. I understand DHS was in foul trouble but size was needed.
I was screaming at Curry when UMass got an offensive rebound off a missed FT, the ball goes out to Curry and he jacks a 3 immediately, run some offense to kill time then get the ball to Cohen.

[eldonabe]

Free throws. This team has shown their fatal flaw, and it's unfortunately free throws. It cost them the Harvard and Georgia Tech games and now Loyola as well. In the last 1:30, they missed four of them. There are going to be a lot of close games in conference play and in the tournament, and their inability to consistently hit free throws will limit what kind of season they have. I was disappointed in Frank's response to a fan question in the last podcast where he kind of shrugged off the free throw issue. For a guy that preaches mental and physical toughness he just let it slide and said guys are tired, they're hurt, so it's hard. Yeah, of course it's hard, but other teams can finish at the line and we to figure that out.

With that said, I'll try to be positive. They played with tremendous fight and grit without Cross, and Jaylen Curry is showing that he is a real stud. I didn't expect them to win, so to be in the game and have a lead that late is more than I anticipated.

I disagree on this. with FTs you need to compare the teams and we actually won that battle.

What? I don't have the time to even try to explain this one Maz.

Just stick to predictions.

[NilesGold]

Free throws. This team has shown their fatal flaw, and it's unfortunately free throws. It cost them the Harvard and Georgia Tech games and now Loyola as well. In the last 1:30, they missed four of them. There are going to be a lot of close games in conference play and in the tournament, and their inability to consistently hit free throws will limit what kind of season they have. I was disappointed in Frank's response to a fan question in the last podcast where he kind of shrugged off the free throw issue. For a guy that preaches mental and physical toughness he just let it slide and said guys are tired, they're hurt, so it's hard. Yeah, of course it's hard, but other teams can finish at the line and we to figure that out.

With that said, I'll try to be positive. They played with tremendous fight and grit without Cross, and Jaylen Curry is showing that he is a real stud. I didn't expect them to win, so to be in the game and have a lead that late is more than I anticipated.

I disagree on this. with FTs you need to compare the teams and we actually won that battle.

What? I don't have the time to even try to explain this one Maz.

Just stick to predictions.

69 addressed this, Loyola was worse than us on FTs (21/31 vs 22/31).

[NilesGold]

Cohen was phenomenal.

FT shooting overall was acceptable, they missed several down the stretch at inopportune times that probably would've got us the win, but I can't really fault them making 71% for the game.

I love Jayden Ndjigue, but he can't be shooting 44% from the FT line on the season, that's just unacceptable... especially because I think he's capable of better, he's making 50% of his 3s.

Too many bad fouls on UMass. Refs had a tight whistle, and they badly botched some calls, but UMass has to be smarter, especially when their carelessness puts 80% and 90% FT shooters on the line.

Aside from his 3pt make, DHS was atrocious. He got clowned by Alston over and over again, and went 1-6 on 2pt shots, taking several bad ones, and missing several high percentage ones.

Our starting backcourt was dreadful. They did almost nothing right all game long.

Curry was phenomenal, but he still takes way too many bad shots, 1-6 from 2pt... and as 69 said, he's still not good at getting his teammates involved.

3pt shooting skill usually translates pretty well going from HS to college, but god damn Davis is really making me question that. 30% from 3 on the season, 23% if you take out the WVU game, and he's missed his last 10.

[Juice Stand]

^ Davis is in an unreal funk. As we get deeper into the conference schedule and the rotation tightens up a bit, I'm not sure how much more time he has to pull himself out of it, and the mental pressure is probably mounting. Somebody needs to tell him that he's not a 3pt specialist, he's a basketball player. Drive, get to the rim, get fouled, shoot free throws. Don't just sit in the corner and wait.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

3pt shooting skill usually translates pretty well going from HS to college, but god damn Davis is really making me question that. 30% from 3 on the season, 23% if you take out the WVU game, and he's missed his last 10.

yeah he's been pretty bad but after he made 3 straight at the line I really wanted to see him take a 3 - sometimes you just need to see the ball go through the hoop - he saw three straight go through the hoop - was wondering if that would have bene enough to possibly get him going. that is a game where if he got hot the last 10 minutes they would have buried them.

[LS71]

Help me understand the last play. Alston plowed through UMass…looked Josh could have been called for block, trying to draw a charge, but DHS gets whistled. Alston makes the FT.

A player can simply plow into a group of defenders initiating contact and there’s no call? If I’m missing something please tell me.

I mean if a block had been called on Josh, if not a charge on Alston, UMass would have gotten the ball back with enough time to get a better shot for Curry and possibly win. OT at worst.

[minutefanjsf]

Help me understand the last play. Alston plowed through UMass…looked Josh could have been called for block, trying to draw a charge, but DHS gets whistled. Alston makes the FT.

A player can simply plow into a group of defenders initiating contact and there’s no call? If I’m missing something please tell me.

I mean if a block had been called on Josh, if not a charge on Alston, UMass would have gotten the ball back with enough time to get a better shot for Curry and possibly win. OT at worst.

The refs seemingly swallowed their whistles,which is usually what fans want. The foul that led to the and one had to be called, IMO. He hit him in the face.

[minutefanjsf]

For the life of me I don't understand Martin decision to play with 4 guards. It hurt them at crucial periods. I remember one sequence where Loyola must have gotten at least 4 boards in a row on the offensive end. I understand DHS was in foul trouble but size was needed.
I was screaming at Curry when UMass got an offensive rebound off a missed FT, the ball goes out to Curry and he jacks a 3 immediately, run some offense to kill time then get the ball to Cohen.

He played four guards a lot during the game due to foul trouble and not having Cross. The four guard lineup is what closed the gap and got the lead for UMass. Mason is still trying to figure things out. Foster was in for a little. Worthy a bigger guard had a horrible game. Loyola was playing small often too. I do not think this result was due to coaching decisions/substitutions. Execution was the issue.

[Floyd]

Curry has a much better upside than either Rashool or Keon. I think he needs to play 30 minutes a night.Very confident player who doesn’t turn the ball over and generally makes smart decisions.
Cohen, however he looks, is a beast on the offensive end. He may look awkward but he get the job done. Cross was especially missed in this game as we could not rebound defensively. Allston would never have had the impact that hd had with Cross in.
Heard cross ‘may’ be back for next Tuesdays home game which would mean him missing Saturdaysbgsme.
Overall by far the most enjoyable team oriented well coached team we have had in 10 years.
I was at the game last night and their basketball facility is great. Holds about 5500 but very loud- creates great home court advantage.

Agree van

[eldonabe]

I disagree on this. with FTs you need to compare the teams and we actually won that battle.

What? I don't have the time to even try to explain this one Maz.

Just stick to predictions.

69 addressed this, Loyola was worse than us on FTs (21/31 vs 22/31).

Niles - you too? WTAF?



Boys. Umass is 264th in the country in free throw percentage and 16th in attempts. In the game of basketball that is REALLY bad math.

Free throws have cost Umass 2 wins so far at least - including last night. That game was almost a dead heat on the total stat lines. Poor fouls shooting teams that go to the line a lot also leave A LOT of points on the table.

[Uminuteman]

3 wins: Harvard, GA Tech and last night.

[debache]

This is my thought on yesterday's game (for whatever it is worth).
I was bummed by the lost, I thought the worst case scenario was OT, once we were up and Daniel missed the second foul shot.
But I am extremely encouraged that we had that game almost won without the heart and soul of our team. I believe that Matt has really showed the underclassmen how playing hard pays off.
I give credit to both Matt and Josh in their workmanship that it really does pay off

[vanmeter]

Unfortunately we had our 2 worst foul shooters on the line at the end Ndjigue and Hankins. Ndjigue was 0-2 then fouled out. Hankins replaced him and went 1-2. Both players do many good things / but foul shooting isn’t one of them.