Game 23, 2023-24: Rhode Island (2/11)

[Floyd]

Besides Keon, I also thought Davis had a pretty good game. Kid is always positive, on the bench or court. He had a nice followup putback today, a couple nice rebounds, hit the floor for loose balls, and hit a couple 3's I think. He's got a great attitude and seems to be earning more time. We definitely could use him getting hot to close out the season

[JoleonLescottsHair]

The close game bull shit is on the coaching staff and the players. Today was no different.

Other than the coaches and players, who would it be on?

I meant it isn't fair to blame one and not the other, smartass. Or dumbass, if you didn't know I meant that.

Touchy. It was a joke, smartass. Or dumbass.

[TheOFFSeason]

Besides Keon, I also thought Davis had a pretty good game. Kid is always positive, on the bench or court. He had a nice followup putback today, a couple nice rebounds, hit the floor for loose balls, and hit a couple 3's I think. He's got a great attitude and seems to be earning more time. We definitely could use him getting hot to close out the season

I agree, Davis’ attitude and enthusiasm are incredible for a kid that doesn’t get the playing time that he probably thought he would be getting. He started the exhibition game and was the leading scorer if I recall correctly….but he has been stuck behind Jayden who is just to valuable to keep out long. He has really tried to play super hard and defend, which ‘shooters’ don’t always do. This team is full of similar guys and that’s why I like to watch them more than any team in a long time.

[DoctorJ]

Besides Keon, I also thought Davis had a pretty good game. Kid is always positive, on the bench or court. He had a nice followup putback today, a couple nice rebounds, hit the floor for loose balls, and hit a couple 3's I think. He's got a great attitude and seems to be earning more time. We definitely could use him getting hot to close out the season

I completely agree. He's slowly coming around. Would be a huge plus if he can get hot like he was against WV when we got a glimpse of his shooting ability. Just seems like a kid who needs to get confident, like what Keon and Diggens went through last year. If he can string together a couple solid games in a row, maybe he can become more reliable.

I remember Preston Santos in his first year. He looked lost through the first half of the season and then he turned into a junkyard dog. Not exactly the same type of player but if he can finally get his shooting consistency, we will have another asset for the stretch run.

Based on the reduced minutes for Worthy and Foster, I would not be surprised if we lose both to the portal. While I hate it when that happens, I'd tolerate it if we can keep most of our starters.

As far as attendance, ok we did about half of what Hockey did the night before but put it into perspective. Hockey has won a national championship in recent years, had just shut out ConnU, and was playing ConnU at home on a Saturday night. We were playing on Super Bowl Sunday and fewer fans of BOTH UMass and URine were in the house because of Super Bowl parties. Otherwise we probably would have had another thousand for a day game on Sunday.

When McCall was here, we could have put every game in the Cage and not sold out a single game all season practically. Attendance has roughly doubled under Frank. We have a shot at 20 wins and we didn't have to sell our souls to a prep school coach to get our players. This all despite the craziness of NIL, transfer free agency, and the post-COVID eligibility chaos.

Our conference games have been mostly close games. Teams heavy on freshmen are notorious for losing such contests, and we are still learning how to pull those games out. That will come when we have confident shooters to complement our front court. Right now we just have Diggins and sometimes Curry.

Embrace the trajectory and be patient. Refuse to Lose!!!

[Floyd]

Agree DoctorJ. And to add to OFFSeason's comment on the makeup of the team I'll add that it's a group that at just about any time, the 5 guys on the floor collectively have no real weak spot. Each kid brings something a little unique and each at any time can get hot and carry the play. It's been a pretty entertaining and enjoyable group of kids to root for

[69MG]

I am at a loss to figure out how they count attendance. I've been to every home game and I would have sworn that today was 4,000-4,200 based on what's been reported for other games. Regardless, the students need to support this team.

Matt is an enigma. We only had 10 turnovers today and Matt had 4 of them. He also made at least 4 hustle plays that helped us win the game. My thought is that he is trying too hard. I see the expression "let the game come to you" and that's my advice to Matt. Don't try to do things on offense that are risky.

Can't say enough about Keon. He was everywhere today and along with Sool, they are my players of the game. Next 2 are on the road and we need to go at least 1-1. I'd like to think we can win @ LaSalle and maybe we get lucky and pull one out at Richmond. That last one is a lot to ask.

[vanmeter]

Keon was great today. Diggins hit big 3 but missed front end one and ones.
Cross while making 2 good plays on missed foul shots, made the worst play of the game when, after grabbing a rebound, turned it over with us leading by 7 with 27 seconds left. All he had to do was hold the ball. Game should have never gone down to the last shot

[bobolink]

Seems like Davis is often in the game at the same time as Curry. Perhaps they've developed enough to not require as much experience on the court with them.

[umiejoe]

I was in the pep band in the cage when Dr. J was playing. I remember the pigeons in the rafters and the peeling paint falling down. Fast forward a few years and I was amazed that UMass could actually be number 1 in the country. Now I'm in "the golden years" and hoping beyond hope that Frank Martin can duplicate the kind of success we once had. Just one more time. GO UMASS!!

[GOODY]

I was in the pep band in the cage when Dr. J was playing. I remember the pigeons in the rafters and the peeling paint falling down. Fast forward a few years and I was amazed that UMass could actually be number 1 in the country. Now I'm in "the golden years" and hoping beyond hope that Frank Martin can duplicate the kind of success we once had. Just one more time. GO UMASS!!
[/quote I was in high school then and went to see the Doctor at the cage many times ! Then I was a student a few years later ! Feel the same way !

[WillHerndonFan]

Well, where do I begin? Let’s talk about triple implosion all within 5 minutes and 36 seconds left in the game with only the clock saving us in the end. First implosion, up 14 with 5:36 left and Jaden House lets us know whose house it is with 11 points in under 2 minutes. Second implosion, Matt Cross rebounds ball with 33 seconds left and throws it away and instead of holding the ball and getting fouled with a 7 point lead. Third Implosion, missed 5 of 6 fouls shots in 17 seconds in the last 21 seconds and allows URI to comfortably get a 3 point shot off to possibly win. Thank god that the clock expired because we all know the script. Here is my theory on our meltdowns at in the last 5-10 minutes of the game. This team has the yips where this team literally is unable to execute because the players and the coach start thinking too much (I.e. performance anxiety) instead of just playing in the flow. Time for this team to see the in-house sports psychologist (if there is one) because it is getting more concerning. That being said, this team actually played really well for most of the game as the scoring was balanced, the passing was great at times, and effort was extremely hard. Here our my player/coach grade summary:

Cohen: B+: Played a good game against a URI team that has some size, strength, and athleticism at the F/C spot.
Cross: B: Plays hard but also a little out of control at times and no more important the the mental error late in the game.
Ndjigue: C+: Maybe one of hits worst games as he hasn’t had many as his missed dunk was extremely frustrating (just lay it in) and his defense was less than stellar (even though House clearly was a challenge for anyone).
Thompson: A: I don’t know if Jaden House motivated him or not, but Thompson played at a level tonight I don’t think we have ever seen as his effort was intense, he made plays, and showed us why he is the starting point guard.
Diggins: A: This guy is the “straw that stirs the drink” as Reggie Jackson once said as he scores in bunches and seems to really energize this team when it needs it.
Curry: B+: Good to see he got his game back today as we need his scoring more than ever considering how poorly we have been shooting from 3 point range.
Davis: B: Looks like Davis might be able to provide us some much needed bench scoring as it looks like Frank is committed to playing him despite his past limited production.
Hankins: C-: Strange game for him as he played little and when he did play his contribution was minimal, which is out of character for Hankins who has been a reliable reserve this year.
Coach Frank: B: Frank did a good job of keeping this team in it when it got down early and also lighting a fire in them after the half, but Frank needs to find a way to get this team mentally focused at the end of the game as it seems to not handle pressure that well.

[eldonabe]

I will keep saying it... they play dumb basketball far too often. I know most don't agree or do not see it. Either frank is not telling them the right things or the players are not listening to him.

They were lucky to win that game.

[Juice Stand]

Eldon, everyone agrees and sees the dumb basketball. I think some people (including me) are A) pleased with the overall improvements over recent teams, and B) willing to be patient with a group that returned only 3 players and has a lot of underclassmen. The bad news is they stink in close games, the good news is that they've won a couple of these close ones that they were losing earlier in the year, even if it doesn't look pretty.

My theory is that Frank is so intense that these guys tighten up because they don't want to be the guy that blew it. In the final sequences where they were doinking free throws left and right, Frank routinely screamed his head off at guys after the misses. You could see and hear it clearly in the arena, not sure if it came across on TV. I'm a Frank Martin fan and have no problem with his style most of the time, but he needs to find another way to motivate and support his players when something like that happens. Who is the "players coach" on this team that can pull someone to the side and bring them up after Frank chews them out?

*Edited to add that Frank admitted in the postgame radio show that he doesn't spend enough time on late game situations and said that will be a focus moving forward.

[natwam2547]

The whole team is an enigma, not just Cross. I guess that's what you can expect from a slightly above average college basketball team. They play hard, are a likeable bunch. But the missed layups, bunnies, dunks, untimely turnovers are excruciating. They also almost never get a 50/50 ball. If it's tapped around, batted around and players are diving on the floor, you can count on it going out of bounds off of Umass or the other team gaining possession. It's maddening. And that's not for a lack of hustle or trying. It's just real shit luck.

DHS seemed a little off his game. He got into it with House in the first and there was a double T called. I was at the game (no idea if they showed it on TV) and House ripped his arm away from DHS and clenched his fist and basically told him to stop holding on to his arm. DHS yapped back at him. With the way the refs were basically letting everything go early on and this, I thought it had the chance to get real ugly there for a second. DHS then took a pretty ill-advised 3 from the top of the key that was way off. I'm sure that had a lot to do with his lack of PT. That and the starters+ Curry were really taking over. No reason to move away from that after the run to put them up 14. Feel bad for Worthy and co. but this is why you shorten your bench in league play as the season moves on. No need to shoehorn guys in just to keep them satisfied or give the core a "breather". As we saw late in the game with all the reviews and stoppages, plenty of time for breathers.

Was really impressed with Keon. I think he was the player of the game. Rebounds, back door cuts for layups, jumping all over the place keeping balls alive. Diggins hit some massive 3's don't get me wrong, but the missed FT's and a few TO's were costly.

[MakeMullinsGreatAgain]

Is DHS banged up or something? Very few minutes today. Heavy load for Cross and Cohen.

Agree on Jayden. Would be awesome to see him play three more years at the U.

DHS got a technical mid way through the 1st half and pretty much sat the rest of the game.

Regarding attendance - again - IMO there was more than what they announced - I have given up trying to figure it out - makes no sense that they would say less were there but it seems like they do it every game

and for those that keep saying "where are the students" - "the student section is empty" - yes you are correct it is empty because those seats suck so once they come in they just sit in the good seats. Regardless - still not enough show up - and yesterday was no excuse - even if they slept in they should have showed up for a 2pm game