Minutemen Happy to Get NIT Win
AMHERST, Mass. – There isn’t a shortage of reasons why UMass was ecstatic about its thrilling 89-87 overtime win over Alabama in the first round of the NIT.
For starters, last week was one to forget for the Minutemen, who had been playing very well with nine wins in ten games, including six in a row. The flu bug hit the team extremely hard, effectively killing practice, team meetings, film sessions and all other preparation for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Then they were eliminated with an overtime loss to Saint Louis in the quarterfinals. As such, Tuesday’s win was a great way to bounce back from a rough week.
“No one has any idea what we went through last week. It’s like nothing I have ever seen,” said head coach Travis Ford, who described the bug as being like a road block. “That could have been the end of us; it would have been the end of a lot of teams. I’m very proud of these guys to bounce back and show what they’re made out of. This is a game that, hopefully, we can gain some respect out of. Alabama is a very, very good basketball team.”
Another reason is the hero of the game, sophomore point guard Chris Lowe. Before the season started, Lowe was involved in a bar fight and got arrested for his role in it. He was suspended for the season opener and then began the year on the bench behind Tiki Mayben. It was easy to malign him back then and wonder if he did something that would set a bad tone for the season, but he’s continued to be productive and came up big on Tuesday night. He’s started 20 of the team’s 31 games at the point, including 18 of the last 19 (Senior Night was the non-starting game) and clearly looks like he hasn’t had any ill effects from it.
Then there is the fact that this is the NIT. Sure, it’s not the NCAA Tournament, which Ford had scheduled for in non-conference play and surely wanted to be in this week. It’s only natural that a team would prefer to be in the field of 65. But you can tell that Ford and his players are excited about being in the NIT – they don’t see it as a downer at all.
“Most of us got over (not making the NCAA Tournament) pretty quickly, and were excited about the opportunity this presented – to play such a great team like Alabama, with great tradition in the SEC and be on national television,” said Ford. “It got me very, very excited about this opportunity, and I’m honored to play in this tournament.”
This was a game that went back and forth all night long, with each team trading runs. Neither team ever had a double-digit lead, and there weren’t many big runs that swung the momentum. Instead, there was simply one small run after another that seemed to give one team the chance to either get back in the game or take it over. Alabama led for a lot of the first half, at one point having an early 16-8 lead, but UMass put a couple of mini-runs together for an 11-2 spurt that gave them a 33-30 lead with about three minutes to go in the half.
The Minutemen looked like they might break the game open when they scored the first six points of the second half to go up 47-40, but the Crimson Tide didn’t go away. During a four-minute stretch, they went on the biggest run of the game, a 15-2 stretch where they took over the lead and ran it up to 62-53. The Minutemen had to bounce back yet again.
They did just that, scoring the next seven points, and from that point on neither team ever led by more than five. For most of the remainder, it was a one-possession game, including the extra session.
All the while, Lowe was a key player, hitting several key shots as he spread his scoring out. He finished with 19 points, scoring nine in the first half, eight in the second and the winning two in overtime. Included were two jumpers in the big first-half run, the latter capping it off, a three-pointer and layup on consecutive possessions in the second half to tie the game at 65, and several assists on key hoops by James Life (12 points).
“Every shot he took tonight was a good shot,” said Ford of his point guard. “It was when we needed it, it was a shot I would have said, take it, we needed it.”
Lowe had the chance to seal the game in regulation when he had two free throws and the Minutemen up two in the final seconds. He made the first but missed the second, giving the Crimson Tide one last opportunity. Mykal Riley, who scored a game-high 24 points in the losing effort, hit a tough three-pointer from well behind the line on the left wing as time expired to send it to the extra session. The blown opportunity made Lowe’s game-winning shot a little more satisfying for him.
As satisfying as it was for Lowe, the win was very satisfying for the team. The Minutemen had high hopes for this season, and having made it to the postseason for the first time in seven years, they are fulfilling a lot of those hopes.
