UMass Takes Advantage of Their Chance
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – This was the chance for UMass. This was a night they could do a few things.
This was their chance to end an eight-game losing streak to Boston College.
This was their chance to show that they are unofficially the best college team in Massachusetts.
This was their chance to get another win over a high-major team, one that might mean something in a couple of months.
And they knew it. They knew this was no ordinary game, and if there were any doubts about that, the appearance before the game of Carmelo Travieso got rid of those.
“He told us this is more than just a game from anywhere in the nation a couple of hours away from us,” said senior forward Etienne Brower.
Head coach Travis Ford mentioned that Travieso got instant respect the moment he walked into the locker room. The players all knew who he was, and they got a look at his Final Four ring while he talked to them. Ford was quite impressed, and apparently it worked.
“He shared some great things – he was very impressive on what he said,” said the third-year leader of the Minutemen.
UMass certainly knew this was their chance to end the skid against the Eagles, who appeared to have their number of late. Even a year ago, when the Minutemen looked to have a team capable of contending for an NCAA Tournament bid, while the Eagles didn’t look to be at the level of past years, the Eagles still won and looked like the clearly better team.
But now, the Eagles are inexperienced and inconsistent. They aren’t the Eagles of the past four years, with talent, experience and the best intangibles. They aren’t lacking in those categories, but this team has a different feel right now. Their win at Maryland on Sunday night showed that they still have something, but the Terrapins also lost another home game on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the Minutemen are playing at a fast pace and putting up points at a frenetic pace. They play at a non-stop pace for 40 minutes and want the game played at that pace. They are also inexperienced, but well-suited to Ford’s system and their results show it.
This was their chance, and they took advantage of it in an 83-80 win.
“That’s the first thing we mentioned when we started watching film – this team hasn’t beaten BC in eight years,” said senior guard Gary Forbes, who scored 22 points and had seven rebounds and five assists. “Coach Skinner is 7-0 coming into this game against us, and we wanted to be that team to finally get that monkey off our back.”
Ford knew this was on their minds, and it wasn’t a real motivator for him. His motivation was the natural desire to win, along with his great respect for Boston College. He had plenty of praise for them and star guard Tyrese Rice, and is happy to play them every year.
“The motivating factor should be that Boston College is a great, great team and a great program, and our team needs wins like this,” said Ford. “That should be a motivating factor.”
The Minutemen were celebrating this win unlike some others. This is one they wanted badly, a game they viewed as a statement game. It’s a win over an ACC team, two weeks after beating Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in a game where they put up 107 points, a record by a Syracuse opponent. It’s a win where they were a clearly better team, despite the final score being close, as they controlled the tempo of the game by speeding up an Eagles team that can run but is best doing it selectively.
While Ford is very happy with the win, he’s also trying not to make the game out to mean more than it does. This win could look meaningless if they go in the tank, or even hit a midseason slump and wind up in a position where their only path to the NCAA Tournament is winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. He’s naturally aware of that and has already seen the results of overconfidence, so he wants to make it clear that he doesn’t think this win means anything more than it does.
“The moment our guys relax – and we’ve seen that this year, we’ve done that, where we thought it was going to be easy – we got our butt kicked,” said Ford, referring to their loss at IUPUI less than two weeks ago. “We’re not a team that has arrived, by no stretch of the imagination. We’re a team that has won some good games and has a long season ahead of it, and just needs to be very humble and hungry.”
If the Minutemen do that, this win could certainly mean a lot more than what it does now come the month of March. They had their chance on Wednesday night and ended the losing streak against Boston College. Now they have their chance to let this win be a springboard and mean something at the most important time of the year.
