AMHERST, Mass. – This isn’t how Derek Kellogg wanted to go into final exams, nor his team. The record isn’t bad, but how they got there is the issue.
UMass enters final exam week with a 7-3 mark. That’s not bad, especially considering they have been searching for a consistent complement or two to Anthony Gurley, who is having a stellar season. They also don’t have a true point guard on the roster, starting Gary Correia at the position. While Correia can shoot and isn’t a bad ball handler, he is at best a combo guard. A few injuries haven’t helped.
But just over a week earlier, the Minutemen were 7-0 as they headed to the Boston Garden, a building where they had never lost. They dropped a tough one to Boston College, then lost to Maine before getting pounded by Seton Hall 104-79 on Saturday night. While losing to the Eagles wasn’t so bad given their start, losing at home to Maine was another story. Losing to Seton Hall might not be so bad, but losing the way they did is.
“Even though we’re at 7-3, this is not the 7-3 I was looking for,” head coach Derek Kellogg said. “I was hoping that we’d have a little more momentum going into finals week.”
In the second half of Saturday night’s game, Seton Hall shot over 73 percent from the field. For the game, they shot 50 percent from long range. Kellogg said he could live with allowing the Pirates to shoot from deep, since without Jeremy Hazell they aren’t very scary from there, but it was different once they started to hit. Although the Minutemen got within striking distance a couple of times in the second half, Seton Hall had an answer every time and the last run blew the game wide open. The 104 points was a record for an opponent in the Mullins Center.
As bad as the defense was on Saturday, the offense is the bigger concern. Opponents came into Saturday shooting 40 percent against the Minutemen, and they were forcing nearly 18 turnovers a game (the number they forced on Saturday). But at the offensive end, they have more turnovers than assists, and haven’t been able to get someone going to complement Gurley, who is averaging almost 21 points per game.
“I’m not sure what’s going on with our offense, but I’m going to watch the tape probably another ten times,” said Kellogg. “One is that we’re missing two-footers consistently, and we’re shooting the ball way too fast on one pass.”
Kellogg said he thinks Gurley may be trying to do too much. It’s not showing in the form of becoming a gunner, as Gurley went 11-20 on Saturday en route to his 26 points and is shooting over 53 percent from the field on the season, including nearly 43 percent from long range. Sophomore Sampson Carter looked like he could be the second scorer during one stretch, and at times classmates Freddie Riley and Javorn Farrell have looked the part. Riley got going during a couple of spurts on Saturday, but disappeared at other times.
Farrell could be the guy, and Kellogg mentioned him a couple of times in talking about the supporting cast. He’s the team’s junkyard dog, the guy you don’t have to run plays for but makes them. Of late, he has been nicked up, and it’s showed in his play; he was 1-11 on Saturday.
“If Javorn can get going, I think that lightens up the load,” said Kellogg. “When he was playing his best, we were playing our best.”
UMass came into the game against Boston College with a question mark next to the 7-0 record they had at the time. The schedule was soft, for the most part, so that was their biggest test to that point. They were heading into a stretch with the Eagles, a possible trap game against a Maine team picked to contend in America East, and Seton Hall. That’s a stretch that would say something about where this team is right now.
“I think this was the time period where we knew we were going to go through a rough stretch,” said junior guard Gary Correia. “Even Quinnipiac, at Quinnipiac, was a tough game, we pulled that one out. We knew they were very good.”
Correia also mentioned the youth of the team in responding to the loss to Boston College. Kellogg mentioned it as well with a fine line he’s walking in how much he gets on the guys. The long layoff for final exams can help this team, with some practice time mixed in and a chance to regroup, and injured players get a chance to rest and get in better condition. Then they hope to regain some positive momentum, but it won’t come easily.
They get a good test right away when play resumes, as Central Florida comes to town playing good basketball. Two more winnable non-conference games follow before Atlantic 10 play starts with three tough games: Dayton, at Xavier and La Salle at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
UMass didn’t close out the first semester the way they wanted to. What they do in between now and when play resumes will say something about where they go once Atlantic 10 play gets going.
