SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UMass is now in a better place than they were right before final exams and even right before the holidays. At that point, they had started 7-0 but then lost four straight. After Saturday’s 74-71 win over La Salle at the MassMutual Center, the Minutemen are 2-1 in Atlantic 10 play and, more importantly, looking like a team with whom things are coming into place. It’s come at a good time.
That’s not to say the Minutemen won on Saturday without any concerns. With the same three-point lead in the final minute, UMass turned the ball over in their own end twice, but dodged the bullet as the Explorers’ shot was blocked on the first one and they committed a turnover of their own the second time around. As if that wasn’t enough, Javorn Farrell missed two free throws with a chance to seal the game, and they had to survive as a last-second three-pointer missed.
“I thought we were fortunate to come away with the win,” head coach Derek Kellogg said.
A month earlier, Anthony Gurley didn’t have a lot of support. The Minutemen have plenty of talent and several possible complementary options, but none were really coming through consistently. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, and it started with the guy Kellogg highlighted as a likely complement in Farrell. The sophomore forward had 12 of his 13 points in the first half on 6-9 shooting, and he helped the Minutemen build their 10-point halftime lead. Farrell was one of three who scored in double figures besides Gurley, who had a game-high 20 points.
Farrell was banged up early on, so that didn’t help. He’s healthy now and playing better, and it’s making a difference. Besides his scoring, he had five assists with just one turnover on Saturday.
“When he gets going, that’s one more guy that they have to focus on,” Kellogg said. “I thought tonight Anthony just played within the team, and Javorn was the guy who jump-started our offense.”
Kellogg said he’s been trying to find the support options to make Gurley’s life easier and help the offense be more consistent. With a healthier group now, that might be more easily attainable, as Terrell Vinson was also banged up early on. Vinson is now getting in the gym more and feels the difference in being healthy while playing, and it showed on Saturday as he had a season-high 11 points.
If there was a surprise of sorts among the support, it was Sean Carter, who Kellogg said has practiced well of late. The junior big man went 7-8 from the field to score 15 points, and grabbed nine rebounds playing against a good front line. Not known as a big scoring threat, the Minutemen got the ball to him more and it paid off against a front line that includes arguably the best big man in the Atlantic 10.
Carter moved back into the starting lineup on December 22, and since that time his numbers have been on the rise as his scoring and rebounding numbers are above those for the season. Early on, he didn’t look like the player he was last year, but Kellogg feels he came to a realization about what he has to be on this team. The Minutemen are a young team, with just three seniors and Carter as the only junior who plays significant minutes, so they need their veterans to be more than just good players.
“I think he’s put his mind to it that he’s really a fifth-year junior from the transfer year, that he has to be one of the men on this team,” Kellogg said. “He has to become one of those guys who’s a mature leader for this team. I’ve been trying to work with him to get him into that role, but normally the kid does it on his own at some point, and he made a nice jump forward today. Hopefully he can continue that and really give us a paint presence.”
The picture in the Atlantic 10 is hardly clear after nearly a week of play. Xavier is 3-0, joined by Duquesne and George Washington, two teams projected to finish no higher than the middle of the pack. Temple is 3-1 after losing at Duquesne. UMass is 2-1, tied with Richmond. The Minutemen can have a say in how things end up, as a few teams in that top mix have nice overall records but a question mark about just how good they are.
UMass now heads into the thick of conference play in a better place than they were a month earlier. That isn’t a bad time for that to be the case.
