AMHERST, Mass. – Perhaps the best way to sum up UMass’ 70-65 win over Richmond is that the Minutemen found a way to pull it out. It won’t go down as a particularly memorable game for one reason or another, but it was still a win over a team that had some momentum, and along the way they did some of what they will have to do to win games the rest of the way.
UMass wasn’t a great jump shooting team, especially from long range, to begin with. Now that Jesse Morgan is out for the year after suffering a torn ACL over two weeks ago, they have to change a little of how they attack other teams offensively. They were 3-15 from long range against Richmond, but the 15 attempts is their second-lowest total of the season. They have taken 33 shots from deep in two games this season. Conversely, they have taken about 10 percent fewer free throws than three-pointers.
Since UMass is shooting about 31 percent on the season from three-point range, there may be a silver lining to Morgan’s injury, much as they would rather have Morgan and for more than just his shooting.
“It was good to see us shoot 3-15 from three and get 27 free throw attempts,” said head coach Derek Kellogg. “I think that means we were trying to attack the rim.”
Without Morgan and with the lack of success shooting the ball from long range, the Minutemen need to attack at both ends. On Sunday, they did that with their press, although not to the degree or in the manner that successful pressing teams often do. The goal is usually to force turnovers, but Richmond gave the ball away just nine times. Instead, it made the Spiders work harder to get into their offense and gave them less time to work the ball around for shots.
UMass really turned up the defense in the final minutes, when they finally got over the hump. They made several runs at Richmond, but the Spiders had an answer. In the final 6:24, the Spiders managed just four free throws, going 0-10 with a turnover.
“I thought that was the first game in a while where we got into our press, and it looked like the press was at least able to create some energy for our defense,” said Kellogg. “It didn’t turn them over, but it did get them out of kilter, out of sync.”
A big change from a personnel standpoint involved Freddie Riley, who stepped into the starting lineup for Morgan. He played a career-high 40 minutes on Sunday and didn’t have his best shooting game but had one of his best defensive outings. With him leading the way, Darien Brothers, Richmond’s leading scorer, went 3-15 from the field.
The frontcourt is an area that should get more opportunities to shine with Morgan out, and Sunday was evidence of that. Sampson Carter played better than his 10 points and five rebounds suggest, as he was an active player while on the floor and in a lot of plays. Raphiael Putney hasn’t made the kind of leap that his improvement last year suggested he would, although he had five assists on Sunday and still has enough physical gifts to be at least an X-factor. Terrell Vinson can be better than what he has been thus far. Cady Lalanne is still something of an untapped talent in that he seems a ways from maximizing his talent. Kellogg said Lalanne had a very good week of practice leading up to Sunday, then went out and scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds against Richmond.
Kellogg said they’re trying to work the ball inside more now, and on Sunday that was evident. That was also the smart thing to do since most of Richmond’s frontcourt is young and they were short-handed there. That was a big contributor to a 38-20 edge in points in the paint.
UMass won despite Chaz Williams turning the ball over seven times. That doesn’t happen often, and now that they have a little less margin for error, that will be more important.
“Being a point guard, I can’t have this many turnovers,” said Williams, who scored a game-high 18 points. “I have to cut back on them.”
UMass is now 3-2 in the Atlantic 10 with the win. They felt this was a big game since it was a matchup of two teams that could go one of two ways depending on the outcome. Kellogg noted that a win made them 3-2, with a lot of basketball left to play, and that’s better than dropping below .500. How they got there is important as well as it can be a guide to how they win games the rest of the season.
