Frank Martin’s second season as head coach of the Minutemen began with a triumphant victory headlined by strong performances from forward Josh Cohen, and guards Rashool Diggins and Keon Thompson. The 21-point victory is the largest since the 2007-2008 season against the California Polytechnic Mustangs, and the largest opening victory at the Mullins Center since the 2006-2007 season against Dartmouth.
The Minutemen roster brought in a lot of new faces this offseason including seven freshmen and two transfers. Cohen, one of those transfers, was a huge piece of the UMass machine. Cohen, a transfer from St. Francis (Pa.) dropped 22 points on 9/15 shooting including two 3-pointers, which were the first two of his entire career. Cohen also added eight rebounds in only 19 minutes of play.
The second transfer, position Daniel Hankins-Sanford was also a weapon, scoring 14 points on the night, 10 of which came in the first half. The South Carolina transfer added three rebounds and three assists as well.
Diggins began his second year at UMass with a bang making his 11th career start. Diggins shot 50% overall scored 14 points and gathered three steals.
Thompson, another second-year guard, also cracked the starting rotation in game one. Thompson made the most of it scoring 13 points while collecting five rebounds and six assists. Despite a disappointing ending to last season, Thompson never wavered on his commitment to Martin and UMass. He was rewarded for that decision tonight by tying his career high in points.
Forward Matt Cross also returned for his second year as a Minuteman. He only put up eight points and five rebounds. However, that is the benefit of having a second scorer like Cohen on the roster. Cross and Cohen do not have to be lights out every night, but they are building a special connection
“Him (Cohen) and Matt have a great synergy going with them on the floor they play off each other tremendously,” said Martin.
The remaining rotation was filled out by freshmen, primarily guards Jaylen Curry, Marqui Worthy and forward Robert Davis Jr. All three of them struggled in their first regular season game shooting a combined 3-20 and only netting 12 points.
As a team, UMass dominated the turnover margin. UMass only turned the ball over five times throughout the game, a very impressive number. Defensively, they were able to force 18 turnovers, which resulted in 21 points. If the Minutemen can keep the turnovers low, they will be able to go far this season.
UMass, also shot 45% from three throughout the game, compared to Albany’s 35% shooting which was another key factor in UMass’ win. While that number will drop it is a massive step up from the 32.8% 3-point shooting that ranked #243 in the country last year for the Minutemen.
The Minutemen also dominated the paint in this game netting 46 points, compared to Albany’s 22. Even more impressively the Minutemen did this without 7-foot-3-inch freshman Mathok Majok who will miss the first three games due to an NCAA suspension.
However, the Minutemen cannot get ahead of themselves as the schedule only gets more difficult from here starting with Monday’s game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
The Bobcats opened up their season with a dominating 116-48 victory over Coast Guard and will play Central Connecticut State before traveling to Amherst.
They are led by sixth-year guard Matt Balanc, who scored 20 against Coast Guard, but also started all 32 games last season, and has scored over 1,000 points in his Bobcat career.
The Minutemen will also have to guard Midland College transfer Doug Young, who scored 15 on opening night for Quinnipiac including 3-4 shooting from three. Young averaged over 20 points per game last year and was one of the best JUCO recruits in the country.
The Martin era at UMass is looking good to start his second season, but there is still plenty of room for improvement, and the Minutemen will look to show out against Quinnipiac on Monday to prove it.
