Entering Saturday afternoon’s contest the Minutemen were 0-5 this season in games decided by less than five points. However, due to a strange foul by the Patriot’s Keyshawn Hall in the closing seconds, UMass found themselves victorious 66-65.
UMass was led in scoring by forward Josh Cohen who added 17 points, including a 7-9 performance from the free throw line. Guard Jayden Ndjigue also tacked on a strong defensive performance along with 10 points and six rebounds. UMass was also pushed forward by a season high 4,418 fans at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen came out of the gate quickly and started on a 8-2 run in the opening minutes of the game. However, the Patriots began to find their own rhythm and UMass struggled to keep up.
Despite a slow start, Cohen and forward Daniel Hankins-Sanford dominated the offensive boards and combined for six offensive rebounds in the first half and 10 across the total game.
Over the entire game, UMass won the offensive rebounding battle 18-10 and the overall rebounding battle 40-26. Following Saturday’s game, UMass ranks 11th across the country in offensive rebounding percentage. The Minutemen also sit at 31st in the country in rebounds per game with 39.1.
In regards to their presence on the glass, “It’s become a habit for everybody in the frontcourt as well as myself,” said Ndjigue. “When we do that and we rebound at a high level good things happen for our team.”
UMass struggled to capitalize on their offensive rebounds as they only scored 16 second chance points compared to 14 for George Mason across the entire game.
The first half was an offensive stalemate for both squads but the Patriots finished the half with a 30-26 lead. The Minutemen struggled with turnovers in the first half, losing possession 11 times including a few pivotal offensive possessions that could have resulted in points. In the second half, Massachusetts slowed down their pace of play and limited themselves to just six turnovers.
With 21 games played on the season UMass has the best turnover margin in the A10 at 3.10 and the fourth highest assist to turnover ratio just behind Dayton and Richmond.
The Minutemen came out quickly in the second half which included a layup by forward Matt Cross for his first points of the game and a three by guard Rashool Diggins on the ensuing possession that returned the lead back to UMass. After this neither team was able to take a long term lead with eight more lead changes until the end of the game.
With just under six minutes to go, George Mason’s Woody Newton tacked on a three pointer to draw their lead to five, but a few possessions later back to back Ndjigue and Diggins threes put the Minutemen up by five.
UMass held the lead until George Mason’s final possession of the game which consisted of a missed three and a scramble for a loose basketball leading to two points for the Patriot’s Baraka Okojie. With 1.2 seconds left it was a tied ball game at 65 and the last second losses to St. Josephs and Loyola Chicago did not feel like distant memories.
However, upon Diggins receiving the inbound he was intentionally fouled by George Mason’s Hall who led the squad with 23 points despite it being a tie game. Diggins nailed the first free throw and UMass walked away winning a tightly contested competition.
“We’re working really hard to create a winning mentality, a winning approach and we’re doing it with some young bucks,” head coach Frank Martin said. UMass advanced to 14-7 overall on the season and 5-4 in conference play.
Continuing Conference Play
Now, the Minutemen will turn their focus to a road contest against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night. The Bonnies have been up and down in conference play this season boasting a 4-5 record, but impressively across the season they are 8-2 at home.
St. Bonaventure is coming off a five point loss on the road against Dayton last Friday. In terms of a common opponent, they lost 69-60 against George Mason two weekends ago.
On the statsheet, the Bonnies do not have any elite scorers, but forward Chad Venning and guard Mika Adams-Woods are combining for 27.6 points per game. Adams-Woods is one of the best three-point shooters in the A10 hitting 44.2 percent of his attempts from deep this season. He also sits at sixth in the conference with a 2.3 assist to turnover ratio.
The Bonnies also boast an elite defense allowing just 66.2 points per game which is third in the A10. UMass on the other hand has one of the strongest offenses scoring 80.6 points per game which is best in the conference.
