The Minutemen put up a spirited fight against the Hofstra Pride, in a 75-71 overtime loss at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. The game highlighted many of the previous growing pains to start the season, but hope is not lost with so much season left to play.
Entering the contest, the UMass stars have put on some impressive performances, despite their record. Senior Rahsool Diggins opened the 2024-25 season averaging 17 points, while sophomore guard Jaylen Curry recorded 25 assists to just one turnover through the first three games.
The pride pounced on UMass from the jump on both ends of the floor. Hofstra guard Cruz Davis came out hot, scoring 11 points in the first 12 minutes of the first half. UMass lacked an early defensive mindset, which coach Frank Martin attempted to fix.
Despite the sluggish start, the Minutemen rallied back and found their footing halfway through the first half. Big shots out of timeouts injected a spark back in the offense, leading to a Jaylen Curry three-pointer with eight minutes left in the half.
Daniel Hankins-Sanford had a great half and showed great defensive mobility for a forward who stands at six feet eight inches. The junior put up 10 points and four boards in the first 16 minutes, but was subbed out for early foul trouble which proved deadly to UMass later on. UMass trailed 35-30 to the visitors going into the halftime break.
The second half opened up similarly to the first, with Hofstra draining back-to-back threes that propelled them to a hot start. This didn’t rattle UMass however, the Minutemen chipped away at the deficit with help from an improved defense and brilliance from Curry.
Curry erupted for eight points in just over a minute out the gate with back-to-back three-pointers and an aggressive layup at the rim. His career-high 22-point performance paired with 5-10 shooting from beyond the arc helped keep UMass in the game. Curry also tallied an impressive six rebounds and six assists, adding to his all-around heroics.
Free throws proved to be a vital piece of the puzzle once again for Massachusetts. A 50% free throw showing in the first half got even uglier when the Minutemen shot 3-8 in the second half, a shocking 37.5%.
“It’s complicated,” Martin said. “It’s not as simple as it sounds and we’re limited on how much time we get to teach … guys have to take pride.”
The pivotal moment of UMass’s attempted comeback was when Diggins came alive to sink a three-pointer, tying the game at 54-54. The senior tallied two more threes to keep the game close late. With three seconds to go, Curry took the game into his own hands, drawing a foul to help the Minutemen down by one. After calmly sinking the first shot from the charity stripe, Curry got unlucky and missed the second attempt, leaving the game tied at 63-63.
Overtime saw Hofstra take control of the game once again, taking a six-point lead after two and a half minutes and never looking back. Diggins and Curry added to their three-point tallies. However, after a failed layup attempt by Curry in the final seconds of the game, the Minutemen went down in defeat.
“That last play I wanted Jaylen to pass it to the five man so we can attack the coverage that they were in, but he made a decision that he can go get it and it just didn’t work out,” said Martin. “But without him, we had no chance today”.
As the Minutemen develop chemistry with one another throughout the season, fans can count on more thrilling performances. UMass takes on the Temple Owls on Nov. 23 at Mohegan Sun Arena, with hopes of building momentum before conference play.
