MHERST - Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint says when his team enters games against lowly opponents, the primary thing on his players' minds is ''points, points, points, points, points.'' They figure they're in for a relatively easy afternoon, one during which they'll spend more time padding statistics than offsetting the opposition's game plan.
That approach usually leads to contests like yesterday's 62-46 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham, the conference's worst team. The Rams stayed close throughout much of the first half and trailed, 26-25, with 18:01 left in the game. Fordham (4-11, 0-5) outrebounded the Minutemen, 33-30, and occasionally disrupted UMass' rhythm with its 1-3-1 trapping zone defense.
In fact, if Fordham had shot the ball better (33 percent from the floor) it could have put UMass in serious jeopardy. But the Minutemen, who led by a 26-21 margin at halftime, improved their play in the second half, gaining their first double-digit lead (42-32) with 11:22 left and eventually pulling away for their eighth straight win over Fordham.
So rather than suffering an embarrassing defeat, UMass (11-5, 4-0) notched its season-high fifth consecutive win and held its 10th opponent under 40-percent shooting in 16 games.
''We felt like we played only 20 minutes of basketball today,'' said UMass guard Charlton Clarke, who scored a game-high 17 points, had three assists, and did an exceptional job of shutting down Fordham guard Bevon Robin (11 points) after teammates Monty Mack and Jonathan DePina struggled to stay with Robin.
''The first half we really didn't come out and play like wanted to play,'' added Clarke. ''The second half we turned it up on defense and executed on offense.'' Another who excelled for the Minutemen was sophomore forward Mike Babul of Attleboro, who scored a career-high 13 points, surpassing his previous high of 6 within the first 7:30.
UMass outscored Fordham in the paint, 46-22, and it would have been even more lopsided except for UMass center Lari Ketner's two inadvertent tips into the Fordham goal. The Minutemen outscored the Rams, 15-2, on fast-break points and turned the ball over just five times. Even when Fordham was close, UMass never appeared out of control.
But a lot of that had to do with Fordham.
''I'm not going to take away from the fact that UMass is a very good defensive team, but we don't score against the Fordham Pizzeria,'' said Fordham coach Nick Macarchuk.
Perhaps that's why Flint was fuming throughout much of the contest and afterward said the only good thing about the win was that it was one. ''Two of the guys we depend on a lot think we're still in high school, and that's Monty and Jonathan,'' said Flint, who became the fastest coach to win 30 games in UMass history (he's now 30-19 overall).
Mack, his leading scorer, struggled for the second consecutive game, going 2 for 9 from the floor (including 0 for 5 from 3-point range) in a 5-point afternoon. He was among a few Minutemen to anger Flint in the first half, despite the fact UMass shot 50 percent from the floor.
''Guys start thinking, `I can get points,' and the first half that was our problem, we would pass the ball once or twice and someone was jacking one up,'' said Flint.
The coach hopes the scenario doesn't repeat itself tomorrow night against St. Bonaventure, which upset nationally ranked Xavier Jan. 3. ''We need to keep playing defense and get a little better offensively, and we'll be fine,'' he said.
MHERST -- The scouting report on UMass sophomore Mike Babul reads something like this: good defender, decent rebounder, can't score.
Maybe it's time to update that.
Babul pumped in 13 points yesterday, more than twice his previous career high, as the Minutemen won their fifth in a row, 62-46, over Fordham at the Mullins Center.
UMass improved to 11-5 overall and 4-0 in the Atlantic 10. Fordham fell to 4-11 and 0-5 with its seventh consecutive loss.
Babul averaged 20 points a game his senior year at North Attleboro High, but only 1.5 last season as a UMass freshman and, despite starting every game, just 3.5 this year. His shooting percentage this season was an ugly 37.7 percent.
But yesterday the 6-foot-6 small forward scored 10 points in the first half when the Minutemen needed them most. Overconfident after embarrassing the Rams by 18 at Fordham 11 days earlier, the Minutemen struggled to a 26-21 halftime edge.
"We felt like we played only 20 minutes of basketball," said junior Charlton Clarke, who led UMass with 17 points. "Guys just came out flat."
"In a game like this," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said, "the most difficult thing is guys think, 'I can get points.' That was our problem in the first half. We came down and took quick shots."
Babul scored eight points in the game's 7/4 minutes to surpass his previous career high of six. He hit his first four shots while Fordham played off him to spark UMass to a 13-4 lead.
"I got a couple of easy transition baskets early," Babul said. "That's my game."
"I told him, '(If) people don't play you, take it to the basket,' " Flint said. "You've got to make them pay."
Babul has had some great defensive games -- holding BC's Antonio Granger to 2-of-12 shooting, limiting Colorado's Kenny Price to a season-low 10 points before fouling out, and shutting down Cincinnati's Melvin Levitt on 1-of-13 shooting. But yesterday was the first time he's been any kind of offensive threat since high school.
"I'd like to score more, but I've accepted my role of being a defensive stopper and doing all the dirty work," Babul said. "As long as we win, it makes me feel I must be doing something right."
Scoring 13 points against Fordham, which is only 3-34 in A-10 play the last three seasons, doesn't exactly stamp Babul as a scoring machine. But opponents may stop ignoring him completely to sag on the UMass big men underneath.
"I'm just trying to run what Coach Flint wants me to," Babul said. "He doesn't want me coming down and taking the first shot. It looks like I'm wide open on the first pass when they sag off me 10 feet. But if I shoot that shot and miss it, I'm probably going to come out. It's not a good shot. But if it comes back to me after we've swung it around a few times, I can shoot it."
UMass center Lari Ketner had a quiet game with 9 points and 5 rebounds. Early in the second half, the 6-foot-10 Ketner had scored as many points for Fordham as he did for UMass. He accidentally tipped in two Rams baskets.
Tyrone Weeks finished with 10 points and 10 boards for his seventh double-double of the season.
The Rams were still in the game with 14 minutes left, trailing by only 35-30, when Chris Kirkland penetrated and dished off to Weeks for a layup to ignite an 11-2 run that put the hosts up, 46-32. The Rams never got within single digits again.
UMass led by as many as 20, 60-40, on a Weeks put-back with 1:25 remaining.
Clarke admitted he was concerned with how the Minutemen continue to play down to the level of their opponents.
"That's our team," he said. "We're going to live and die with that."
Freshman Bevon Robin had 11 points to lead Fordham, which became the 10th UMass foe this season to shoot under 40 percent. The Rams shot only 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) in the first half and 18 of 55 (32.7 percent) for the game.
"I don't care who we play, we don't score," said Fordham coach Nick Macarchuk, whose team was shooting only 39.3 percent entering the game. "If you don't score, then the kids get discouraged. Until they change the rules of the game, you have to make a basket."
MHERST (JAN. 19) - In a game
against a weak opponent, with no
television coverage and over 2,000
empty seats, there was little incentive
for enthusiasm for the University of
Massachusetts basketball team in
Saturday's game against Atlantic 10
cellar-dweller Fordham, and it
showed.
It didn't matter though as the Minutemen (11-5, 4-0 Atlantic 10) overcame a sloppy first half and defeated the Rams, 62-46, for their fifth straight victory.
Fordham coach Nick Macachuk offered an excuse for UMass' lackluster effort.
"I'm sure they were tired after their game against (UNC) Charlotte," he said. "I'm sure they weren't very excited to play us and we were very excited to play them."
 Mike Babul was on tonight, on both ends of the floor. |
"It was fun," Babul said. "It feels great to break double figures for the first time in my career. It's been a while. I got some easy transition baskets and some baskets slashing to the hole. That's what I'm comfortable doing."
"Mike played well," said UMass coach Bruiser Flint. "I told him, 'Mike you can have games like this, because people don't play you. Take it to the basket. If people aren't going to play you, you have to make them pay for it.' "
Babul passed his previous scoring high of six points before the game was eight minutes old, converting a pair of jump shots, a lay-up and a dunk.
"Mike is a real good player," said junior guard Charlton Clarke. "His confidence just needs to come. Tonight it was there and he made open shots. That's what we need him to do."
"I'd like to score more," Babul said. "But I've accepted the role of being the defensive stopper on this team and doing all the dirty work. As long as we're winning I feel good about myself because I feel like I must be doing something right."
 Tyrone Weeks clears a path for Charlton Clarke to get to the hoop. |
"I thought that Charlton played very well Monday," Flint said. "He always says I don't don't compliment him. He played very, very well."
Clarke's signature running one hander was dropping with regularity as he finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting including 2-of-4 from behind the three-point arc.
The Rams responded to the Minutemen's early 13-4 run. Taking advantage of some poor UMass shot selection, Fordham slowed the pace of the game, narrowed the gap to 20-18, and trailed just 26-21 at halftime.
Tyrone Weeks came to life in the second half and so did the Minutemen. After being held scoreless before intermission, Weeks dumped in 10 points to go along 10 rebounds for the game to give him seven double-doubles for the season.
"We only played 20 minutes of basketball Monday," Clarke said. "The first half we didn't really play like we wanted to play. Guys just came out flat. In the second half we turned it up on defense and we executed on offense."
The combination of UMass' impressive defense and Fordham offensive ineptitude played a large role in the Rams downfall. Only freshman guard Bevon Robin scored in double figures and he had just 11.
"The bottom line is if you don't score, the kids get discouraged," Macachuk said after the game. "Unill they change the rules of the game, you have to make a basket every once in a while. I'm not going to take away from the fact that UMass is a very good defensive team, but we don't score against Fordham Pizzeria."
The Minutemen return to action at 8 tonight against Atlantic 10 rival St. Bonaventure at the Mullins Center.
MHERST (JAN. 19) - Immediately following his team's 62-46 win over
Fordham Saturday, University of Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint crossed
the court to do his postgame radio interview. While he was on the air, he
was asked about Fordham's defense on sophomore guard Monty Mack.
"They asked me on the radio, what kind of job Fordham did on Monty Mack and I said. `Monty Mack did a job on himself,' " Flint said. "Those are the things you go through with freshmen. Monty wasn't focused to play. That's his problem. He might have been frustrated Thursday (against UNC Charlotte) because they came at him a different way. Fordham didn't do that."
While Mack is indeed a sophomore scholastically, this is his first season of eligibility and he is still making freshman mistakes. Flint extended the criticism to Mack's former South Boston High School teammate Jonathan DePina.
"Two of the guys that we depend on a lot, they think they're still in high school and I told them that," Flint said. "Those are the things that they have to learn. That's what you go through with guys that are just used to running by people. That's why you're happy when freshman become sophomores and sophomores become juniors."
Junior guard Charlton Clarke leveled a similar charge against the whole team.
"Guys were out here taking Fordham lightly," Clarke said. "They can play. This isn't like high school, where you can dominate people and they're going to stop playing. This is college. You have to come out and play every night. Teams all come to play. Teams all look to beat UMass."
* * *
UMASS may be inching closer to making the top 25 poll. A week ago, the Minutemen received no points in the USA Monday/ESPN Coaches Poll, while this week, they got five.
If the poll is an accurate measure of overall espect, the Atlantic 10 got a fair helping of it this week.
Despite conference losses, Xavier (19th to 18th) and Rhode Island (23rd to 22nd) both moved up in the coaches poll.
Despite getting hammered by UMass last week, George Washington is high in the also-receiving-votes list with 21 points, which would place them at No. 28. Despite losing Sunday to GW, Dayton is also ahead of UMass with seven points, while Temple has four.
This week's Associated Press Poll will be released at 6 tonight. UMass got four points last week.
* * *
FOR THE second time in as many games against Fordham, UMass used its No. 2 three guard combination of juniors Ross Burns and Andy Maclay and freshman Rafael Cruz.
None of the three got on the scoreboard, but Burns collected an assistwhen he threw a long pass to Ajmal Basit, who finished with a breakaway dunk at the buzzer.
* * *
ACTING Governor Paul Cellucci was among the 7,110 in attendance at Saturday's game.
| Fordham Rams | 46 |
| Massachusetts Minutemen | 62 |
| at the Mullins Center | |
FORDHAM (46)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Curtis 27 3-9 3-4 2-5 0 4 9
Olivares 28 1-7 0-0 1-3 2 2 2
Pugh 28 4-9 0-0 1-8 1 2 8
Robin 33 4-11 2-2 2-4 2 1 11
Harmatuk 28 2-8 2-2 0-1 1 1 8
Harris 21 1-3 0-0 1-3 0 1 2
Griffin 23 2-5 0-0 0-1 0 2 4
Mack 12 1-3 0-0 2-3 1 3 2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 18-55 7-8 9-28 7 16 46
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.327, FT-.875. 3-Point Goals:
3-13, .231 (Olivares 0-2, Robin 1-4, Harmatuk
2-5, Harris 0-1, Griffin 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 1 (Olivares). Turnovers: 7 (Pugh
2, Curtis, Harmatuk, Harris, Mack, Olivares).
Steals: None.
MASSACHUSETTS (62)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Babul 28 6-12 1-2 0-3 2 0 13
Weeks 26 5-7 0-0 2-10 1 3 10
Ketner 29 4-5 1-3 1-5 0 0 9
Clarke 32 7-10 1-3 1-2 3 3 17
Mack 34 2-9 1-1 0-0 5 2 5
Depina 12 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 2 0
Burns 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Cruz 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Maclay 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kirkland 12 0-1 2-2 1-3 4 1 2
Basit 24 2-4 2-2 0-2 0 1 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-50 8-13 5-26 17 12 62
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.520, FT-.615. 3-Point Goals:
2-10, .200 (Babul 0-1, Clarke 2-4, Mack 0-5).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 7 (Weeks 2,
Ketner 2, Basit 2, Clarke). Turnovers: 5 (Mack 2,
Basit, Ketner, Kirkland). Steals: 1 (Basit).
__________________________________
Fordham 21 25 - 46
Massachusetts 26 36 - 62
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 7,110. Officials: Eric
Harmon, Jack Sweeney, George Watts.
