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Finish avoids upset: UMass repels late Marist rally
By Mark Murphy, The Boston Herald, 11/25/2001

AMHERST - Steve Lappas is 2-0 with his new team, and for the most part the transition from one era to the next seems to be working.

But the first heavyweight of the season is about to fly in, with UMass scheduled to play Oregon Tuesday at the Springfield Civic Center. As such, Lappas has good reason to be emitting a little bit of smoke.

Photo
Kitwana Rhymer led all scorers with 16 points.
Seven days after playing strong basketball down the stretch to beat Arkansas-Little Rock in a season-opening game, UMass triumphed in reverse fashion with last night's 66-59 win over 3-1 Marist.

The Minutemen dominated the Red Foxes at both ends of the floor, carried a 19-point lead into halftime, and got a little too comfortable. With 9:05 left in the game, Marist had chopped that lead to 48-45.

``Don't you know that's what I spent the whole half talking about,'' said Lappas. ``It was finishing them off - it was having that killer instinct.''

Instead, Marist lived up to its near-miss reputation.

The Red Foxes have compiled quite a file of scaring bigger and better opponents. This season it translated into a win over South Alabama. Last season, the Red Foxes fell just short in nonconference jousts with Boston College and Pittsburgh. Two seasons ago, Georgetown and Arizona State nearly fell under the gun.

But with the exception of this season's win over South Alabama, the Red Foxes - a fine shooting team - have generally fallen a few treys short.

Last night was no different. Despite the perimeter crew of Nick Eppehimer, Sean Kennedy and David Bennett combining for six second half-treys, they could never cut into that three-point UMass lead.

Kitwana Rhymer once again swung the game with the sort of shot-blocking defense that earned him Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year honors last season.

But first he had to sit out the start of each half.

``He ate too much turkey, and then came back a couple of minutes late for practice (Friday),'' Lappas said of his disciplinary measure.

``But Kit's Kit. He's a guy you'll never have to worry about. He can really change a game.''

Rhymer once again left his mark at both ends of the floor, blocking four shots, including three swats in the last five minutes as the Minutemen slowly climbed back to a 10-point margin.

Sophomore forward Willie Jenkins, who rarely played last season, scored all nine of his points in the last seven minutes, to go along with seven rebounds.

Combined with Rhymer's game-high 16 points and another 14 from Shannon Crooks, the Minutemen once again made all of the right plays down the stretch - a quality that was often absent from their game last season.


Minutemen survive a shaky stretch
UMASS 66, MARIST 59
By Frank Dell'Apa, The Boston Globe Staff, 11/25/2001

AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts has discovered a sure formula for getting off to a successful start - set up games against inferior opponents.

The Minutemen took a 66-59 victory over Marist last night, making this the first time since the 1997-98 season they have opened with two straight wins.

Photo
Willie Jenkins and Eric Williams trap Marist's David Bennett.
UMass followed season-opening victories the previous three seasons with losing streaks of four, two, and six games. But the second games in those seasons were against Marquette, UConn, and St. John's.

The situation becomes more difficult now, with trips to meet Oregon Tuesday and North Carolina State Saturday.

Though UMass was quicker, stronger, taller, and led from the opening minutes, the Minutemen had difficulty protecting the lead. They appeared complacent as the second half started, and were outscored, 24-8, in the opening 9:08 of the half.

''We have to come out in the second half more focused,'' guard Shannon Crooks said. ''We came out pretty much sleeping and they took advantage of us. We have to put two halves together if we are going to be a team that contends the way we want to.

''Last year, we were not pulling these games out in the end, but we are now and that shows our determination. But we need to focus for the entire game.''

Indeed, the Minutemen complicated the situation.

Kitwana Rhymer was on the bench for disciplinary reasons, though he entered 7:28 into the contest.

''[Rhymer] ate too much turkey this weekend and he came back a couple minutes late to practice,'' coach Steve Lappas said. ''He did a great job. He changed the game on the defensive end, and played well on offense. Kit's Kit. He's a guy you are going to miss when he is gone. He's a good kid, he plays so hard and he can change the game.''

Said Rhymer: ''It was a rule that was broken, that's all. It was a big thing to the team. I'm used to coming off the bench; I've done it before. Starting or coming off the bench doesn't matter to me.''

Rhymer scored 16 points in 24 minutes. His tip-in with 2:16 remaining gave UMass a 61-52 lead. It turned out to be the deciding score ... and UMass's only field goal in the final 6:08.

Marist, 3-1, converted only two field goals in the final 6:22. The Red Foxes had made only one field goal in the final 7:06 of the first half and were 18 for 55.

''Teams are shooting 35 percent against us in two games,'' Lappas said. ''I don't look at points allowed because that is a byproduct of the pace of the game. Defensively, you aren't going to do much better than that. The problem was our offense. I was disappointed in the turnovers ...''

Only some individual enterprise by Rhymer, Micah Brand, and Anthony Anderson prevented UMass from surrendering the lead early in the second half.

But a quick start and composed finish were sufficient.

Rhymer scored his first points to give UMass a 20-8 advantage with 8:52 to play and converted just before the halftime buzzer to cap a 14-4 UMass run in the final 6:25 for a 36-17 lead.

Marist was 9 for 30 on 3-pointers but converted four in succession early in the second half. Rick Smith's steal and layup off a full-court press cut the deficit to 48-45 with 9:05 left. But UMass regrouped as Brand hit two foul shots, Rhymer dunked, and Willie Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 55-45 with 6:55 to go.

''UMass gambled a little bit, they zoned us and matched up well with our shooters and confused us a little bit,'' Marist coach Dave Magarity said. ''They hadn't zoned us the last three years. Their trapping got us out of synch and they did a good job of keeping us off balance.''


Marist's upset bid thwarted
Second-half rally too little vs. UMass
By Dan Pietrafesa, The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal, 11/25/2001

AMHERST, Mass. -- Willie Jenkins rescued his team and foiled comeback and upset bids by the Marist College men's basketball team.

Jenkins scored seven of his career-high nine points during a crucial stretch of the second half, lifting the University of Massachusetts to a 66-59 victory Saturday over the Red Foxes before 5,240 fans at the Mullins Center.

UMass, playing for the first time in eight days, improves to 2-0 and hands Marist its first loss in four games this season.

The Minutemen frustrated Marist with a zone defense, building a 36-17 halftime lead. But the Red Foxes battled back, cutting their deficit to three twice before Jenkins did his damage.

''We can't come into a situation like this, play the way we did in the first half and expect to steal a win on the road,'' Marist head coach Dave Magarity said.

Rick Smith converted a layup to cut Marist's deficit to 48-45 with 9:03 remaining. The Red Foxes failed in their attempt to tie the game on their next possession.

UMass' Micah Brand of nearby Middletown (Orange County) was fouled while making the defensive rebound. The 6-foot-11 center hit both free throws and Kitwana Rhymer slammed home two of UMass' 34 points from within the paint to give the Minutemen a 52-45 lead.

Jenkins followed with a three from the top of the arc to cap a 7-0 run and present UMass with a 55-45 advantage. It was Jenkins' first basket of the game.

Jenkins helped maintain the comfortable cushion by hitting a jumper and two free throws for a 59-50 Minutemen lead with 4:50 left.

''When I came into the game, I wasn't looking to score,'' said Jenkins, who had a career-high seven rebounds. ''I was looking to spark the defense and my shots started to fall.''

In the opening half, UMass confused Marist with its zone defense and received a combined 19 points from post players Rhymer and Brand to take a commanding lead.

Marist answered quickly in the second half. Nick Eppehimer hit two three-pointers and Sean Kennedy one as the Red Foxes slimmed their deficit to 36-26.

Eppehimer continued his assault by hitting a third three and a layup to keep his teammates in the game at 41-33.

''We were determined to make this a game and it's what we tried to do in the second half,'' said Eppehimer, who finished with a team-high 14 points.

Marist twice dwindled the deficit to three before UMass and Jenkins pulled away in the final minutes.

''I give the kids credit for regrouping at halftime,'' Magarity said. ''I'm disappointed because we had opportunities to make this game closer at times.''

With its upset bid thwarted, Marist will continue its run of three consecutive road contests on Thursday at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. The Red Foxes will play two days later at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

''This is very frustrating,'' Smith said. ''The last couple of years we went to play the big schools and took them to the wire. We were very optimistic we were going to come in here for the win and it didn't work out.''

Fox trails: When the current string of road games end, the Red Foxes will begin their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference season. Marist will open its MAAC schedule on Dec. 6 with a home game against rival Siena College.

Marist student assistant coach Mark Prosser joined the team Saturday at UMass, a day after the Red Foxes arrived in Amherst. Prosser was at Madison Square Garden Friday night watching his dad Skip coach Wake Forest University against Syracuse University in the finals of the preseason National Invitation Tournament.

Marist is 0-3 all-time versus UMass. ... Magarity is 1-1 against UMass, winning 20 years ago as coach of St. Francis (Pa.).

Kennedy, Eppehimer and Dennis Young all have posted a double-double for the Red Foxes this season. ... Kennedy has at least one assist in 83 of the 87 games he's played in for Marist.

Magarity is now 218-213 in his 16-year tenure at Marist and 277-289 overall. The Red Foxes have posted a record of .500 or better in 10 of Magarity's first 15 seasons.

Saturday's game was heard on seven Massachusetts radio stations with WLZX (99.3 FM) of Springfield serving as the flagship station. ... UMass played four games in August over in Athens, Greece. The Minutemen finished 1-3 on the trip.

UMass' Anthony Anderson was named the Atlantic 10 Conference's rookie of the week. The sophomore collected 10 points, four rebounds and four assists in UMass' 66-60 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Nov. 16.


Minutemen rally in the clutch
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 11/26/2001

AMHERST - With the University of Massachusetts leading Marist, 57-50, with just over five minutes to go in Saturday night's game, the Red Foxes came down on the floor on offense trying to mount a comeback.

Photo
Kit Rhymer lets a soft jumper fly.
David Bennett drove the baseline and released a shot, but it never got close to the net as Minuteman senior center Kitwana Rhymer swatted it out of bounds.

Over the next two minutes, UMass, which struggled offensively the entire second half, scored only two points, but two more Rhymer blocks, on Dennis Young and Matt Tullis, prevented Marist from cutting into the lead and helped the Minutemen to escape with a 66-59 win at the Mullins Center.

"I saw the ball and I knew I had to block it," Rhymer said. "It seemed like it sparked something."

UMass led 36-17 at intermission, but made just eight field goals in the second half. Marist opened the second half on a 9-0 run and pulled within three points twice, but the Minutemen made enough plays down the stretch to move to 2-0 for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

While he acknowledged that his team has had lapses in its first two games, UMass coach Steve Lappas praised his team's play late in the game.

"We've played down the stretch in both games, so that is a positive," Lappas said. "In the last five minutes of both games we don't make a lot of mistakes. We get stops when we need them. We don't turn the ball over. We make the foul shots. I've been very pleased with the way we've responded in crunch time."

UMass will get its first crack of the season at a major-conference opponent Tuesday, when it plays host to Oregon at the Springfield Civic Center at 7 p.m.

Rhymer was late returning from Thanksgiving for the team's practice Friday, so Lappas replaced him in the starting lineup with senior Eric Williams, but Rhymer's play off the bench carried the Minutemen. He had a game-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds and four blocks.

"He didn't start because he ate too much turkey and came back a couple minutes late yesterday," Lappas said. "He made a mistake obviously, but he's such a good kid and he plays so hard. He did a great job (once he got in there). He changed the game on the defensive end and he played well offensively too."

Photo
Shannon Crooks rises to the occasion.
After scoring 23 in UMass' opener, Micah Brand got a lot of attention from Foxes, who often double-teamed him when he got the ball. Still, he scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Shannon Crooks had 14 points.

UMass was brilliant offensively in the first half, shooting 55.6 percent (15-for-27) while opening a 36-17 lead. Effective post-to-post passing led to 22 of those points from right around the basket.

"We can't ... play like we did in the first 20 minutes and think we're going to steal a win on the road like this," Marist coach Dave McGarity said. "I give our kids a tremendous amount of credit for regrouping at halftime."

Nick Eppehimer scored a team-high 14 points to lead Marist (3-1). He hit consecutive threes from the top of the key to open the second half. Sean Kennedy buried a three from the corner, completing the 9-0 run that quickly knocked UMass back on its heels.

That run ballooned into a 24-8 run when Bennett's trey made it 44-41. After the teams traded 4-0 spurts, UMass scored seven straight points to lead 55-45 and get breathing room the rest of the way. Marist never got to within one possession again.

"Our problem in the second half was our offense," Lappas said. "It was not the threes that they made. This was not about our defense. They shot 32 percent. I'm disappointed in the turnovers and the way we played offensively."

Crooks pointed to intensity.

"Coming out in the second half we have to be a lot more focused," Crooks said. "We got a little comfortable in the first half and in the second half we came out sleeping. We can't do that if we want to be the type of team we know we can be."


Small forwards playing up
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 11/26/2001

AMHERST - During the preseason, new University of Massachusetts coach Steve Lappas never disguised his concern over his team's small forwards.

Photo
Raheim Lamb put in a nice game at the 3 spot.
He didn't criticize them outright, but it was clear that none of the four players competing for the position inspired much confidence from their new coach. Lappas always said he hoped someone would emerge, while leaving the door open for playing three guards if necessary.

But two games into the season, the small forward spot has been one of the team's most reliable. Sophomores Willie Jenkins and Raheim Lamb have been productive consistently and Jenkins has even demonstrated a knack for big play late in the game.

Jenkins' nine points, all in the second half, were a career high, as were his seven rebounds. That, combined with Lamb's matching sixes in the scoring and rebound columns gave UMass a 15-point, 13-board effort from a position that averaged 6.2 points and 6.4 rebounds a year ago.

Lappas praised their play.

"Willie plays hard. I never quite thought about his rebounding. I was worried about him making a couple of shots. He made a couple of big baskets for us tonight. Hopefully that will loosen him up a little bit offensively. Willie Jenkins does the little things," Lappas said. "Raheim Lamb did some nice things. There's a spot we're concerned about and we get 15 points and 13 rebounds. They're making me not want to play small."

REDSHIRT ROGERS: Lappas acknowledged Saturday that senior forward Jackie Rogers may redshirt.

Rogers has been sidelined for both of UMass' regular-season and exhibition games this season with a thigh injury.

"We are toying with the idea of redshirting him," Lappas said. "We're going to make a decision probably over this weekend."

NO BEGINNER'S LUCK: It hasn't been easy going so far for freshman point guard Kyle Wilson.

The point guard from British Columbia has yet to score a point in two games.

Lappas was confident that he'll come around.

Photo
After a series of whistles, Steve Lappas was a wee bit upset.
"He's a better player than that. For some reason he's a little nervous right now," Lappas said.

"He's in a tough spot," Lappas continued. "That's not an easy position to be a back-up at. He's a great kid. He's trying his best. He has a great attitude, but when he's out there he hasn't found it yet. He will."

NEXT UP: The Minutemen's next opponent delivered a statement-making win Saturday. Oregon whipped Louisville 90-63 at the Pape Jam in Portland, Ore.

MISCELLANEOUS: Sophomore Anthony Anderson and senior Eric Williams both made their first career starts for the Minutemen. Rhymer's absence from the starting lineup snapped a 36-game start streak for him, the longest on the team.

Sophomore Jameel Pugh saw his first action of the season, playing four minutes with two points and a rebound.

Marist's 21.7 percent shooting in the first half was the lowest allowed by a UMass team since Temple shot 10.3 on Feb. 28 in 1999.

The 17 points UMass allowed in that half was the fewest it had allowed since Rhody scored 15 in Feb. 22, 2000.


Minutemen down Marist
By Eric Soderstrom, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, 11/26/2001

The Massachusetts men's basketball team was in the zone Saturday night against Marist - a 1-2-2 zone to be exact. Fortunately for the Minutemen, it's the type of zone that will flummox a Red Fox.

Known for its touch from the outside, Marist came into the game with already 25 three-pointers banked in three games, a stat backed by its 46.3 shooting percentage from behind the arc.

But coach Steve Lappas and his assistants figured during their eight-day layoff (after a 66-60 win over Arkansas-Little Rock in the season opener) that settling into a trap-hungry zone defense might baffle the Red Foxes and their long-range luster.

Essentially, that plan worked. Flustered by converging Minutemen in dead zones on the court, Marist managed only 17 first half points on 5-of-23 shooting (3-for-14 from three-point range).

"We just didn't do a good job of executing early," said Red Foxes mentor Dave Magarity, whose 3-1 Marist squad succumbed for the first time this season. "I think their trapping - their deep sideline traps, their baseline corner traps - really got us out of sync and they did a real good job of keeping us off balance early."

For most of the night, Anthony Anderson began defensive sets at the top of the key for the Minutemen, Shannon Crooks and Willie Jenkins guarded the wings, while Micah Brand and Kitwana Rhymer protected the blocks.

With that lineup - in the 1-2-2 setup - it is Anderson's job to force the point guard to one side (say, the side of Crooks and Rhymer) of the court. After that, several things can happen. If the opponent stays high enough, Anderson can follow him to one side and wait for Crooks to commit or he can immediately pass the man off and settle back down to the free throw line. If the switch is successful and a pass is made deeper into the corner, then a trap should come from the grouping of Crooks and Rhymer.

If the ball is reversed around the key, Anderson pops back up top, making sure the ball isn't sent right back to the passer, Jenkins takes control of the wing, and Brand prepares to converge if the ball creeps down far enough. Accordingly, Rhymer slides into the middle of the paint, and Crooks drops to the weak-side.

"Once we make our proper rotations and we just hustle, the zone works," said Kitwana Rhymer who led the UMass defense with seven rebounds, four blocks and one steal. "That's basically all it is for a zone. You just have to make your proper rotations, just hustle to every spot and just scramble when you have to."

The UMass personnel fit nicely into the 1-2-2 set. Difficult to penetrate, the defense works best when a team features agile big men because the post players are often required to cover more distance in guarding responsibilities both at the hoop and to the baseline corners. Rhymer, Brand and Eric Williams all faired well in those rapid-fire positions.

"I'm really impressed with their front line guys," Magarity said. "I think they have one of the best front lines in the Atlantic 10.

"Our post-players are starting to get a feel for things - we didn't get a lot of scoring tonight out of them - but when you're packing in a zone the way they were, we don't really have a go-to-guy inside.

The UMass guards also faired well, forcing the Marist shooters into some uncomfortable heaves. And credit the Red Foxes' final 32.7 percent shooting percentage to the fact that their point guard Sean Kennedy had trouble creating chances, mustering just five assists though adding three turnovers to the mix.

"[The UMass guards] did a good job of keeping [Kennedy] in front of them," said Magarity, about his court coach who now has recorded a helper in 67 straight games. "He's usually very good at getting by people. But he's used to seeing man-to-man. A lot of teams just haven't zoned us."

The visitors from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. did, however, make a halftime adjustment against the Minuteman defense that brought them to within striking distance at the 10:54 mark of the second half.

Marist switched, to what Magarity called a "diamond overload" which he thought would force UMass to make trapping decisions more difficult, and spread the floor for Kennedy and give him better driving angles.

The change did wonders for the struggling Marist squad which began the final stanza with a 24-8 run to cut the Maroon and White lead to three.

"There was gray area in the mid-post, and we always had that guy open where we didn't have him in the first half," said Magarity, whose team outscored UMass 42-30 in the second half. "We kept saying that we couldn't run our diamond set against their trapping defenses but as it turned out it was probably the best thing we could have done."

Still, the Red Fox scare couldn't complete its comeback and the Minutemen escaped with the 66-59 hold-on victory. Lappas didn't credit the Marist revival to the breakdown of the defense though.

"I thought our problem in the second half was our offense," he said. "This was not about our defense. I'm disappointed in the turnovers and the way we played offensively. I think our defense both games has been very good.

"I look at defensive field goal percentage," Lappas continued. "I don't look at the amount of points you allow. Because points allowed is a byproduct of the pace of the game. I'm looking at what people shoot against us. And if I see [Marist] shot 32 percent today and [Arkansas-Little Rock] shot 37 percent [last game], defensively we're not going to do much better than that."

With just over five minutes left in the game and UMass clinging to a 57-48 lead, Rhymer made the defensive play of the game for the home team. Kennedy penetrated deep into the lane and threw one up, but his attempt was tossed hard by a leaping Rhymer, a block that sent the Mullins Center into frenzy. The swat was similar to the senior's rejection early in the second half of UMass' opener versus UARL, which sparked a Minuteman comeback.

"I just saw the ball, so I knew I had to block it," Rhymer said. "It seemed like it sparked something, so as long as I can change the game in any way, I feel good about it.

"He changed the game like he did last time on the defensive end," Lappas said. "And he played well offensively too. There's a guy you're going to miss when he's gone. He's a good kid and he plays so hard.

"He can change a game. He made another one of those blocks today that just changed everything around."


B-ball looking good at 2-0
By Justin Pearson, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, 11/26/2001

The last time the Massachusetts men's basketball team started the season 2-0 was six years ago during the 1995-96 season. That year the Minutemen reached the Final Four and finished with a 35-2 record. That was also head coach John Calipari's final season in Amherst.

Now, in the first year of the Steve Lappas era, UMass is once again 2-0 following a 66-59 victory over Marist Saturday night at the Mullins Center. Senior center Kitwana Rhymer, who came off the bench for the first time since his sophomore year, scored a game-high 16 points and added four blocked shots to lead the way for the Minutemen, who opened up a 19-point lead at halftime before holding off a furious Red Fox rally for the victory.

UMass opened the game on a 12-2 run inside the game's first seven minutes and was able to keep its lead in double digits for the majority of the first half. Shannon Crooks scored 10 of his 14 points in the opening stanza and Rhymer and sophomore Raheim Lamb came off the bench to add 15 points on seven of nine shooting to give UMass its healthy halftime cushion.

The Minutemen hit 56 percent of their shots in the opening period, including three of four from behind the arc and outscored Marist 22-4 in the paint en route to opening up their 19-point halftime lead.

However, the real story of the opening 20 minutes was the play of the Maroon and White at the defensive end of the floor. Lappas used a 1-2-2 zone for most of the first half in an attempt to frustrate the Red Foxes and their perimeter shooters, a tactic that worked with Marist (3-1) seldom getting open looks at the basket, especially from three point range. Marist had led at halftime in all three of its previous games but was held to just five first half field goals and scored just 17 points to fall behind 36-17 when the horn sounded. Sean Kennedy, the Red Foxes leading scorer with 18 points per game coming into the game, took just two shots and was held scoreless.

The second half was a different story for both clubs, especially at the offensive end. Nick Eppehimer, a junior forward for the Red Foxes, hit three consecutive three pointers in a 90 second stretch at the beginning of the second half to cut the UMass lead down to 10 and force Lappas to call a timeout. Marist had relied on the three to win its first three contests of the season and after struggling from behind the arc in the first half, looked to have found its stroke with Eppehimer.

"We just came out dry," Rhymer said of UMass' strggles at the start of the second half. "But we picked it up and started doing what we're supposed to do."

"I think we were frustrated with the way we came out in the first half," Eppehimer said. "At halftime we looked at each other and we were determined to make this a game in the second half."

The Red Foxes were able to make it a game by chipping away at the once mighty UMass lead, getting it down to three on two separate occasions. However, the Red Foxes were unable to forge ahead at any point, thanks in large part to the UMass defense, especially Rhymer.

Just as he had turned the tide of the game in the season opener last Friday with a key blocked shot, Rhymer did the same with 5:10 remaining on Saturday. With the lead down to just seven, Rhymer got the first of his three second half blocks, rejecting a Kennedy shot, sending it out of play and energizing the UMass faithful.

"I saw the ball so I knew I had to block it somehow and it seemed like it sparked something," Rhymer said. "As long as I can change the game in any way I feel good about it."

"He did a great job, he changed the game on the defensive end," Lappas said of his senior big man. "Kit is Kit. He's such a good kid and he plays so hard and he can change a game."

Despite the win, Lappas sees much room for improvement, especially offensively, before Tuesday's match up with the University of Oregon at the Springfield Civic Center.

"We're 2-0, teams are shooting 35 percent against us, but I'd like to get our offense better, that's what our problem is," he said. "We need to play better on offense. Except for Shannon, these guys are all young, and that inexperience is going to show up and guys are going to make mistakes until they get experience. My fears of what I thought would plague us, our youth on the perimeter, is evident as can be."


Video clips
�2001 UMassHoops.com

All clips in MPEG format.
Video clip Kit Rhymer gets the defender off his feet to draw the foul. (file size = 152k)
Video clip Micah Brand gives it back to Jameel Pugh for the jam. (1mb)
Video clip Rhymer puts the finishing touch on a nice first half. (763k)
Video clip Eric Williams lane violation gets Steve Lappas upset. (731k)
Video clip One of Kit's four blocks on the night. (475k)
Video clip Kit cleans up the garbage. (858k)


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Marist Red Foxes 59
Massachusetts Minutemen 66
at the Mullins Center

OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E   T O T A L S
Marist vs Massachusetts
11/24/01  7:00 p.m. at Amherst,MA(Mullins Center)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Marist ( 3- 1)
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
No.     N A M E           FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP   A TO BLK S MIN
20 EPPEHIMER,Nick       f  5-11   3-9    1-3    1  3  4   5  14   1  1  0  1  27
50 TULLIS,Matt          f  1-6    0-0    5-7    2  3  5   3   7   0  1  4  2  30
15 WATSON,Jack          c  1-1    0-0    1-4    2  4  6   3   3   0  1  0  0  19
11 KENNEDY,Sean         g  2-8    2-4    2-2    1  3  4   5   8   5  3  0  2  38
30 SMITH,Rick           g  5-15   1-7    1-1    2  1  3   4  12   1  2  0  0  34
00 YOUNG,Dennis            1-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   2   0  0  0  0  15
04 ELLERBEE,Brandon        0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0   0  0  0  0  0+
21 BENNETT,David           2-6    2-5    4-7    1  1  2   0  10   1  1  0  1  21
23 WALKER,Anthony          1-5    1-5    0-0    0  0  0   0   3   1  1  0  1   9
32 HUNSAKER,Jared          0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   0   0  0  0  0   7
TEAM ........................................   2  1  3
TOTALS                    18-55   9-30  14-24  11 18 29  22  59   9 10  4  7 200

TOT-FG 1stH: 5-23 21.7% 2ndH: 13-32 40.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 32.7% Deadbl 3pt-FG 1stH: 3-14 21.4% 2ndH: 6-16 37.5% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 30.0% Rebs FThrow 1stH: 4-9 44.4% 2ndH: 10-15 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 58.3% 7, 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Massachusetts ( 2- 0) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 01 JENKINS,Willie f 2-7 1-2 4-4 4 3 7 0 9 1 0 0 0 22 21 WILLIAMS,Eric f 1-2 1-1 1-2 0 3 3 3 4 1 3 0 0 18 40 BRAND,Micah c 3-5 0-0 4-4 2 6 8 4 10 3 1 0 0 24 12 ANDERSON,Anthony g 2-7 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 3 5 3 2 0 0 28 30 CROOKS,Shannon g 4-8 2-3 4-6 0 3 3 3 14 2 3 0 2 36 03 BLIZZARD,Ronell 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 1 0 0 14 11 WILSON,Kyle 0-3 0-2 0-2 0 1 1 1 0 4 1 0 0 12 24 PUGH,Jameel 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 33 RHYMER,Kitwana 7-11 0-0 2-5 3 4 7 5 16 1 4 4 1 24 34 LAMB,Raheim 3-6 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 2 6 0 3 0 0 18 TEAM ........................................ 2 0 2 TOTALS 23-52 5-11 15-23 14 28 42 24 66 17 18 4 3 200

TOT-FG 1stH: 15-27 55.6% 2ndH: 8-25 32.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.2% Deadbl 3pt-FG 1stH: 3-4 75.0% 2ndH: 2-7 28.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 45.5% Rebs FThrow 1stH: 3-7 42.9% 2ndH: 12-16 75.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 65.2% 4, 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICIALS: Murph Shapiro, Bill McCarthy, Ken Turner TECHNICAL FOULS: Marist - HUNSAKER,Jared(1) Massachusetts - none ATTENDANCE: 5,240 SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL Marist 17 42 59 Massachusetts 36 30 66


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