AMHERST - Seems as if every University of Massachusetts men's basketball season has at least one watershed game.
In the 1992-93 campaign, it was a win over Rutgers which ended team dissension after a 6-4 start, prompted the phrase ''Refuse to Lose,'' and highlighted a 12-game winning streak. In 1995-96, the season-opening win over No. 1 Kentucky began a string of 26 games without a defeat.
Two seasons ago, an embarrassing home loss to Virginia Tech inspired the turnaround from a 6-9 start, and last season a loss to Cincinnati left the Minutemen shell-shocked before they rebounded to win 13 of their next 14.
Now add to the list Wednesday night's 59-54 loss to No. 1 Connecticut, which followed a 22-point debacle at Marshall and narrow defeats at College of Charleston and St. John's.
Think the Minutemen are ready for a reversal of fortune from their 1-4 start?
''I hope so. At least it would come earlier this year,'' said third-year coach Bruiser Flint, whose team has become accustomed to slow starts - Wednesday's loss, their fourth in a row, left the Minutemen with their longest losing streak since 1990.
After their showing against Marshall, few gave the Minutemen a chance Wednesday night against their chief regional rival.
But UMass played UConn tough and came within a few plays of giving the program its fourth upset of a No. 1 team this decade. UMass, which trailed by 8 at halftime, closed to 55-52 on a dunk by power forward Ajmal Basit with 2:05 left. But Richard Hamilton made a driving basket and Khalid El-Amin hit two free throws in the final minute to keep UConn undefeated at 7-0.
It marked the third consecutive year the schools have met, and while UConn has won all the games, UMass's showing Wednesday was far more impressive than last season, when it lost by 17 points.
''It's still a loss ... but it's a start,'' said Flint, whose team plays Boston College tomorrow at the Worcester Centrum, then visits Villanova Tuesday.
''We played hard and we had fun out there,'' added Flint. ''We made the defensive stops we had to make. We just didn't make plays at the time of the game we need to make plays. We didn't make shots; we had stretches where we didn't score, and that was the difference. Khalid El-Amin and Richard Hamilton stepped up at the end, and we need that.''
Flint said he was pleased with his team's effort the last two games even though both were losses. But he said players must step up at each position if UMass is to turn the season around.
''I think our point guard play has been better, but Charlton [Clarke] has struggled offensively,'' said Flint. ''And our decision-making has to get better at both guard spots. Monty [Mack] makes mistakes and tries to take things upon himself. ''[Small forward] Mike Babul has to be more aggressive offensively, but he does a great job defensively and gives me all he's got.''
Flint said Basit, who had 12 points and 9 rebounds against Connecticut, has been his best player in the last three games. The coach added that standout center Lari Ketner, whom he blasted for a poor performance against Charleston, has played inspired basketball the last two games.
Still, Flint said, the team must be able to rely on Ketner's 6-foot-10-inch widebody in the clutch more often. ''When I go to him at the end of the game, I need him to make plays with a lot more aggressiveness.''
Flint said that after the Marshall defeat, there was much crying and venting of frustrations. That undoubtedly led to Wednesday night's effort, and Flint said the mood in the locker room was much different.
''Guys went in there and said, `We know how we have to play from this point,''' he said. ''They know now they can't accept anything less. If we play like we did [Wednesday], we will be a tough team to play. But you have to do it every night. You expect that kind of effort against the No. 1 team.''
AMHERST -- It was some 30 minutes after No. 1 Connecticut held off the University of Massachusetts in Wednesday night's "U Game," and several UMass players trudged in to meet the media. The first question came quickly. Was a 59-54 loss a moral victory?
"This is it right here, this is it right here," UMass guard Charlton Clarke said emphatically.
UMass coach Bruiser Flint, who earned a bit more security yesterday with a two-year contract extension, didn't have the same opinion -- but neither was he too upset. That's because the Minutemen played 40 minutes of what Flint said was UMass basketball.
"This isn't a moral victory for me," Flint said, but quickly added that, "the guys know what we have to do to come out and play."
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Minutemen, after beating Niagara to open the year. But not even that win could be considered an artistic success.
Big boost from crowd
Wednesday's game may have been a loss, but it was far more of an artistic success. It was the best UMass performance this year, and it came before a loud, capacity crowd at the Mullins Center. The vibe in the building has showed up only sporadically in the past couple of years.
"I thought the crowd was great. It was a great atmosphere," said UMass forward Mike Babul. "They helped us out a lot. If we could have a crowd like that every game here, we'd play with a lot more energy."
The 9,493 fans watched UMass surprise the No. 1-ranked and now 7-0 Huskies by taking a 15-10 lead with 12:49 to play in the first half. The Huskies took the lead for keeps on a jumper by Souleyma Wane four minutes later. While UConn led by as many as 10 points early in the second half, UMass kept the Mullins Center fans and a national ESPN audience watching by storming back.
Twice, midway through the second half, the Minutemen cut the Husky lead to a point, but could never get back the lead.
"We had fun tonight. Although we lost, we enjoyed ourselves and that's the most important thing," Flint said. "We weren't enjoying ourselves in the other games. We put too much pressure on ourselves to win."
A bad hair day
There wasn't a lot of pressure Wednesday. The pressure relief started when the team got back from Huntington, W.Va, and a disappointing 88-66 loss at Marshall. The first step was a mass team shaving of their heads.
"Team unity. It's going to make us play together," laughed Clarke, who rubbed the top of his head, where the clippers didn't wander. "I'm the leader, I'm the different one."
Not exactly -- as Babul also played with hair.
"I don't know how I'll look with a bald head. If they really want me to do it, I'll do it," he said.
Babul missed the clipping because he was away from campus on Sunday due to a death in the family. He lucked out Wednesday because nobody brought the clippers to the team hotel before the game.
UMass got solid games out of Lari Ketner (15 points six rebounds), Ajmal Basit (12 points, nine rebounds) and Babul, who held UConn leading scorer Richard Hamilton (21 points per game) to 11, all in the second half.
"I told my team 'Don't hold your head down,' " said Flint. "If you play against the No. 1 team in the country like this, you can play against anybody. We have to come with this type of effort every night. If we don't, we lose. If we do, then we'll win a lot of basketball games."
"If we play like this every night," Clarke said with a touch of pride and defiance, "definitely, we'll see UConn in the tournament."