November 7, 1995 - Dinamo vs. UMass
- Season: 1995-96
- Date: Tuesday, November 7, 1995
- Opponent: Dinamo (Russia)
- Start Time: 7:00 PM ET
- Site: Mullins Center
- Special Event: Exhibition
- Television: none
- Radio: ?
- Result: UMass (#7) 105, Dinamo 75
- Attendance: 8,750 (92.2% capacity)
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|---|---|
| 1994-95 season | vs Converse All-Stars (11/17) |
Recap
Minutemen look sloppy in win
By Candice Flemming, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian Staff, November 8, 1995
The last time the Massachusetts men's basketball team wore black, the Minutemen were the No. 1 team in the nation, and ended up losing to George Washington.
The Minutemen wore black again last night in their first exhibition game of the 1995-96 season, against Dinamo of Novosibirsk, Russia at the William D. Mullins Center.
Although UMass played poorly, just as they did against GW, the results were different — the Minutemen came away with the win.
But Massachusetts coach John Calipari still was not happy about his team's 105-75 thumping of Dinamo.
“That wasn't a very good performance,” he said. “I was a little upset with the decision making. Eighteen turnovers against the zone is a lot. We were playing against us, not playing against the other team.”
On the other hand. Dinamo wasn't too protective of the ball either, as it committed 26 turnovers, making for an extremely sloppy game, as one might expect from an exhibition contest
The Minutemen did have some solid performances though. Marcus Camby had a team-high 24 points, as five Minutemen scored in double-figures. Carmelo Travieso had 18, Dana Dingle had 17, Inus Norville added 14 and Donta Bright finished with 10. The only Minuteman who didn't score was freshman walk-on Ross Burns, who entered the game with 1:04 to go.
Perhaps the biggest night came from Travieso. The junior guard connected on four three- pointers and finished with the 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting. With depth at the guard position being one of the Minutemen's weaknesses, Travieso's play was much-needed. His counterpart, Edgar Padilla, dished out a game-high 10 assists, but still committed six turnovers. He finished with seven points and four steals.
The Minutemen started off slow, holding an early 7-0 lead, but Dinamo proceeded to go on a 12-2 run (including seven straight points) to take a 12-9 lead. UMass climbed back in front when a Travieso layup started off a 15-0 run which included a monster dunk by Camby which made it 22- 12 at the time.
“In the beginning, we weren't ready to play.” Travieso said. “It’s a good thing this was an exhibition.“
Dinamo slowly creeped back into it, cutting a 12-point lead to a three-point lead on a Dmitri Shoumikhin trey making it 30-27. Konstant Guerassimov keyed the comeback with six points.
Three points would be as close as Dinamo would get, as the Minutemen pulled away going on a 20-5 run to make it 52-32. Camby scored seven straight points in the run, including one basket where he stole the ball and then layed it in at the other end. Padilla had two treys in the run.
The Minutemen were dominant underneath, scoring 75 points in the paint compared to Dinamo's 27. UMass also had 19 points off of fast breaks, while Dinamo had nine.
Andrei Olbrekht led Dinamo with 25 points while Guerassimov finished with 15. Vadim Diatchkov had nine assists. Tyrone Weeks showed little effects from foot surgery, finishing the night with six points.
Camby was his usual self. Along with his 24 points (11-for-18 from the field), the junior center rejected four shots and grabbed 10 boards. But he too, like Calipari, wasn't happy about the team's performance.
“If we can't play defense against these guys, what are we going to do against Kentucky?” Camby said. “We have three weeks to prepare. With a lot of hard work, if we work hard in practice, we'll be alright.”
The Minutemen open up their season Nov 28 when they will battle Kentucky at the Great Eight Tournament.
