• Season: 2011-12
• Date: Saturday, December 3, 2011
• Opponent: Miami (FL)
• Start Time: 1:00 PM ET
• Site: at Miami (BankUnited Center)
• Special Event: none
• Television: ESPNU
• Radio: UMass Radio Network

• UMass Game notes
• Video: Game preview

UMass men's basketball heads south to play Miami Saturday
By Matt Vautour, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 12/3/2011

CORAL GABLES, FLa. - Anthony Harris is not playing for Miami when the Hurricanes host the University of Massachusetts at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Harris graduated in 2007 and has not uncovered any extra eligibility. It's unlikely that the Minutemen would have scheduled the game if he had.

In the two previous meetings between UMass and Miami, Harris was a Minuteman killer.

In 2004, the Minutemen headed south fresh off the high of beating Connecticut at the Mullins Center. The Hurricanes though quickly erased all the excitement that came from that win by stomping UMass 80-53. Harris has 16 points in that game.

On Jan. 2, 2007, the teams met again at the Mullins Center. Miami had struggled to that point at 7-7, while the Minutemen were 10-3. But Harris caught fire and scored 33 points as the Hurricanes edged UMass 72-71. The Minutemen were an NCAA bubble team down the stretch, but finished on the outside. Beating Miami might have made a difference.

UMass (6-2) won't have to deal with Harris or Reggie Johnson this time out. Johnson, a 6-foot-10, 284-pound center who averaged 11.9 points and 9.6 rebounds last year, does have eligibility left, but is out with a torn meniscus and won't play until January at the earliest.

The Hurricanes (4-2) opened the season with four straight wins over Tennessee Tech, Rutgers, North Florida and Florida Gulf Coast, all at home. But they enter this game trying to snap a two-game losing streak. They fell to Ole Miss and Purdue on the road.

Johnson's absence has made Miami more perimeter oriented. Senior guard Malcolm Grant leads Miami with 17.5 points per game, followed by Durand Scott's 12.5.

“They've beaten teams they're supposed to and a Big East team, and they've been competitive when they've gotten beat,” University of Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg said. “I think they're a battle-tested team, especially on the perimeter. It should be a good test for us to see how far we've come since Florida State.”

The game pits Kellogg against his former boss. Kellogg began his coaching career as an assistant at George Mason, when current Miami coach Jim Larranaga was the head coach of the Patriots.

If there's added traffic between Orlando and Miami, Cady Lalanne could be to blame. Quite a few of the UMass freshman big man's family and friends will be making the trip south.

“My whole family, my high school coaches, my AAU coaches are coming down to the game,” Lalanne said. “I'm really excited.”

NOTES - Sampson Carter made the trip with the Minutemen, but his status is uncertain. He's battling a hip muscle injury that may require surgery.

If Carter can't play, redshirt freshman Maxie Esho's minutes figure to increase significantly, while Raphiael Putney, Terrell Vinson and Javorn Farrell figure to get a little more time as well.

Matt Vautour can be reached at [email protected]. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.

Minutemen welcomed to Miami (12/2/2011)

See the UMassHoops.com Message Board thread for pre-game and post-game discussion.

Miami Knocks Off Men's Basketball 83-75
Chaz Williams scores career-high 22 points in loss.
From UMass Athletics, 12/3/2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Chaz Williams scored a career-high 22 points and UMass was within three points three times in the final five minutes, but Miami weathered the storm for an 83-75 win on Saturday at the BankUnited Center. Along with Williams, Sean Carter scored 12 points (8 rebounds), while Jesse Morgan added 10. UMass returns to action on Tuesday at East Carolina.

With the loss, UMass falls to 6-3 on the season, while the Hurricanes improve to 5-2 overall.

Miami had four players reach double-figures led by Durand Scott's 16 points. Shane Larkin added 14 points, while Malcolm Grant had 15 points. Trey McKinney Jones scored 10 alongside eight rebounds.

After falling behind by seven points in the opening minutes of the game, UMass battled back to tie the game at 13-13 on a dunk by Raphiael Putney. The two teams traded leads over the next four minutes until back-to-back three-pointers from Williams gave UMass a 25-22 lead with 8:43 left in the first.

A seven-minute scoring drought, however, made the lead short lived as Miami closed the half on a 19-6 run going into the break with a 41-31 lead.

UMass whittled the lead down to four with 11:59 to go in the second half after a quick seven-point run made it 50-46 following a Carter dunk. Miami responded with a quick 7-0 run of its own over the next minute and 24 seconds pushing the lead back to 11, 57-46.

Early foul trouble put both teams in the one-and-one bonus midway through the second half. With eight minutes to go, UMass picked up its 10th team foul. Miami converted 14-of-16 free throw opportunities down the stretch.

The Minutemen were able to pull within three points, however, on three separate possessions in the final five minutes. With 2:36 left in the game, a Williams jumper pulled UMass within three, 77-74.

For the game, UMass shot 36.4 percent from the field (24-of-66) including 7-of-24 from beyond the arc (29.2%). UMass also converted 20-of-27 free throw attempts.

Miami shot 40.7% from the field (24-of-59) and was 8-for-17 from deep (47.1%). The Hurricanes hit 27-of-36 free throw attempts highlighted by Scott's 16-for-18 showing at the charity stripe.

UMass men's basketball can't finish rally in loss at Miami
By Matt Vautour, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 12/5/2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla - After trailing by 10 points at halftime, the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team three times got within three in the last five minutes of the second half Saturday, but never took the lead and fell to Miami at BankUnited Center.

The Hurricanes finally put the Minutemen away in the final two minutes and won 83-75.

With Miami (5-2) leading 79-74, Sean Carter missed two free throws for UMass. After Shane Larkin missed a layup at the other end, Chaz Williams hit the front of the rim with a 3-point try. Carter got the offensive rebound, but missed a layup. Jesse Morgan gave another rebound back to Carter, who was blocked by Kenny Kadji with 70 seconds left. The rebound went off Carter's hands and out of bounds.

The empty sequence seemed to deflate the Minutemen (6-3) who did not score from the floor again.

“We gave one away,” Carter said. “We had ourselves in position, but we kept doing stuff to hurt ourselves. Everything we did was self-imposed.”

UMass coach Derek Kellogg said his team needed to play the entire game the way it played the second half.

“I expect them to play that way the whole game,” Kellogg said. “I appreciate that they competed in the second half. We have to put a complete 40-minute game together.”

Williams led the comeback with 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.

“He was good tonight,” Kellogg said. “He was playing the way he's played when we've played well. He attacked their defense,”

The Minutemen, whose 3-point shooting has determined the outcome of their games for much of the season, rallied Saturday without the long-range shots. They made two of their seven 3-pointers in the second half and instead used an effective midrange game as they chipped away.

Durand Scott led the Hurricanes with 16 points, all on free throws, and six assists.

“That's the first time in my coaching career that my leading scorer didn't have a field goal,” said Miami coach Jim Larranaga.

Malcolm Grant added 15 points and Shane Larkin had 14 for the Hurricanes.

Carter had 12 points, eight rebounds and a block, and Morgan added 10 points.

UMass is at East Carolina at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Minutemen have had long scoring droughts in each of their three losses this season, Saturday's came late in the first half. After back-to-back 3-pointers by Williams put UMass ahead 25-22 and led Miami to take a time-out with 8 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first half, the Minuteman offense went cold for over seven minutes and the Hurricanes went on a 17-1 run to seize control of the game.

UMass was 0-for-7 (including 0-for-3 from 3-point range) and turned the ball over six times during that stretch, before Carter finished an alley-oop pass from Williams to end the drought.

After two free throws by Scott, Morgan hit a late 3-pointer to bring the Minutemen within 41-31 at halftime.

In the first half “we stepped back and took the pressure off them and really let them dictate tempo and style of play,” Kellogg said. “In the second half we played really hard and did some great things. We just put them to the free throw line too many times and did some young immature mistakes.”

Matt Vautour can be reached at [email protected]. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.

Derek Kellogg, Jim Larranaga express mutual respect after game in Miami
By Matt Vautour, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 12/5/2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - When Derek Kellogg was coaching under Jim Larranaga at George Mason in 1997, Larranaga's wife asked her husband what he thought of the young assistant.

“I said 'He reminds me of me.' My wife told Derek that was the greatest compliment I had ever paid anyone,” Larranaga said.

That fondness still exists 14 years later between Larranaga, now the coach at Miami, and Kellogg at the University of Massachusetts.

“He's a class young man,” Larranaga said of his counterpart after the Hurricanes beat the Minutemen 83-75 on Saturday. He's passionate about the game. He loves coaching. He loves working with the players,

“The players love him,” Larranaga added. “He's doing a great job. He's finally got the type of team he wanted … I think he's going to compete for the Atlantic 10 title.”

Kellogg returned the praise.

“I have the utmost respect for Coach Larranaga and his program. Some of the things we're doing I can attribute to when I worked with him at George Mason. He's been a mentor to me,” Kellogg said. “He's going to have this program where everyone's looking for it to go. He's a great coach and a great mentor.”

Larranaga believes Kellogg will improve even more as a coach.

“He's going to learn an awful lot about this style of play. Now he has the players to play the style he wants,” Larranaga said. “Now he's got to figure out the nuances.”

FREE THROWS - Fouls continue to plague UMass. In addition to giving their foes an opportunity for points, the fouls have prevented the Minutemen from creating their desired pace and flow of the game.

UMass committeed 27 fouls Saturday and Miami made 27 of 36 free throws.

Their opponents have attempted more three throws than the Minutemen in eight of the nine games, and taken at least 20 in eight games as well.

“We have to stop fouling. It's killing us,” said UMass senior big man Sean Carter who had four fouls Saturday. “If the whistle keeps blowing, we can never get the game moving at the pace we want it to go.”

STARTERS/FINISHERS - Kellogg went back to his starting lineup of Sean Carter, Terrell Vinson, Javorn Farrell, Freddie Riley and Chaz Williams. But down the stretch, sophomore Raphiael Putney and Jesse Morgan replaced Riley and Farrell for much of the comeback by the Minutemen.

FIRST BASKET - Carter's dunk 12 seconds into the game marked the third straight game that he scored the first basket for UMass. He finished with 12 points, his second time in double figures during the last three games and the ninth time in his career.

NEXT UP - The Minutemen (6-3) will travel to East Carolina for a game at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Pirates are 4-2 with two wins against non-Division I opponents. Their losses are to Campbell and Old Dominion.

UMASS vs. ACC, BCS - UMass is now 1-2 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams and 2-2 against teams from BCS conferences.

MISCELLANEOUS - Garrius Adams missed the game with an illness for the Hurricanes.

Minuteman freshman big man Cady Lalanne is from Orlando and several of his friends and relatives were among the 3,653 fans in the stands.

Minutemen basketball stormed by Hurricanes (12/4/2011)

UMass men's basketball team falls to Miami, 83-75 (12/4/2011)

Miami Hurricanes’ Kenny Kadji rises up to the challenge in win (12/4/2011)

• Photo gallery: Miami Herald
• Video: Highlights
• Video: Press Conference

Available at UMassAthletics.com