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AIC presents first public test for UMass men’s basketball
By Matt Vautour, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/2/2012
AMHERST — University of Massachusetts fans will get their first look at the much anticipated 2012-13 men’s basketball team Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Minutemen host American International College in an exhibition game at the Mullins Center.
UMass coach Derek Kellogg hoped to see his team improve from its performance in last weekend’s closed scrimmage against Drexel in Philadelphia.
“Against Drexel I thought we pressed OK and I thought our halfcourt defense was decent. I was a little surprised that our transition offense wasn’t as good as I anticipated. We didn’t capitalize on our defensive rebounds and really push it at them,” Kellogg said. “I’d like to see how some of our younger guys do against a different opponent. The season is coming on us pretty quickly. It’s good to get an indication if guys can play when the lights come on. Some guys look great in practice and not so good in games. Some guys are gamers who look a little better when the lights come on.”
Kellogg will be focused on his young big guys. He projected that sophomore Cady Lalanne, UMass’ likely starter, would only play 18-22 minutes per game early in the season. That will leave more minutes for sophomore Maxie Esho, who’ll also play forward, and freshmen Tyler Bergantino and Izzy Freeman. Kellogg didn’t think any combination of Lalanne, Begantino and Freeman could be on the floor at the same time yet.
“I don’t think the big guys — Izzy, Cady and Tyler — can play together. You’ll probably see one of those guys on the floor at a time,” Kellogg said. “I’m hoping somewhere down the line we might be able to play Cady in that trail spot (forward) because he shoots the ball so well. I have to get him to master the paint area before I let him slide out to the perimeter.”
Like UMass, AIC relies heavily on a diminutive junior point guard, as 5-foot-9 Spencer Braithwaite will square off against Chaz Williams. Braithwaite averaged 13.5 points and 3.2 assists last year.
The Yellow Jackets, who were 8-18 last year, have decent size for a Division II team. Redshirt freshman center Oshawn Bannister is 6-foot-9, 230 pounds. There are three other players on the roster that are 6-foot-5 or taller.
AIC has regularly played Division I foes during exhibition season. The Yellow Jackets fell 78-63 at Connecticut Thursday. They open their regular season against Dowling Nov. 9 in Springfield.
Kellogg said scouting has been limited.
“Not too much. We’ve looked at their roster a little bit and remembered how they played from a few years ago,” Kellogg said. “I’ll probably talk to Coach (Art Luptowski) tomorrow to see what they’re planning on doing as far as style and how much zone and pressing. We want to give each other a little bit of a scouting report just to make it fair so that we’re not surprised and they’re not surprised and the fans see a good game where it’s not super sloppy.”
Senior forward Terrell Vinson was looking forward to playing in a game-like environment.
“It’s going to be fun Saturday. A lot of people are excited to come out and watch,” Vinson said. “The season is starting. It’s pretty much time to go. It’ll be like a game environment with real refs and real fan support and stuff like that.”
NOTES — The game will be aired on WMUA-FM (91.1). … Northampton High School graduate Brennan Cooper plays for AIC. The forward started against UConn, played 21 minutes and had two points, four rebounds, three turnovers and five fouls.
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 www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
UMass basketball looking for progression in Saturday exhibition against American International College (11/2/2012)
UMass basketball team suspends 3 players for AIC game (11/3/2012)
See the UMassHoops.com Message Board thread for pre-game and post-game discussion.
Williams, Riley Pace UMass In 87-82 Exhibition Win
Minutemen will host Harvard on Nov. 13 at 10 am
From UMass Athletics, 11/3/2012
AMHERST, Mass. - Chaz Williams had 24 points and 11 assists while Freddie Riley added six 3-point field goals to lead Massachusetts to a 87-82 exhibition victory over American International at the Mullins Center on Saturday.
UMass shot 48 percent from the floor and was 12-of-24 from outside as four Minutemen scored in double figures. Terrell Vinson had 11 points and seven boards with Maxie Esho providing 11, three and four assists. Sampson Carter came off the bench to collect seven points, five rebounds and three assists.
UMass assisted on 22 of its 31 field goals, including 11 of its triples.
AIC, which lost at UConn by 15 on Thursday, was led by Ricky Hudson's 20 points, along with David Campbell's 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Yellow Jackets shot 47 percent on the day and connected on 11 3-pointers.
The Minutemen converted 12 Yellow Jacket turnovers into 16 points but yielded 17 second-chance points.
UMass led for much of the first half before falling behind by six with 2:46 to play. The Minutemen closed the period on a 13-5 run which included three triples from Riley, a fastbreak alley-oop from Riley to Maxie Esho and buzzer-beating layup by Williams.
UMass led for all but 38 seconds of the second half, keeping its lead between five and eight points over the final four minutes.
The Minutemen will officially open the 2012-13 season at home against Harvard on Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the sixth game of ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon. The contest is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.
UMass men's basketball wins as three players suspended
By Matt Vautour, Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/5/2012
AMHERST - From the moment the University of Massachusetts announced that three of its men’s basketball players were suspended for Saturday’s exhibition game against American International College for an undisclosed violation of team rules, any real chance to evaluate the Minutemen landed on the sidelines along with Jesse Morgan, Cady Lalanne and Trey Davis.
The only big-picture truth that can really be ascertained is that UMass isn’t deep enough to lose three key pieces of their rotation which makes the Minutemen no different than pretty much any team in America. All three are expected back for the Nov. 13 opener against Harvard (10 a.m. Mullins Center) and real conclusions about UMass’ potential will have to wait until then.
But there were plenty of smaller noteworthy points to take from Saturday’s 87-82 win:
• The biggest positive for the Minutemen was Freddie Riley. The senior’s shooting stroke, which had shown up only occasionally last year was on full display as he made six of 10 3-point attempts en route to 21 points.
If Riley enters the season with renewed confidence, that’s a huge bonus for UMass.
“It was pretty good for my confidence,” Riley said. “I felt more like myself. Last season I didn’t shoot too well. This was good for my confidence to shoot well. It really did feel like I was back to my normal playing ways.”
• Chaz Williams appeared to be in good shape and ready go. With just two guards dressed for the game, the junior point guard played 38 minutes. He was perhaps a little overhyped early, throwing a few ill-advised passes, but when things got tense, Williams was very much in control of the game. He finished with 24 points and 11 assists (three turnovers).
“I was just looking to get my teammates involved and keep the game intact,” Williams said. “I was just being aggressive.”
• The Minuteman defense and rebounding aren’t where coach Derek Kellogg would like them to be. The Yellow Jackets scored 30 points in the paint despite being undersized, and 17 on second chances. AIC outrebounded UMass 37-36.
The caveat of course is that the Minutemen’s best interior player (Lalanne) and best individual defender (Morgan) weren’t on the floor.
“We have plenty of work to do. We’re still not in game shape. Our rebounding was poor at times and our half-court defense, we just weren’t physical enough,” Kellogg said.
“That’s what bothered me the most,” he added. “We let them get too many second-chance points and defensive rebounds. There was a lot of not paying attention to detail and I thought our energy and intensity could be better. It’s good that we learned from a game we were able to win.”
• Raphiael Putney is still foul prone. The junior forward fouled out in just 18 minutes. He did have eight points and eight rebounds in those 18 minutes.
His absence meant more time for Sampson Carter, who had seven points, five rebounds and three assists in his first game action after missing most of last season with a hip injury.
• Kellogg might want to think about adding a walk-on guard or two. With Javorn Farrell injured and Derrick Gordon sitting out as a transfer, the Minutemen have just four real guards. An injury to any one of them will make practicing on the road difficult, especially at the pace UMass wants to play.
• Both freshmen big men would benefit from playing against guys closer to their own size. Against the Yellow Jackets’ lineup, which would be very undersized by Division I standards, Tyler Bergantino and Izzy Freeman struggled at times to guard much smaller players.
“Those young guys just aren’t ready yet when a team plays four guards and a hybrid five-man,” Kellogg said. “That makes it hard to really gauge where they are.”
• Lalanne, who was on the bench along with Morgan and Davis, had a brace on a finger on his right hand. Kellogg said it wasn’t serious.
“He’s had it on for four or five days now,” Kellogg said. “He has a jammed finger.”
• While the exhibition game didn’t count in any standings, the Minutemen cared about the result.
“I’m just glad we were able to win the game,” Riley said. “We don’t want to come out here and lose and embarrass the school and embarrass the program. When we play this game, we’re looked at as the team that’s going to win.”
• Rarely does the opposing coach in an exhibition game make news in his postgame press conference, but AIC’s Art Luptowski delivered a pair of memorable quotes.
His team played Connecticut on Thursday and stayed with the Huskies for much of the game before UConn pulled away late. He compared the Minutemen and Huskies with no prompting.
“I quite frankly think UMass is a better team,” he said. “No disrespect to UConn, but at the end of the day I think UMass is a better basketball team. They’re more experienced.”
Luptowski also said that Kellogg’s willingness to play AIC in an exhibition game reminded him of a legend, albeit one who is not so popular with Minuteman fans.
“Derek Kellogg, in his own way, is a young Jim Calhoun,” Luptowski said. “He’s a stand-up guy who gives the game to AIC which is the right thing to do. It’s a local Division II school … He’s a Springfield guy doing something for a Springfield school.”
Kellogg laughed.
“I appreciate that. Jim Calhoun is obviously a legend in the game,” Kellogg said. “Anybody that would compare me to him is a little premature.”
Even more premature than trying to evaluate UMass from this game.
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 www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
Related: Northampton alum Brennan Cooper enjoys return to Mullins Center
UMass men's basketball team edges AIC in preseason test (11/3/2012)
UMass basketball team is better than UConn, says AIC coach (11/3/2012)
UMass basketball team has a lot of work to do after nipping AIC (11/3/2012)
UMass basketball win leaves room for hope - and questions (11/4/2012)
UMass men’s hoops struggles in exhibition win (11/5/2012)
TOTAL | 3-PTS | REBOUNDS | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AMERICAN INT'L COLLEGE | Min | FG | FGA | Pct | FG | FGA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Off | Def | Tot | PF | FO | A | TO | Blk | Stl | Pts | |
Cooper, Brennan | F | 15 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Campbell, David | C | 40 | 7 | 13 | .538 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 5 | .600 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
Braithwaite, Spencer | G | 26 | 5 | 8 | .625 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 3 | 5 | .600 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
Ikpah, Sesoo | G | 33 | 3 | 9 | .333 | 1 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
Hudson, Ricky | G | 23 | 6 | 13 | .462 | 4 | 8 | .500 | 4 | 4 | 1.000 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
Perrier, Jason | 25 | 4 | 9 | .444 | 0 | 4 | .000 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
Schmidkunz, Janek | 23 | 3 | 8 | .375 | 3 | 4 | .750 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
Jabateh, Al-Shabbaz | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Gutridge, Dwayne | 14 | 2 | 4 | .500 | 2 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
TEAM REBOUNDS | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
TOTALS | 200 | 30 | 64 | .469 | 11 | 26 | .423 | 11 | 16 | .688 | 12 | 25 | 37 | 18 | 0 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 82 | |
First half | 15 | 31 | .484 | 6 | 10 | .600 | 1 | 3 | .333 | 37 | |||||||||||
Second half | 15 | 33 | .455 | 5 | 16 | .313 | 10 | 13 | .769 | 45 |
Points in the paint | 30 |
Points off turnovers | 5 |
Second chance points | 17 |
Fast break points | 0 |
TOTAL | 3-PTS | REBOUNDS | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MASSACHUSETTS | Min | FG | FGA | Pct | FG | FGA | Pct | FT | FTA | Pct | Off | Def | Tot | PF | FO | A | TO | Blk | Stl | Pts | |
Vinson, Terrell | F | 27 | 3 | 11 | .273 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 5 | 6 | .833 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
Putney, Raphiael | F | 18 | 3 | 7 | .429 | 2 | 4 | .500 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
Esho, Maxie | C | 30 | 5 | 8 | .625 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
Williams, Chaz | G | 37 | 8 | 16 | .500 | 3 | 6 | .500 | 5 | 7 | .714 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 24 |
Riley, Freddie | G | 38 | 7 | 12 | .583 | 6 | 10 | .600 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
Bergantino, Tyler | 16 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 2 | .500 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Carter, Sampson | 27 | 3 | 8 | .375 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
Freeman, Izzy | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
TEAM REBOUNDS | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
TOTALS | 200 | 31 | 65 | .477 | 12 | 24 | .500 | 13 | 21 | .619 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 18 | 1 | 22 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 87 | |
First half | 16 | 37 | .432 | 6 | 15 | .400 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 39 | |||||||||||
Second half | 15 | 28 | .536 | 6 | 9 | .667 | 12 | 19 | .632 | 48 |
Points in the paint | 28 |
Points off turnovers | 16 |
Second chance points | 9 |
Fast break points | 0 |
Score by Periods | 1st | 2nd | OT1 | OT2 | OT3 | Final |
AMERICAN INT'L COLLEGE | 37 | 45 | 82 | |||
MASSACHUSETTS | 39 | 48 | 87 |
Attendance | 2169 |
Officials | Brian O'Connell, Gary Puccino, Evan Burroughs |
Technical Fouls | none |