The 2001-02 UMass Minutemen men's basketball team represented the University of Massachusetts. The Head Coach was Steve Lappas. The team played its home games primarily in the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The season represented the 93rd season of basketball in the school's history.

• Final Record: 13-16
• Conference Record: 6-10 (Fourth place, East Division)
• A-10 Tournament: 1-1 (Lost in Quarter-Finals)
• Postseason: None
• PS/G: 64.3 (278th of 321)¹⁾
• PA/G: 65.9 (56th of 321)²⁾
• SRS: 2.88 (118th of 321)³⁾
• SOS: 4.43 (83rd of 321)⁴⁾

Home game attendance average: 5,359⁵⁾

Year 1 of the Steve Lappas era. The roster was impacted by the coaching change in these ways:

• Three of Bruiser Flint's signed recruits requested and received a release. They were Eddie Basden, Jeremiah King, and Mauricio Branwell. (See more about them below.)
• UMass signed two recruits that Lappas was planning to bring to Villanova: Brennan Martin and Kyle Wilson.
• No Minuteman transferred out in the 2001 off-season.

Lappas inherited a challenging non-conference schedule, something that Bruiser Flint always challenged his teams with, and the 2001-02 Minutemen impressed early, starting out 4-0, including a win over Oregon in Springfield, then a road win at NC State. Each of those teams had three guys that went on to the NBA.

But early momentum took a hit as the Minutemen lost game #5 at home to Holy Cross, by eleven, and only scoring 56 points. In the next two, they faced more future pros on #13 Boston College, then UConn. They came close at BC, only falling by 2, but couldn't match Butler/Okafor/Gordon and UConn, falling by 10.

Late December and early January was bleak, with a five-game losing streak, and the record slipping to 6-8 / 0-3. In there was a 38-point performance at home against Saint Joe's, the lowest output at home since 1949. Then a week later, we allowed 95 at Fordham, our most given up in five years. The 0-3 league start was UM's slowest since 1988-89.

UM evened things out with a three-game win streak, then 9-8 / 3-3, but went into a tailspin with losses in six of the next seven, to slip to 10-14 / 4-9.

UM closed out the regular season with a 6-10 conference record, picking up the 4th seed in the East Division. UM got a win in the A-10 Tournament First Round, and took Xavier (West 1 seed) to overtime in the quarterfinal, but ultimately lost 65-59.

The 13 wins, and the 6-10 conference record, were both lows for the Minutemen since the 1988-89 season. This team could defend, holding opponents to just 65.9 ppg (4th-best in the A-10 and 56th in the nation), but was offensively challenged at 64.3 per game (4th-worst in the A-10 and 278th nationally). We were also last in the A-10 in both free throw makes and attempts per game.

Player capsules:

• Shannon Crooks closed out his college career, leading the team with 14.6 ppg, 4.0 apg, and a 1.57 A:TO ratio. Joined the UMass 1,000 Point Club during the season.
• Anthony Anderson impressed in his rookie season, with 10.0 ppg and .388 from three-point territory. He was named to the Atlantic 10 Rookie Team.
• Kit Rhymer had a bit of a letdown season, after winning the A-10 Defensive PoY and Most Improved the year before. Shot a little better from the floor, but lost a little in his scoring and rebounding averages, down to 8.9 and 6.0 respectively. League passed him over for Defensive Team this season.
• Micah Brand, who shared the 2000-01 A-10 Most Improved award with Rhymer, increased his numbers again, up 9.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
• Raheim Lamb contributed in his rookie season, with 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds.
• Eric Williams added depth down low behind Rhymer and Brand, chipping in career highs of 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds.
• Kyle Wilson, one of Lappas's recruits, got chances with 16.4 mpg, adding 3.9 ppg and 1.3 rpg.
• Willie Jenkins and Jameel Pugh, freshmen for Bruiser last season, fell down the depth chart under Lappas. Both chose to transfer elsewhere.
• Ronell Blizzard finished his college career, never really panning out.
• Brennan Martin, the other Lappas recruit, got the fewest minutes of the scholarship players.
• Walk-ons Paco Kotaridis and Dwayne Killings got just a few minutes each.

Category leaders highlighted. Clear leaders in yellow.

No Minuteman ranked within the Atlantic 10's top 10 in scoring or rebounding, or top 5 in assists average.

More: Sports-Reference.com

Anthony Anderson was named Rookie of the Year, and also to the Rookie Team.⁹⁾

Kit Rhymer, week ending 12/15¹⁰⁾

Anthony Anderson, weeks ending 11/17, 12/8, 2/2, 2/9¹¹⁾

* Eligibility difference

• Anthony Anderson could regain his fourth year of eligibility (2004-05 season) if he completed academic requirements by the end of the 2003-04 academic year.

Most of the roster were Bruiser Flint's players. The exceptions:

• Brennan Martin and Kyle Wilson were recruited by Steve Lappas while he was at Villanova. Both players chose to remain committed to Lappas and followed him to UMass.¹²⁾¹³⁾
• Paco Kotaridis walked on with UMass this season.¹⁴⁾

Expected incomers from Bruiser Flint's recruiting all requested and received a release after Bruiser was replaced by Lappas:

• Eddie Basden - Went to UNC-Charlotte where he went on to be the 2004-05 Conference USA Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year in '04 and '05.¹⁵⁾ Career 1066 points. As a senior: 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.¹⁶⁾
• Jeremiah King - Followed Bruiser to Drexel. Career 980 points, 8.7 per game.¹⁷⁾
• Mauricio Branwell - Played at Seton Hall as a freshman, averaging 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds.¹⁸⁾ Did a year at Barton CC,¹⁹⁾ unsure about his career after that.

Lappas recruits waiting in the wings:

• Stephen Briggs (incoming freshman for 2002-03)²⁰⁾
• Marcus Cox (transfer from Connecticut)²¹⁾
• Mike Lasme (incoming freshman for 2002-03)²²⁾
• Gabe Lee (medical redshirt)²³⁾

Head Coach: Steve Lappas
Assistant Coaches: John Leonard²⁴⁾, Andrew Theokas, Christopher Walker