The 2020-21 UMass Minutemen men's basketball team represents the University of Massachusetts, the flagship campus in Amherst. The Head Coach is Matt McCall. The team plays its home games in the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The season will represent the 112th season of basketball in the school's history.

• Current Record: TBD
• Conference Record: TBD

Everything this season depends on how the men's basketball program, the the University, the Atlantic 10 Conference, and the NCAA react to the continuing threat of COVID-19 on health for all involved.

• Season start: The NCAA had previously said teams could start play on November 10, but as of 9/16/20, that start date was been pushed to November 25.¹⁾
• November pause: UMass announced on November 17 that there was at least one positive COVID test within the program, and that they would go on pause. At the time, a return date was not specified.²⁾ A subsequent report said UMass was aiming to return to practice on November 26,³⁾ but that was not entirely clear as UMass said on 11/29 that some members of the program were still “in quarrantine for the next 5-6 days.”⁴⁾
• Mohegan Sun games cancelled. Because of the positive COVID test(s), UMass said they “will not participate in the Multiple Team Event at Mohegan Sun.”⁵⁾

EVERYTHING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
All times Eastern PM, unless otherwise noted. Boldface opponents indicates an Atlantic 10 Conference game.
Printable schedule
UMass master schedule

• Nov 26 - Siena. Siena went on COVID pause on 11/13, they were unlikely to be able to meet the 11/26 date.¹²⁾¹³⁾ Irrelevant now due to the UMass pause/cancellation (11/17).
• Nov 27 - Delaware. Delaware and UMass both went on COVID pause on 11/17, and both said they would not do Mohegan Sun games.¹⁴⁾
• Nov 29 - Iona. Iona went on COVID pause on 11/12, and coach Rick Pitino indicated that the team wouldn't be ready to play until after our planned 11/29 date.¹⁵⁾ Irrelevant now due to the UMass pause/cancellation (11/17).
• Nov 30 - Liberty. On 11/16, Liberty said they would be playing us, but irrelevant now due to the UMass pause/cancellation (11/17).
• Dec 1 - South Florida. This game was reported on 11/9,¹⁶⁾ but but irrelevant now due to the UMass pause/cancellation (11/17).
• Dec 13 - at Northeastern. This game was originally slated for 12/12¹⁷⁾, pushed to 12/13¹⁸⁾, expected to be cancelled,¹⁹⁾ but on 12/1 was announced to be back on the schedule.²⁰⁾

UM official roster, Coaching staff

	#	Name	Height	Weight	Class	Pos.	Hometown / HS / Prep / College Transfer	Status
	0	Antonopoulos, Brady	6-1	165	Sr.	G	West Brookfield, MA / Quaboag Regional HS	Active, walk-on21)
	13	DeGray, Ronnie	6-7	220	Fr.	F	Parker, CO / Woodstock Academy	Active
	4	Dominguez, Dyondre	6-8	195	Fr.	F	Providence, RI / Woodstock Academy	Active
	11	Fernandes, Noah	5-11	172	So.	G	Mattapoisett, MA / Woodstock Academy / Wichita State	Active
	1	Garcia, Javohn	6-2	175	Fr.	PG	Pickerington, OH / Brewster Academy	Active
	10	Gasperini, Mark	6-10	245	Gr.	F/C	Moscow, Russia / Brimmer and May School / American Univ.	Active
	20	Marcus, Ryan	6-3	175	Fr.	G	Wakefield, MA / Wakefield HS	Active, preferred walk-on22)23)
	5	McCrory, Cairo	6-5	185	Fr.	SG	Hartford, CT / Masters/Northwest Catholic / Woodstock Academy	Active
	3	Mitchell, Kolton	6-3	175	So.	G	Fort Myers, FL / Victory Rock Prep	Active
	33	Mitchell, Tre	6-9	235	So.	F/C	Pittsburgh, PA / Woodstock Academy	Active
	12	Pierre, Carl	6-4	190	Sr.	G	Boston, MA / Boston College HS	Active, team captain24)
	2	Santos, Preston	6-6	180	So.	G/F	Warwick, RI / Woodstock Academy	Inactive. Nov 16: Reported to be “taking a leave of absence for personal reasons.”25)
	24	Walker, Dibaji	6-7	190	Jr.	F	Columbus, OH / Woodstock Academy / Cleveland State	Active
	23	Weeks, TJ	6-4	185	Fr.*	G	Warwick, RI / Woodstock Academy	Active

* Eligibility difference.

• TJ Weeks requested and received a medical redshirt for the 2019-20 season, having only played in the first 10 games before sitting out the rest of the season.²⁶⁾²⁷⁾

2019-20 players lost:
Baptiste, Djery - Eligibility exhausted.
Buggs, John - Opted to transfer during the off-season.²⁸⁾²⁹⁾
Chatman, Sy - Transferred out after the Fall 2019 semester.³⁰⁾³¹⁾ Ultimately chose Illinois State.³²⁾
Clergeot, Keon - Expected to graduate in Spring 2020, and has opted to transfer and play elsewhere as a grad student.³³⁾ Ultimately chose Southeastern Louisiana.³⁴⁾
Diallo, Samba - Opted to transfer after the end of the season, will continue to play at Manhattan College.³⁵⁾³⁶⁾
East, Sean - Opted to transfer after the end of the season, will continue to play at Bradley.³⁷⁾³⁸⁾
Higginbottom, Davonte - expected to graduate in Spring 2020, would have college athletics eligibility left, but not expected to return.
Jackson, CJ - Opted to transfer after the end of the season.³⁹⁾ Ultimately chose Florida Southwestern State (JuCo)⁴⁰⁾⁴¹⁾
West, Randall - Eligibility exhausted.

In the Atlantic 10 Pre-Season poll, UMass was picked to finish 8th out of the 14 teams. Tre Mitchell was named to the First Team.⁴²⁾

Keeping some notes here as details come together.

• UMass has agreed to participate in bubbled pod games at the Mohegan Sun Arena (Uncasville CT). UM has been placed in a pod with Delaware and Siena, between Nov 25 and Dec 2, and may get more games beyond that.⁴³⁾ Full details are to be announced.⁴⁴⁾⁴⁵⁾ Fans will not be allowed to attend.⁴⁶⁾
• Iona (at Mohegan Sun), November 29.⁴⁷⁾ Unsure if this is a one-off or the start of a series, but all norms are off in this season of COVID. Fans will not be allowed to attend.⁴⁸⁾
• South Florida (at Mohegan Sun), December 1.⁴⁹⁾ Unsure if this is a one-off or the start of a series, but all norms are off in this season of COVID. Fans will not be allowed to attend.⁵⁰⁾
• Northeastern (Away), December 12.⁵¹⁾ This season's game will conclude a series.⁵²⁾
• The Atlantic 10 Tournament will be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn NY, March 10-14.⁵³⁾ Whether or not this will still happen, and if fans can attend in person, is all pending.
• The A-10 / Mountain West Challenge Series, due to start this season, has been pushed a year.⁵⁴⁾ UMass was not one of the teams slated to participate in 2020-21, regardless.⁵⁵⁾⁵⁶⁾

All of these possibilities were set before COVID hit. These matchups may no longer happen, or delayed into future season.

• The Jamaica Classic has been fully cancelled for 2020, per a note on their website. UM was slated to participate.^57)58)59)60) Organizers say they will try to resume the event in 2021, but not sure if any of the expected 2020 teams will participate.
• Akron (Home): A return game from Akron is expected, but not confirmed.⁶¹⁾ We played at Akron in the 2019-20 season. A home-and-home basketball series may have been tied in with the UMass/Akron football games contract.⁶²⁾⁶³⁾
• Bryant (Home): This will likely be a one-off game, but not certain.⁶⁴⁾
• Central Florida (Away): This season's game starts a home-and-home series. UMass will host UCF in the 2021-22 season.⁶⁵⁾ The 2020 game was expected to take place in late November, as the team traveled back north from the Jamaica event.⁶⁶⁾
• Fairfield (Home): A return game from Fairfield was expected, given we travelled to them in 2019, but a return game was never confirmed.⁶⁷⁾ Fairfield's 2020-21 non-conference schedule does not include us.⁶⁸⁾
• Harvard (Home): This season's game was supposed to conclude a series.⁶⁹⁾ However, the Ivy League has decided to cancel all winter sports for 2020-21.⁷⁰⁾ Whether or not this game gets pushed to 2021-22 remains to be seen.
• Rutgers (Home): This season's game will conclude a series.⁷¹⁾⁷²⁾
• Sacred Heart (Home): This will likely be a one-off game, but not certain.⁷³⁾
• UMass-Lowell (Home): We have hosted UML for our season opener for the past four seasons. Assuming this will continue, but not confirmed.
• Athletic Director Ryan Bamford has stated that he will continue to explore opportunities in conjunction with football and men's basketball scheduling, like what we've done with Akron, Rutgers, South Carolina and Georgia.⁷⁴⁾⁷⁵⁾