Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Minutemen hope improved spacing will aid struggling half court offense

Photo by Cade Belisle/Daily Collegian
Photo by Cade Belisle/Daily Collegian

The Massachusetts men’s basketball team identified after its 84-75 loss to Florida Gulf Coast that its half court offense needed improvement. With nearly a week off from the loss to its next game, a 4 p.m. tip Saturday against Canisius, UMass set off to fix it.

Currently, UMass is shooting only 28 percent on 3-pointers and often relies on center Cady Lalanne to assume a significant chunk of offensive responsibilities out of the post. Factor in that the Minutemen are currently averaging more turnovers (14.8) than assists (12.7) per game, and it’s creating a limited product in the half court.

According to forward Maxie Esho, the reason may lie within the team’s energy.

“I think we feel like we’re standing around a little bit,” Esho said.

“Last year, we had Chaz (Williams), who was a very great facilitator. He was able to spoon-fed guys. Right now, we’ve got Trey (Davis) and Jabarie (Hinds) but neither of them are as comfortable as Chaz was on the court. They aren’t able to make some of the plays he did and keep people from being stagnant. Right now, we’re just a little stagnant.”

Without Williams’ ability to create offense individually, UMass has focused on creating simpler ways to generate offense. According to the Minutemen, being more sound in their offensive sets and spreading the floor will aid both Davis and Hinds in helping the offense flow more naturally.

“Really, it’s spacing,” Davis said.

“We went back and watched games from last year. New guys, and that’s really what it is, we don’t have room to operate as players. That’s why you see it’s so easy for Cady to get double teamed, because we’re already right there all bunched up. The spacing will allow people to get open shots. I got a bunch of open shots today that I hadn’t seen in a game.”

If the Minutemen were to rank who would benefit the most from breathing room, Davis would be high up in the rankings. A scoring-first guard, Davis has struggled this season to find his shot. He entered the year as the team’s most dangerous threat on 3-pointers, but he’s currently shooting only 30 percent from beyond the arc. He’s averaging 10.7 points per game.

According to UMass coach Derek Kellogg, Davis needs to get back to his scoring ways.

“I think Trey needs to start looking for his shot a little more,” Kellogg said. “We need his 3-point shooting.”

Davis took a step in the right direction at practice Wednesday. He hit multiple 3-pointers over the course of the scrimmage and worked with Lalanne on a number of different pick and roll situations. On one particular play, the ball rotated back to Davis, who was waiting on the weakside of the play, and he buried a 3-pointer. The display drew an encouraged applause from teammates and coaches.

Davis said that it’s all a part of improved spacing and drawing defenders out into space. And when Hinds returns to practice — he missed Wednesday’s practice due to a final exam — Davis thinks he’ll appreciate the progress.

“Today, I liked (the ball) in my hands because the offense was much better,” Davis said. “Jabarie wasn’t here today at practice, but when he sees it, he’s going to like it more too.”

Combined with a week of rest and practice, UMass feels it’s getting closer.

“It’s not whether I like it – I think we need the week off,” Esho said. ” (We can) see what’s going on, see what we need to fix. We can touch up on a lot of things and also get a little bit of rest.”

Now, it must continue to spot — and improve upon — its mistakes in advance of Canisius.

“We watched film and we noticed a lot of things we were doing wrong in terms of getting guys in position to shoot and getting open shots,” Davis said.

“I’m not going to say we fixed it all today, but it looks a lot more fluid.”

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

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