Jabarie Hinds, Trey Davis, Derrick Gordon, Maxie Esho and Cady Lalanne – the Massachusetts men’s basketball team’s five starters against Providence on Saturday – sat along the Minutemen bench from left to right.

The clock continued to tick, the impending finalization of a crushing defeat drawing closer by every second. By that point the Friars lead fluctuated between 20 and 25 points, but it didn’t really matter –the game was over long before that.

Each player gazed straight ahead. They didn’t follow the action, their stares blank and unresponsive. Yellow towels draped over the heads of some. Their coach, Derek Kellogg, continued to coach up the reserves in the game, but his furrowed brow and stormy glare said it all.

UMass had reached its low point through 11 games this season in an 85-65 loss to Providence.

“I told Maxie ‘Man, we prepared so hard this whole week and look at the outcome,’” a dejected Gordon said when asked what went through his mind as he sat on the bench in the final minutes of the loss.

Saturday’s non-conference bout with the Friars offered the Minutemen a golden opportunity to capture a victory against a like-minded team. Both UMass and Providence entered the season with NCAA tournament aspirations, but only one is trending in the right direction.

Instead, the Minutemen lacked effort early and failed to execute often. They scored eight points through the first 13 minutes of the game and trailed by as many as 32 points with 9:25 remaining in the game.

“It’s just all about our mentality before the game,” Gordon said. “We’ve got to go out there with a lot of energy. I felt like, the first four minutes, our energy wasn’t like it normally is. Maxie’s usually excited, I’m usually excited.

That wasn’t the case, and I’m still trying to figure out why.”

Kellogg said he was more disappointed than surprised with his team’s effort.

“When you’re on the road and trying to get something going, you can’t have four points with seven minutes gone in the first half there,” he said.

If the Minutemen were angry – a quick scan of the UMass bench indicated they presumably were – they didn’t always play like it.

As the Friar lead ballooned in the second half, UMass continued to press for solutions it did not have. The Minutemen committed 18 turnovers and failed to hustle after loose balls on a number of occasions. In one instance, Providence forward Tyler Harris reached between both Lalanne and forward Zach Coleman for a bouncing ball, scooped it up, and proceeded to score on an easy layup.

Kellogg was floored on the sideline.

“I was pretty mad most of the afternoon,” Kellogg said. “I was trying to keep my composure as far as I’m still coaching to build a little bit of morale and chemistry. When the ball is on the floor, we expect to be the first team down to get it and that’ didn’t happen today.”

The afternoon was littered with frustration and disappointment. After Lalanne was substituted out of the game with three minutes remaining and a timeout was called, he lagged behind the rest of his teammates as they approached the huddle.

Lalanne paced around the outskirts of the huddle, pausing once to pound the floor with his two hands. He rarely looked up. The frustration had boiled over.

UMass has squandered opportunities against every premier non-conference opponent this season. It was has one more opportunity – an afternoon game Tuesday against Brigham Young University – to pick up a quality win.

The Minutemen know what they need: better starts to games and more consistent offense, for starters. Lalanne scored only four points and grabbed four rebounds in 27 minutes, while Gordon, Hinds and Davis combined for 14 points.

Now, they embark on a trip after a difficult performance, hoping the answers come quickly.

“It’s too early in the season to start feeling like things are going awry or whatever it might be,” Kellogg said.

“There’s still a lot of season left. The biggest thing for me as a coach is to keep these guys together. A little confidence is maybe something that could be helpful.”

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