The 2015-16 season has quickly turned into a catastrophic disaster for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team.
After a promising 5-1 start to the year, UMass (8-10, 1-5 Atlantic 10) has taken a harsh nosedive back into reality as the Minutemen dropped their fifth straight game Saturday afternoon falling to Saint Louis 86-75. All five losses have been by double digits.
“Listen, we aren’t going to blow anyone out. We have to come out and try to scrap out some wins, that’s the way it is. We have some depth issues, we have some other stuff that’s kind of right there, but we are going to have to find a way to fight and claw our way to some victories,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said.
“That’s what it is. I’ll be candid and honest, that’s where we’re at. We are going to just keep fighting and clawing.”
After a back-and-forth first half and start of the second half, the Billikens (8-11, 3-4 A-10) went on a 22-2 run with 15 minutes, 15 seconds remaining, including a stretch where SLU scored 17 unanswered points to give it a 67-50 lead.
The Billikens made three straight 3-pointers during the run after an Antwan Space free throw had tied the game at 48 with 14:32 remaining. During SLU’s run, its bench scored 11 straight with Marcus Bartley drilling back-to-back 3s breaking UMass’ press.
Bartley had a team-high 17 points as the Billikens bench outscored the Minutemen 46-9, and 40-26 in the paint.
“They had guys coming in and out from all over the place. I was trying to figure out who was who pretty quickly there,” Kellogg said.
“They were playing a little bit faster and did some things that they haven’t done in years past and I think it’s been effective for them over the last three or four games,” Kellogg added.
Entering Saturday’s game, SLU ranked third to last in the A-10 in scoring, averaging just 66.6 points per game, but it has averaged 83 points over its last four games.
The lone bright spot for UMass was Trey Davis, who finished with 36 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Davis’ biggest baskets came at the end of the first half, scoring eight points in the final minute including two deep 3-pointers, the second coming from just inside half court to beat the buzzer giving UMass a 40-37 lead heading into the break. Davis had 22 points in the first half.
“I’m going to get over it and get ready for the next game. That’s all I can say,” Davis said when asked about how disappointing the Minutemen’s loss was.
Despite the weeklong layover between its last contest, a 86-74 loss at Davidson last Saturday, Kellogg said that he plans on going back to the drawing board to try and figure out ways to prevent UMass from going on lapses like it did at the start of the second half.
During SLU’s major second half run, the Minutemen went 7:29 between field goals.
“I’m just coming to work everyday with a great attitude and trying to push our team. I’m not a lay down guy, as you know. I’ve been around here for a while as a player and coach,” Kellogg said.
“Every program and coach can hit a rough patch, obviously we’ve hit one and I think your character gets tested with how you respond to it in times like these. I’m not changing who I am as a person or as a coach. I’m going to continue to come in here with my hard hat on. I’m going to have to get a few more hard hats to spread around the team and make sure that everyone has one because we are going to dig ourselves out of this.”
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
