Steve Lappas wasn’t thrilled with his team’s 66-59 victory over Marist Saturday night.
“I’m not a happy camper right now about certain things,” said Lappas after the game. “Certain things I am and certain things I’m not.”
Lappas was pleased with the way his Minutemen played on the defensive end. He was content with the fact that his team held Marist to 17 first half points, held the Red Foxes in crunch time and only allowed their offense a 32.7 shooting percentage.
But he wasn’t as excited with UMass’ offensive output – one that totaled 18 turnovers on the evening.
“Our problem is we have to play better on offense,” Lappas said. “We turned the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the second half – that’s your problem.”
And it’s a hitch that must not arise tonight if the Minutemen plan on knocking off Oregon at the Springfield Civic Center, a place UMass has enjoyed in times past, taking 12 of its last 13 games there. Coming off a 90-63 dismantling of Rick Pitino’s Lousiville squad, the Ducks are now 4-0, looking to waltz through another non-conference schedule with relative ease. Last season, Oregon began the season 10-1, a run marked with its 91-76 defeat of the Minutemen at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. In that game, the Ducks shot 53 percent from the field and hit 35-of-46 free throws.
“I watched the tape [of that game],” said Lappas last night. “I don’t think they did a bad job I just think they played against a team that made every shot.”
Oregon’s great start last year soon caved in though, as the team struggled throughout its Pac-10 slate on the way to a 14-14 final record.
But in their first four games, the Ducks have proved themselves a totally different team from the one that ended the 2000-01 season losing 10 of its final 13 games.
After hiring Fred Litzenberger – a defensive specialist from the Oregon women’s team – the Ducks have only allowed an average of 57.5 points a game, a significant drop from last year’s 77.3 mark.
“They’ll play 100 percent man-to-man,” said Lappas, who also announced yesterday that Jackie Rogers will redshirt this season due to nagging injuries. “They’ll do some full court trapping, but mostly man-to-man.”
Also, all five of the Duck starters are averaging double-digit scoring outputs, led by senior Frederick Jones’ 14.0 a game. Known for its strength in transition, Oregon is averaging 92.5 points per brawl, a numeral UMass must lower if it plans on going 3-0.
“[Yesterday,] when we scored in practice, we had the second team not take the ball out of bounds, but just take it right out of the nets,” said Lappas, speaking about his efforts in practice to ready his team for the Ducks’ running excellence. “And then we had two other guys standing at half court, and we’d outlet the ball to them and they would go, so that we’d have to get back against seven guys.”
Lappas also talked about a certain drill that his team has worked on in an effort to lower its number of turnovers.
“We’ll play seven guys against five, so we’ll make the five guys on offense have to play against seven defenders, where they’re getting trapped and doubled all the time, making it as hard for them to handle the ball in the half court as we can simulate,” he said. “But I think the only thing that’s going to prevent [turnovers] is us getting more experience and as we get more experience that will hopefully cut down the turnovers.”
Anthony Anderson (7.5 points per game) will again start at point guard for the Minutemen along with Shannon Crooks (15.0 ppg) and Willie Jenkins (5.5 ppg) on the wings. Micah Brand (16.5 ppg) and Kitwana Rhymer (10.5 ppg) will begin down low for the Minutemen, and will do their best to thwart the efforts of Oregon’s 7-foot-2 center from Roenne, Denmark, Chris Christoffersen (12.5 ppg). Also starting for the Ducks will be junior Robert Johnson (10.0 ppg), a 6-foot-8 junior college transfer from Santa Rosa (Calif.) and the 6-foot-7 Luke Jackson (10.3 ppg). Luke Ridnour (13.3 ppg) will direct the Duck attack, joining Jones in the backcourt duties.
