Heading into winter break on the heels of a disappointing 2-4 record, third-year UMass coach Steve Lappas saw the potential for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team to turn things around after what amounted to a disappointing start to the season, which included a 90-50 shellacking at the hands of Texas Tech, a heartbreaking 76-75 overtime defeat at Boston College and a bad 72-66 loss to Hartford.
With a trio of winnable games prior to their annual clash with top-ranked Connecticut, and a pair of home games to open the Atlantic 10 portion of their schedule, the Minutemen appeared to have an inside track on the road to respectability – a road they’ve been trying to navigate for the better part of three years.
However as Lappas soon found out, things did not go at all as planned, as the Minutemen recorded victories in their initial three contests before dropping six in a row to fall to 5-10, 0-4 in A-10 play as of Jan. 20.
Beginning wintersession play without the services of injured top recruit Art Bowers, it was classmate Maurice Maxwell who paced the Minutemen in an 83-65 trouncing of Marshall in Amherst.
The Philadelphia native poured in a team-high 19 points and sophomore forward Rashaun Freeman continued to impress with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The Maroon and White then evened their record at 4-4 with a hard-fought 67-60 win over Maine at the Mullins Center in which Freeman scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed six boards on his way to being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the third time.
With things seemingly on the upswing, the Minutemen carried their solid play into a third-straight contest at the Mullins Center with a chance to climb above .500 for the first time since opening night, and did not disappoint.
Riding another solid performance from Freeman (a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds) and the return of Bowers (13 points) to significant action, the Minutemen opened up a 45-21 halftime lead and never trailed, cruising to an 82-66 victory over Albany.
“Three consecutive wins give you some confidence back,” Lappas said. “We finally felt like we were starting to play good basketball heading into our toughest game of the year.”
The confidence surely took a hit two nights later, however, as archrival and No. 1 Connecticut proved to UMass why it is the country’s elite team.
Led by a seemingly unconscious 34 – point effort from guard Ben Gordon that saw the All-American shoot 7 – of – 8 from 3 – point range, the Huskies cruised to a 91-67 victory before a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center.
“They showed why they’re the number one team in the country,” Lappas said. “They’ve got talent and size everywhere, and were just the better team tonight.
Jeff Viggiano was the lone bright spot for UMass, as he recorded a career-high 22 points.
Back at .500, the Minutemen then returned to the Mullins Center for another difficult test – this time with SEC power Tennessee.
With a season-best crowd of 5,041 on hand, the Minutemen put forth a valiant effort against the Volunteers but ultimately came up just short, bowing 74-66 in their final tune-up before A-10 play.
Guard Scooter McFadgon led UT with 22 points, while backcourt partner C.J. Watson added 14 points.
Gabe Lee has 23 points for UMass.
“We just didn’t have enough,” Lappas said. “I thought we played well at times, but when we didn’t play as well, that’s when it hurt us.
Sitting at 5-6, UMass was set to begin its Atlantic 10 docket with home games against La Salle and George Washington, before hitting the road to face St. Bonaventure and Duquesne.
The unraveling was about to begin.
Despite taking a one – point lead three times in the second half against the Explorers, reigning A-10 Rookie of the Year Gary Neal scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half, as La Salle got UMass off on the wrong foot in conference play, winning 78-64.
Anderson had 20 points for the Maroon and White and Freeman added 12.
The Minutemen then continued their struggles three nights later, as old nemesis GW easily slipped past UMass 76-61 behind 17 points from Tamal Forchion.
The Maroon and White were dominated early, falling behind 12-0 and unable to recover despite 19 points from Freeman and 11 apiece from Bowers and Lee.
UMass was then faced with its first road trip of the young A-10 season, as Olean, N.Y. was first on the itinerary and proved to be another tough date for Lappas’ squad.
Despite playing their closest league game of the season, it was Patrick Lottin’s 22 points that paced St. Bonaventure past UMass 77-71.
All-conference point guard Marques Green added 15 points and six assists as the Bonnies snapped a five-game losing streak.
The Minutemen did receive solid performances from Anderson (26 points eight rebounds three steals) and Freeman (19 points), but packed their bags for Pittsburgh, Pa. losers of five in a row.
Things did not get any better for UMass in the Keystone State, however, as Duquesne dropped the Maroon and White to 0-4 in conference play with an 88-62 drubbing.
Freeman again paced the Minutemen with 16 points, but Jack Higgins had a career-high 24 points, including six three-pointers as the Dukes broke an early 3-3 deadlock and never trailed in the game.
On Wednesday Jan. 22, the Minutemen discovered why St. Joseph
