Syracuse, Boston College and Dayton on the road; Rhode Island, Charlotte and Houston at home – the Massachusetts men’s basketball team has racked up some impressive victories this season.

And not-so-impressive defeats, including IUPUI, Northern Iowa, Saint Louis and Saint Joseph’s twice.

The Minutemen (15-8, 4-5 Atlantic 10) finished the non-conference portion of their schedule at 12-2, with huge wins against the aforementioned Syracuse, Houston and BC. After losing close games to then-undefeated Vanderbilt and to Saint Joseph’s in the A-10 opener, UMass beat Dayton (nationally ranked at the time) and Charlotte in consecutive games.

The NCAA Tournament was looking like a very distinct possibility. But since the win over the 49ers, UMass has lost four of its last six games and are currently tied for eighth place with three other teams in the conference standings.

In order to avoid a second-straight NIT appearance, the Minutemen will have to finish strong in their remaining seven A-10 games and make a strong run in the conference tournament in Atlantic City.

The Minutemen are 4-6 in their last 10 games, and that comes after winning six in a row and nine-of-10. They have alternated wins and losses in the last five games.

UMass does have an advantage having already faced the consensus top-teams in the conference – Xavier, Dayton, Charlotte, Duquesne and Saint Joseph’s twice. However, one key game remains in a rematch with the Rams, but this time it’s in Rhode Island.

The Minutemen finish the regular season with home games against Fordham, Saint Louis, St. Bonaventure and La Salle and road matchups with URI, Richmond and George Washington. Of the seven remaining games, five of them come against teams below UMass in the standings.

Shooting slump

After scoring a career-high 30 points in a 81-77 loss against the Hawks on Jan. 23, sophomore guard Ricky Harris has been mired in a shooting slump the past five games.

Harris’s scoring average was at 20.6 following the matchup with the Hawks, but has dipped below 19 points per game during this stretch. In the five games (three losses) Harris has averaged 12.2 points per game on 29.5 percent shooting from the field.

His struggles from the 3-point line are even more pronounced, with Harris shooting at a 17.9 percent clip (7-of-39) from the perimeter over the last five games. His 3-point field goal percentage has dipped from 38.8 percent to 34.1 percent over that stretch.

Harris has scored 61 points in the five games, attempting 61 shots.

One in 6,782

The 6,782 fans that came to the Mullins Center on Feb. 7 to watch UMass take on URI went home happy. Gary Forbes made sure of it.

“I was just trying to please the fans; they came out in great numbers and supported us and cheered the whole way,” he said after the game.

Forbes scored a game-high 26 points and added 13 rebounds in the 78-76 victory for the Minutemen over the Rams. The senior forward struggled from the field (11-of-30) but was extremely aggressive all night, constantly powering into the lane looking to get close baskets and to draw contact.

Forbes seemed to have a higher level of intensity all game long, prompting questions in the postgame press conference whether one particular person in attendance led to his performance.

“I saw him, definitely. You can’t help but notice him,” Forbes said, referring to Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge, who was sitting on press row throughout the game. “But I didn’t really focus about that, I was just trying to get a win, a big win for this team.

“I got eight games left in the regular season of my college career, right now I’m just trying to have fun with it and play as hard as I can.”

ESPN x 2

The Minutemen will have two upcoming games televised nationally on ESPN2, starting on Thursday at 9 p.m. against Fordham. The second game will air on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., a road matchup with the Rams.

Eli Rosenswaike can be reached at [email protected].