Home has been very sweet for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team this season. Like several teams across the nation, UMass hasn’t received much success away from its campus, as it sports a .500 record of a combined 5-5 in away and neutral court games, but it’s the exact opposite story whenever the team returns to Amherst.

The Minutemen are 10-0 at home – including one win at the Curry Hicks Cage in their season-opener – and have used their home dominance to catapult into a five-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 heading into Saturday’s matchup with Saint Louis.

“Any time you’re at home, I think it gives you an advantage because you’re comfortable in your surroundings,” said UMass coach Derek Kellogg. “We practice in the gym every day and we’ve had good fan support even over winter session. The paying customers have come and done a good job.”

The Minutemen don’t have the luxury of playing in front of hostile crowds similar to those of the Carrier Dome at Syracuse or the Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas whenever they suit up for home games, which may make what the team is doing even more impressive.

In fact, in each of the nine games UMass has played at the Mullins Center, it has drawn well under half its capacity. On average, the Mullins Center has drawn about 3,134 fans per game, with its best showing coming in its latest home contest against Saint Joseph’s, which drew 4,616.
While low attendance figures haven’t deterred the Minutemen, the number of people that pass through the turnstiles may need to increase to help the team down the home stretch as it battles for supremacy near the top of the A-10 playoff picture.

Aside from its season finale at home against an underperforming Rhode Island team, UMass’ next four opponents at home come against three teams – SLU, St. Bonaventure and La Salle – that are currently tied with them for first place.

The Minutemen’s other home game comes against Xavier, a team that once ranked No. 9 in the nation earlier this season and, although it has lost seven of its last 12 games since starting 8-0, will be one of UMass’ toughest tests of the season.

“It’s huge,” said Kellogg of the importance of capitalizing on home games down the stretch. “The teams that have postseason dreams or have visions of that, they play well at home. I can’t really put a number on it but it would be nice to hold serve at home and play well at home and try to play a little bit better on the road.

“I think that’s the goal for all programs across the country: hold your home court advantage and try to win some games on the road.”

While attendance figures haven’t come yet, they will likely come and grow if the team keeps winning games, especially against upper-echelon conference opponents.

Right now, Kellogg is happy to have created an environment conducive to winning with the help of his new high-tempo offense that has made fans very excited about the future of Minutemen basketball.

“I think our guys have put all of the outside stuff behind them and say we’re just going to come and play and compete. And that’s been nice to have, the kids who are out here and like playing the game.

“And our style of play lends to playing well at home because we’re running and pressing and shooting a lot of 3s,” he continued. “We’ve been able at times to get the game sped up, so I think that’s been a benefit for us, especially here in the Mullins Center.”

Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Hewitt.