Last Saturday, it was Trey Davis’ deep 3-pointer with less than a minute left that clinched the Massachusetts men’s basketball team’s season-opening comeback win over Howard. Now on a quick turnaround, the Minutemen return to the venue where Davis couldn’t quite connect on a late 3-point attempt in the waning seconds of last November’s loss to Harvard.
UMass (1-0) travels to Cambridge Tuesday night to face the Crimson (1-1) in the 27th installment of the in-state rivalry in which the Minutemen hold a 15-11 all-time advantage.
“When you have the nail-biters we’ve had the last couple years, I think it’s kind of one when both teams are evenly matched,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “If there’s good local rivalries that we can have to go along with our national schedule, I think that benefits a lot of different things.”
Harvard handed the Minutemen their second loss of the season last year on Nov. 29, 2014 in a 75-73 battle. Off an inbound with two seconds remaining, Davis’ potential game-winning shot bounced around the rim before falling out.
Jabarie Hinds, who finished with 10 points off the bench in last year’s matchup, said the loss still resonates with UMass, although both teams look relatively different from last season.
“Last year I felt like they stole one from us,” Hinds said before UMass’ Monday practice. “(Tuesday) we’re going to come in full focus and go hard a full 40 (minutes).”
Wesley Saunders, the Crimson’s leading scorer last year, scored a game-high 27 points in last November’s matchup. But with his graduation, Harvard has turned to a pair of freshmen guards to carry the offensive load over its first two games of 2015-16.
Freshmen Corey Johnson (13 points per game) and Tommy McCarthy (10.5) have led a talented Crimson backcourt early on. Kellogg said he plans on relying on the Minutemen’s more experienced backcourt in Hinds and Davis – who each scored 19 points against the Bison – to counter the freshmen and maintain an up-tempo style of play.
Kellogg will also look toward guard Donte Clark to jumpstart the offense after scoring 16 points in Saturday’s opener. Despite the point total, Kellogg acknowledged his four turnovers and added he’s looking for more aggression on both sides of the ball from the sophomore.
“I’m honest with Donte and I told him, ‘I think you have another gear,’” Kellogg said.
“He scored somewhat effortlessly and I thought he was going about 80 percent as far as how hard he was pushing himself. If we can get that to 90-100 percent on both ends of the floor, then we have enough guys playing at a high level so I can then say, ‘Okay, now we look like the team I want to be.’”
In a polar opposite to the two teams’ respective guard situations, the Crimson return three major contributors from their front court while UMass comes off its opener in which it opted for a smaller lineup in the second half instead of playing freshmen Rashaan Holloway (6-foot-11) and Malik Hines (6-foot-10).
Holloway scored two points in 12 minutes while Hines was held scoreless in four minutes in their collegiate debuts against Howard.
Kellogg reiterated Monday that the decision to cut down on the pair’s minutes stemmed from the desire to enforce a constant press defense to overcome an early deficit. He added that both understood the situation and will be expected to contribute against Harvard and its experienced big men.
“I understood fully about (Kellogg) going with a small lineup and why I didn’t play much in the second half,” Holloway said. “Me as a person, it doesn’t affect me. I understand that that’s the way we were going to win, and that’s why I’m here. I’m with him.”
He added: “(Hines and I) just have to get rid of all those freshmen jitters. We can’t have zero and two points. We’re going to have to play and get open shots for our guys and play like we’ve been here for three years.”
Tuesday’s tipoff at Lavietes Pavilion is set for 7 p.m.
Anthony Chiusano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.
