Through the first three games of the season, sophomore Noah Fernandes has provided a level of composure and collectiveness while running the point guard spot for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team.
The transfer from Wichita State has showcased his skills early in the season, giving UMass (2-1, 1-0 Atlantic 10) head coach Matt McCall some consistency with who is running the offense. Though still early in the season, Fernandes has shown that he is more than capable of running the floor for UMass and is bringing his knowledge of the game and experience from Wichita to Amherst.
“Obviously last year helped a lot because we won [15 of our first 16 games],” Fernandes said. “Little pieces of that culture and stuff like that I had to bring here in a completely different role, I had to sort of step up and be more like a leader. Bringing some of those pieces of culture [from Wichita] just so we knew, and we could see it. We have a bunch of young guys, a young group who are out there playing hard, trying to win games but as [Tre Mitchell and I] know, there is a lot more to that.”
The Minutemen will take on Bryant (6-2, 3-1 Northeast Conference) in their third contest of non-conference basketball. UMass split its weekend series with Northeastern with a home win and away loss. Each game seemed like a tale of two different stories, with UMass dominating in its opener and then falling behind quickly in the finale to the Huskies.
In the opening game Fernandes finished with five points, but what stood out most was his five assists to zero turnovers. In the finale against Northeastern the sophomore turned the ball over four times and had just one assist throughout the game. Fernandes’ quick footwork and stealthy passing was critical to UMass coming out on top in the opener, where the finale saw UMass struggle to create offensive opportunities without a consistent floor general.
Fernandes followed up his tough performance against the Huskies with a stellar performance running the floor for the Minutemen against La Salle in Philadelphia. The guard nearly finished with a double-double as he put up 11 points and nine assists with just one turnover. He finished behind Mitchell with 32 minutes played in the game for UMass and was pivotal during his entire time out on the court.
“For me I just always tell myself to trust your work,” Fernandes said. “Trust your teammates. [They] had my back after that loss and tough game. As a team we wanted to bounce back, and I knew I would have to take a little part in that, and I think that was the main key for me. Doing it for the team and trying to lead by example.”
The Minutemen have gone for a number of different lineup combinations early through the season, some proving to be really successful and some showing that this is still a young team with a lot of room for improvement. Although still early in the season, it seems that there is a lot of trust given to Fernandes from McCall and rightfully so, as the team has done well with him running the floor. With the ability to run a lineup with Fernandes, Javohn Garcia and even Kolton Mitchell, it seems that there is a lot of stability at the point guard spot. Bryant is a fast-paced team and has been scoring the basketball at high rates which will see a shift of focus towards UMass’ guard spot in controlling the pace of the game on Monday.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in both those guys [Fernandes and Garcia],” McCall said. “The floor game that Noah Fernandes played the other day, his only turnover was with a minute to go in the game against the press. He could’ve easily had a double-double. We are going to need those guys to keep us calm.”
Fernandes will be crucial for UMass getting out to a good start against Bryant and controlling the rhythm of the game. His style of play so far has emulated nicely onto the court and proved to be why he has started in all three games.
The Minutemen take on Bryant on Monday in Amherst with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
Frederick Hanna can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @FrederickHIII.
