In Friday’s 94-79 win against Northeastern, Tre Mitchell and the Massachusetts men’s basketball offense were able to do whatever they wanted to against the Huskies (1-1).
During Sunday’s 78-75 loss however, the tides were turned against Mitchell and the Minutemen (1-1). Mitchell was unable to control the interior all game, scoring only 10 points on 30 percent shooting.
“I thought we weren’t able to put together consistent stops or consistent offensive possessions,” said UMass coach Matt McCall. “It was almost as if we were forgetting what we were supposed to be doing. It was like we were asleep at different times in the game and decided to wake up with two minutes to go and make up for it.”
For one, credit needs to be given to Northeastern’s defense for adjusting and shutting down Mitchell. Huskies forwards Greg Eboigbodin and Chris Doherty came out with a renewed energy against the sophomore center, bringing physicality to the post all game long. Mitchell didn’t hit his first field goal until there were under five minutes to go in the first half.
“I thought they were extremely physical with him,” McCall said. “On [Tre]’s post ups on the block, he was constantly getting pushed off the block. I thought any time he was on his way to the basket he felt a presence, he felt a body. That wearied him down over the course of the game.”
For Northeastern coach Bill Coen, adjusting to how they covered Mitchell after Friday’s loss was a major part of the game plan. Coen continually substituted the fresher player between Eboigbodin and Doherty into the game to battle Mitchell and cause problems.
“You have to give all the credit to Greg and Chris,” Coen said. “[Mitchell] is a terrific player, so he’s a very difficult guard. Once we went up against him the first time, they saw the amount of effort needed to contain him and brought that energy today.”
While a lot of UMass’ problems stemmed from its inability to get Mitchell into scoring opportunities, its offensive issues did not end there. At times, the Minutemen let the ball stagnate on the perimeter, opting for late shot clock 3-pointers rather than moving the ball for open looks. UMass converted only seven of its 20 threes in the game and inability to effectively move the ball led to a near 2-to-1 turnover to assist ratio.
“Eight assists and 15 turnovers is unacceptable,” McCall said. “Especially when we had 16 assists and seven turnovers the other day. We’ve got to grow from this, we’ve got to get better.”
Without their star center producing, the Minutemen needed to rely on a scoring attack by committee. Though five players did get into double digit scoring figures, including Javohn Garcia, Noah Fernandes, Ronnie DeGray and TJ Weeks in addition to T. Mitchell, much of this scoring seemingly stemmed from driving to the rack for layups late in the shot clock and drawing and-ones. Though the Minutemen were able to generate production by driving to the rack, their free throw numbers regressed from 27 attempts on Friday to 21 on Sunday.
In one instance, with less than five minutes remaining and down by eight, Garcia stole the ball and ran with T. Mitchell in transition. In the 2-on-2 situation, Garcia opted to pass out of his drive to a trailing Pierre at the wing who missed a three.
While unselfish of Garcia to pass out of a scoring chance, a drive to the hoop or even a pass to Mitchell on the interior in the situation would have all but guaranteed a basket on the unprepared Huskies defense. The Minutemen wouldn’t score for another minute and a half after the missed opportunity, proving a critical turning point to their three-point loss.
“Especially early, I thought we were forcing shots and I thought we were taking too many quick shots,” McCall said. “The ball has to change sides of the floor more, we need to get more movement. We just can’t come down get one pass and try a pick and roll down low. We’ve got to be better than that.”
For a roster that has played together so much in the past—seven players coming from Woodstock Academy—its odd that the offense seemed to stagnate the way it did. Nevertheless, for a team exiting 14-day quarantine not too long, some early season struggles are to be expected.
The Minutemen will look to rebound in the start of Atlantic 10 conference play against La Salle on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Dan McGee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TheDanMcGee.
