After a tough one-point loss to George Mason in double overtime, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team will head to Washington D.C. to take on the George Washington Colonials.
UMass (2-3, 1-1 Atlantic 10) lost its last two contests by a total of 6 points and have lost all three games this season by a total of 9 points. In their two wins this season against Northeastern and La Salle, the Minutemen outscored their opponents by a total of 34 points.
“You look at not having the 13 non-conference games with a young basketball team as a challenge to say the least,” UMass head coach Matt McCall said. “But we’re three possessions away from being undefeated, you could put it that way.”
The Colonials (3-7, 2-1 A-10) enter the contest having split a weekend series against fellow Atlantic 10 opponent Duquesne. George Washington fell to the Dukes by 12 on Saturday Jan. 2 before securing revenge in a two-point victory on Sunday Jan. 3.
“It’s just a matter of us making the proper adjustments and understanding our defensive rotations and executing on offense the way we are capable of,” Minutemen star center Tre Mitchell said of the matchup against GW.
Mitchell, who ranks 12th in the NCAA with 22.6 points per game along with averaging seven rebounds, will have his hands full on the interior. Jamison Battle and Matt Moyer, the Colonials leading forwards, average 18.4 and 10.6 points per game, respectively. Moyer is a glass cleaner who is also averaging 10.1 rebounds per game this season, good for a double-double.
“Battle is a bigger guard who can poise some problems for us in terms of his size and his ability,” said McCall. “[Moyer] is as active as a player as we’ve seen all year. I love his tenacity and how he plays the game. He impacts the game in so many ways just with how hard he plays. He’s terrific, I love his motor, I love how hard he plays.”
At the guard position, James Bishop leads George Washington. Averaging a team high 19.7 points per game, Bishop could cause problems for a UMass squad who has often failed to lock up opposing point guards this season. The Minutemen allowed Bryant’s Michael Greene III to score 33 points in their loss against the Bulldogs on Dec. 21 and Jordan Miller to score 26 in the losing effort versus George Mason.
“You’ve got two guys [Battle and Bishop] as a one-two punch averaging close to 40 points per game,” said McCall. “It’s unique that they’re both left-handed players. Bishop’s ability to play in pick and roll—everyone talks about his ability to score—the one thing I’ve been so impressed with him is his ability to pass. He makes the right play in those pick and rolls. They do an unbelievable job of getting him to his strong hand, whether it’s on step ups or through screening action.”
For the first time this season, UMass will rep blacked out uniforms in Wednesday’s matchup. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. from Washington, D.C. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
“It’s got to be a team effort,” said McCall. “Obviously we’ve got to be great in pick and roll coverage, not just on Noah Fernandes, Javohn Garcia or Kolten Mitchell. We’ve got to get it done collectively as a team. We’ve had some good practices and I think our guys are excited to play.”
Dan McGee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TheDanMcGee
