Despite leading for nearly 30 minutes of game time, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team fell to Georgia Tech (7-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) Thursday night, losing 73-70 in a game that came down to the final seconds.
UMass’ (6-3) lead reached double-digits at multiple points in the second half. With nine minutes to play, the Minutemen were up 61-50 and in the driver’s seat for a semifinal appearance in the Diamond Head Classic.
Within the next five and a half minutes, a 14-3 Yellow Jackets run tied the game at 64. The UMass offense began to falter for stretches late in the game, with fouls and turnovers mounting. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech remained steady, hitting shots when needed that ultimately secured the team’s victory.
After two made free throws put it down three, UMass had one more chance at a potential victory with six seconds remaining and the length of the court to travel. A dribble handoff to freshman Robert Davis Jr. was attempted at the left wing, but Davis slipped upon receiving the basketball, resulting in an off-balance three-point attempt that grazed the front of the rim.
“When we had opportunities, we didn’t convert,” head coach Frank Martin said. “It was unfortunate. [The] last five minutes of the game was a fistfight. They just basically said ‘We’re not [going to] lose.’.”
By looking at the box score and not the final score, it might come as a surprise that UMass lost Thursday’s game. Many of the game’s final statistics benefitted the Minutemen. The Yellow Jackets committed nearly twice the amount of turnovers as UMass. Not only were the Minutemen slightly more efficient from deep, but they hit five more threes than their opponents as well. UMass had more second-chance opportunities and finished the game with four more assists.
Georgia Tech won out in other aspects, however, and those aspects wound up being the most important in securing a victory in Honolulu.
The largest area of concern for the Minutemen was at the charity stripe. UMass made just eight of their 19 free throw attempts Thursday, a lowly 42.1 percent. In comparison, the Yellow Jackets shot 18-of-21 (85.7 percent).
Bench scoring was an issue for the Minutemen as well. With a physical game sending multiple UMass starters to the bench for stretches, the scoring depth of the team showing would have gone a long way towards a win. Instead, with starters like Jayden Ndjigue and Josh Cohen sitting, the Minutemen bench combined to go three-of-12 from the floor, only contributing 10 points compared to the Georgia Tech bench’s 36.
Of all of the UMass starters who had to go to the bench, Matt Cross’ absence was one of the hardest pills to swallow for Frank Martin’s squad. Due to a foul call being taken away from him later in the game, Cross was on the bench late in the second half with three fouls while the Minutemen coaching staff thought he had four.
“That hurt us,” Martin said. “In a physical game like this, not having your most physical player [Cross] on the floor is a problem.”
Cross led UMass in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Rahsool Diggins added 15 points off of five made threes, while freshman wing Jayden Ndjigue chipped in with 11.
For the Yellow Jackets, guard Kyle Sturdivant was a spark plug off the bench for Damon Stoudamire’s team. The senior got to his spots well and displayed efficient shooting inside the arc, finishing with 21 points on six-of-10 shooting. Freshman forward Baye Ndongo and Dallan Coleman contributed with 12 points apiece.
Tafara Gapare, Georgia Tech’s wing who averaged 3.4 points for the Minutemen last season, finished with zero points on zero-for-one shooting. The sophomore had one assist and two blocks.
In an eight-team tournament, Thursday’s loss sends UMass to the consolation bracket of the Diamond Head Classic, where it will likely play two teams that are ranked below it in KenPom. A win tonight would have sent the Minutemen to the semifinals, where they would have eventually gotten the chance to play one of TCU or Nevada, both currently top 50 squads on the basketball analytics website.
UMass’ next game is its first consolation game of the tournament: a matchup in Honolulu against either Portland or Hawai’i. That game will tip off Saturday at 1:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2.
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @DeanWende1.
