In an off-season that brought nine new players to the Massachusetts men’s basketball team, one player specifically has emerged into his new role with the team and has found a groove in the team’s past few games. Averaging six points, three rebounds a game and being a consistent scorer and defender on the court, sophomore transfer student Daniel Hankins-Sanford has come up big.

It has taken Hankins-Sanford a part of the season to get to the point where he is now, but as UMass (11-4,2-1 Atlantic 10) starts its A-10 conference play, his development could not be coming at a better time.

In the Minutemen’s win over La Salle (10-6,1-2 A-10) on Wednesday night, Hankins-Sanford had his first double-double of his career, with 10 points and 13 rebounds. The 13 rebounds is a career high in rebounding for him, and he also added two assists and two steals to his stat line in 20 minutes on the court.

“[Hankins-Sanford] got a great heart, he’s really smart. Since we got back from Hawaii, his consistency in practice and in games has been pretty good… he played with physicality today, he played with an aggression, he went after the ball,” head coach Frank Martin said.

Hankins-Sanford has been a depth player for UMass, usually coming off the bench for Josh Cohen or Matt Cross to replace their big-man presence. Hankins-Sanford, who stands at 6-foot-8 has been efficient in grabbing rebounds and scoring in the paint. His large frame and not being afraid to be physical with his opponents consistently creates second chance opportunities for him and his teammates.

“What I do is what the team needed me to do for us to win,” Hankins-Sanford said. “My focus has been different, a different approach to these types of games, and I know for us to be the team that we want to be, I need to rebound and be that physical presence down low for our team.”

The Minutemen’s victory against Duquesne on Jan. 3 was the first big test for Hankins-Sanford. Starting forwards Cohen and Cross could not stay in the game as they were both plagued with foul troubles and injuries. This opened the door for Hankins-Sanford who played 24 minutes and ended the night with 10 points, seven rebounds, one block and one steal.

With big shoes to fill, Hankins-Sanford did a solid job with the task and will likely be depended on to do this more as the season progresses. Cross suffered another injury in the La Salle game and as his long-term health remains in question, UMass will need Hankins-Sanford to keep playing the way he has been if they wish to keep winning.

He is a transfer student from South Carolina where he played in 22 games for the Gamecocks. After coming to Amherst and joining Frank Martin’s squad, Hankins-Sanford has doubled his average number of minutes, going from eight to 17. Just the increase in playtime for him at UMass displays his growth as an athlete and the amount of confidence Martin has in the second-year player.

“[Hankins-Sanford] needs to continue to embrace the structure that’s created for him and be committed to showing up the next day and being better than he was before. He’s done that for two weeks… and hopefully he can stay in that place,” Martin said.

Hankins-Sanford has five or more points and rebounds in the Minutemen’s last four games. With La Salle and Duquesne being stronger performances over the others, he had six points and five rebounds in the loss to Dayton, and six points and seven rebounds in the win over Sienna.

Conference play brings the most intense and physical basketball that teams see and in the A-10 that is no exception. With UMass sitting at 2-1 in the conference, Martin will need top tier play from all his players, and when one underperforms, the rest need to be there to pick up the slack. Hankins-Sanford has shown that he can be that player for the Minutemen.

With Rhode Island, who is undefeated in conference play, next up for UMass, this will be another big test for the Minutemen, and it will be worth watching how Hankins-Sanford steps up as Cross’s availability is unknown.

Samantha Sands can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @samantha_sands_.