After its first top-four finish in the Atlantic 10 since 2008, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team returns to the court on Monday, Nov. 4 against New Hampshire to open the 2024-25 season.
Head coach Frank Martin will be back for his third season with a roster that was picked ninth in its final A-10 preseason poll.
As is typical in college basketball for a non-power conference program, a lot has changed over the past seven months for the Minutemen. Three of the team’s top four scorers from 2023-24 have transferred out to starting roles at other schools, but the number five, six and seven scorers all return. Complementing them will be eight fresh faces, evenly split between freshmen and transfers.
Similar to last year, UMass will open the season with a lack of proven scoring on its roster. Two players averaged over eight points last season, and one did so against a lower level of competition. Martin will have to rely on his talent development in order to be competitive in an improved A-10, but the former South Carolina coach has shown that trait in Amherst with players like Matt Cross and Rahsool Diggins. In 2024-25, a big jump will be expected and needed from any of a host of Minutemen.
“The detail gets greater the higher you go,” Martin said. “That’s where we’re at now. We were able to pass some schools last year, that’s irrelevant for this year. But for us, we’re trying to go from four to one. We don’t want to go from four to eight…now it’s more details, more work…that’s what we’ve sold to the players.”
With meaningful games on the horizon, here’s a look at the 2024-25 UMass men’s basketball roster:
Guards
Leading the charge for the Minutemen this year will likely be point guard Rahsool Diggins. After averaging 12.8 points last season, Martin said that Diggins was more than happy to return to the Minutemen on one condition: he wanted to play more at the point. The head coach will grant the senior his request.
“Rahsool’s played off the ball his whole career outside of a handful of games his sophomore year,” Martin said. “He’s got to start getting used to [playing point guard] because Jaylen [Curry] plays different than Keon [Thompson].”
Diggins, a preseason All-Atlantic 10 Third Team selection, took a huge jump in scoring efficiency last season by making 46 percent of his twos and 37 percent of his threes. Without Cross and Josh Cohen getting touches, more offensive responsibility will fall on the guard’s shoulders in 2024-25 to the point that he’ll likely be opponents’ number one scout. Diggins’ mix of scoring, playmaking and ball handling coupled with Martin’s history of developing guards suggests that the senior should be able to handle the bigger role.
Coupled with Diggins in the backcourt, often at the same time, according to Martin, will be sophomore Jaylen Curry, who could take a Diggins-like jump after an up-and-down freshman season. There were some highs (like four straight double-digit scoring games in January) but peeling back Curry’s 7.4 points per game as a freshman shows bad shooting efficiency at the rim (51 percent) and from deep (25 percent). The sophomore was one of UMass’ best playmakers, though, and with a full offseason of development, Curry seems primed for a more consistent campaign.
The first point guard off the bench will be another sophomore in Marqui Worthy. It was tough sledding for Worthy as a freshman: using box plus/minus (a stat using box scores to estimate players’ on-court contributions), he rated dead last in the A-10 at -7.5. For reference, no one else on the Minutemen was below -3.0. One positive is that most of that number resulted from Worthy’s play on offense; the guard graded out as a near-average defender using the same metric. Without a lot of depth in the backcourt, UMass needs Worthy to be noticeably better with the ball in his hands.
Rollie Castineyra returns as a sophomore walk-on after playing 19 minutes last season. He’ll be joined this year by fellow walk-on Josh Engel, a 6-foot guard from Manalapan, New Jersey.
Wings
With only three guards, the theme of the Minutemen in 2024-25 is length. Even the team’s hybrid guard/wing players have long and active hands, which could make it tough for A-10 offenses to find their groove.
“We’re really long, so it’s hard to pass the ball into our defense,” Martin said. “[Teams are] forced to pass it around our defense. And when you get people playing around, it’s a lot easier to be aggressive because you’re keeping the ball in front of you.”
A leading candidate for a breakout season is Jayden Ndjigue, who returns to UMass after a solid freshman campaign. The 6-foot-4 sophomore had a +2.1 defensive box plus/minus last season, which ranked 25th in the A-10 and second on the Minutemen (behind Cross’ +2.2). Ndjigue found his groove as a “3-and-D” player as the season went on; if he loses out on a starting spot to the next wing mentioned, the sophomore will serve in that role again as a likely sixth man getting starter-like minutes.
Daniel Rivera is UMass’ marquee transfer this season, as the senior comes in after averaging 13.3 points at Bryant. Despite standing at 6-foot-6, Rivera plays like an old-school big man; with the Bulldogs, he averaged 2.2 blocks and took over 75 percent of his shots at the rim. For the Minutemen, Rivera will attempt to transition to the 3 spot, where he could shine on defense (+1.9 defensive box plus/minus last year) but struggle as a shooter (2-of-18 from behind the arc).
“He played at the four and the five out of necessity at Bryant,” Martin said. “He’s worked really hard to adjust to being a full-time perimeter guy…he’s worked really hard on his shooting, [he] has a great mind and when we do post him, rather than post him against 6-foot-8 guys, I want him to post against 6-foot-5 guys and that’s who plays on the perimeter. And then he’ll take 6-foot-5 guys and devour them.”
In situations where Ndjigue and/or Rivera aren’t utilized, two freshmen wings will have the opportunity to step up. Nate Guerengomba is the more highly touted of the pair as a high three-star prospect who chose the Minutemen over multiple power conference offers. The six-foot-four freshman can score from all three levels and could be very effective as an athletic slasher in his first season.
Lewis Walker is a hard-nosed wing from North Carolina who can do a lot of the little things well for UMass. At the very least, Walker, or “Big Jelly” as he’s also known, should have the best nickname on this roster.
Bigs
The positional makeup of the Minutemen this season is the polar opposite of last year’s group. A thin frontcourt in 2023-24 is now made up of seven forwards/big men who will be jostling for minutes. The good news for them is that with Rivera likely moving to the 3 full-time, there are open starter and backup roles at the 4 and 5.
“In certain situations, we can play two big guys at the same time because of their talent and our depth,” Martin said. “That’s something that’s on the table as we go through the season with this team.”
One of the reasons for Rivera’s move could lie in Daniel Hankins-Sanford, a 6-foot-8 forward who was one of the best offensive rebounders in the A-10 last season. The former South Carolina recruit’s ability to extend possessions on the glass could be important if struggles from deep continue for UMass in 2024-25.
On offense, Hankins-Sanford didn’t do anything especially well last season, but he didn’t do anything especially bad either. Without Cross and Cohen attracting defenders in the paint, the burden will fall on the junior to keep up or improve his shooting numbers as he becomes more of a focal point on offense.
Past Hankins-Sanford, the Minutemen have three transfer bigs that will try to replicate some of the production left by Cross and Cohen. The most likely of this trio to start is Malek Abdelgowad, a 6-foot-10 Murray State transfer who Martin mentioned was almost on the roster last season. Abdelgowad averaged 3.5 points in 19 games for the Racers, and while he looked good on the glass, the rest of his play left a lot to be desired (-3.9 box plus/minus). Concerns are mainly directed towards the Egypt native’s defense, as he balanced out solid shooting numbers with little-to-no rim protection at Murray State. Regardless, if the Providence exhibition is a sign of things to come, then Martin will try to use Abdelgowad as an offensive weapon that may even shoot a three now and then (something he never did with the Racers).
“He’s not as crafty offensively as Josh Cohen was, but Malek’s a pretty good basketball player,” Martin said. “I can see Malek giving us 10, 11 points a game.”
Former high three-star prospect Akil Watson comes to UMass after struggling to crack the rotation as a freshman at Arizona State. As a result, there’s not much college tape to go off of with the Middletown, New York native apart from a few dunks, a few layups and a couple threes. Watson has a lanky frame at 6-foot-8 and 205 pounds, and projects as a backup 4 that can bring athleticism and defensive versatility to the court.
The mystery man of this frontcourt is Shahid Muhammad, a 6-foot-10 junior who’s had a unique journey to Amherst. After barely seeing the floor as a freshman at Seton Hall, Muhammad spent last season with JUCO program College of Southern Idaho, where he produced an interesting statline: 5.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. Muhammad’s leaping ability is apparent even in warmups, and Martin has openly praised the junior’s shot-blocking and athletic abilities. With Abdelgowad struggling as a rim protector last season, Muhammad has a complimentary skillset that will likely lead to a spot in the rotation.
Tarique Foster is back for his sophomore season after appearing in 13 games last season for the Minutemen. Most of Foster’s freshman stats came in garbage time but shooting 11-of-20 on the year is noticeable no matter when you get the buckets. While the sample size is extremely small, Foster did make three of his six attempts (50 percent) from three last season. If he can have a decent hit rate on more attempts in 2024-25, a path to minutes is there on a team that needs more shooting than just Diggins and Ndjigue.
Amadou Doumbia and Luka Damjanac are the two freshmen joining UMass’ frontcourt this season, bringing some more international flair to the Minutemen lineup. Doumbia hails from Mali and has spent time with the nation’s U18 team. As the team’s tallest player (6-foot-11), Doumbia has been touted for his defense and finishing ability. Damjanac is an imposing 6-foot-10, 260-pound big from Bosnia & Herzegovina who also played for that nation’s U18 squad. The freshman joins UMass via local prep school Wilbraham & Monson. Walk-on freshman John Brigham wraps up the frontcourt.
2024-25 Projected Lineup
Starters
PG Rahsool Diggins
SG Jaylen Curry
SF Daniel Rivera
PF Daniel Hankins-Sanford
C Malek Abdelgowad
Bench
6 Jayden Ndjigue
7 Nate Guerengomba
8 Marqui Worthy
9 Shahid Muhammad
10 Akil Watson
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @DeanWende1.
