Over 42 years of coaching, head coach Frank Martin said he was never as embarrassed in a basketball team as he was on Sunday night.
In a notable non-conference matchup for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team, the tenacity and togetherness that’s become common under Martin was barely present. Blown defensive assignments and forced looks on offense led to one of the program’s worst losses in recent memory.
“That was a bad rec league team the way we approached that game today,” Martin said. “We played with no passion, no pride, no desire, no willingness to compete.”
It’s not often that a Martin-led team looks sluggish, but in Saturday’s 92-59 loss to Florida State, UMass (1-5) couldn’t do what it wanted on either side of the ball. Over the season’s first few games, below-average shooting performances from the Minutemen were canceled out by more inspired efforts on defense. Against the Seminoles (6-1), though, defense was the team’s biggest weakness.
Under head coach Leonard Hamilton, Florida State takes a positionless approach to its roster, emphasizing length and athleticism across the board. On Saturday, that athleticism was used to get into the teeth of UMass’ defense, and from there, players made the right reads to generate open looks. That unselfish approach led to 25 assists for the Seminoles, which was more than double their season average coming in.
“We moved the ball and made the extra pass,” Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “That had a lot to do with us getting some [much better] offensive opportunities.”
It didn’t take long for Martin to move into a zone defense, but the Seminoles recognized dead spots in the Minutemen’s coverage and took advantage of them. With players like Malique Ewin and Taylor Bol Bowen down low, Florida State was facilitating and finishing near the rim, which led to 32 points in the paint solely after halftime.
With UMass guards getting beat consistently on the perimeter, Martin brought in a smaller lineup early, a decision that became final once Malek Abdelgowad got ejected. The Minutemen coach has been vocal in his criticism of Abdelgowad and fellow big Shahid Muhammad’s play early this season, and even after the Murray State transfer was tossed, Muhammad didn’t see much more playing time.
No matter who was in the middle of the zone–Muhammad, Daniel Hankins-Sanford or freshman Luka Damjanac–the results didn’t change. In fact, they only got better for the Seminoles, who shot an astounding 70 percent from the floor in the second half.
On offense, season-low shooting numbers stemmed from a lack of execution by UMass no matter how slow or fast the team went. In its half-court offense, Florida State’s length disrupted the Minutemen’s sets, leading to numerous turnovers and threes that wouldn’t go down. In transition, a program that loves getting quick baskets turned down those opportunities multiple times, pulling the ball back for a better shot that never came.
“I like our activity,” Hamilton said. “I thought we were active. I thought we were energized… there were times I thought we did a pretty good job [on defense].”
The final shooting numbers for the Minutemen don’t paint a pretty picture: the team made 31 percent of its shots and just 12.5 percent of its threes (3-of-24). Jaylen Curry was one exception to the team’s poor efficiency as the sophomore continued to show development inside the arc for a team-leading 17 points. Freshman Nate Guerengomba also had a good stretch of play in the second half that led to his first double-digit scoring performance, but past those two players, good shot creation was hard to come by for UMass.
The Minutemen’s next matchup will be against Harvard on Wednesday, Nov. 27. That game will tip off at 4 p.m. on NESN and ESPN+.
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @DeanWende1.
