Saturday was the third straight installment in a yearly series where the Massachusetts men’s basketball team plays a semi-home game down the road at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Two seasons ago, UMass (5-8) took on an exceptional North Texas defense and limped its way to 44 points in an 18-point loss. Last season, the Minutemen got out ahead of a rebuilding West Virginia roster and notched a somewhat-comfortable win.
Arizona State came to town this year as UMass’ opponent, and aspects of both previous Springfield games appeared. The first half brought good shooting from the Minutemen and defense that was tough enough to make it seem like another Big 12 upset was on the horizon. Fortunes turned after halftime, though, and UMass’ offense sputtered late like it did against the Mean Green.
The final buzzer sounded and the Sun Devils (9-2) had a 78-62 victory to conclude both their and the Minutemen’s non-conference schedules.
“[I’m] really disappointed on us reverting in the second half to the issues that we’ve had earlier in the year,” head coach Frank Martin said. “We got guys in their feelings [because] they’re missing shots, and you’re not going to beat good teams when your feelings are tied to the ball going in the basket. That’s not how winning players and winning teams conduct themselves.”
In the first half, UMass had answers for every basket they allowed. The poor shooting performance that‘s plagued the team this season was nowhere to be found in a 9-of-16 start. From three, a 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) first half showing wasn’t stellar, but it was far above the 25.5 percent mark that the Minutemen entered with.
Momentum began to shift Arizona State’s way midway through the second half. With 12:58 to play, Rahsool Diggins hit a mid-range jumper that put UMass up five. With six unanswered points and one of its largest leads of the night, the Minutemen were seemingly in a good spot.
Diggins’ basket was also a wakeup call for the Sun Devils offense. The semi-away team made six of its ensuing nine shots and played more inspired defense on the other end, forcing turnovers and bad shots. By the time a media timeout arrived with 7:59 to go, a 19-5 Arizona State run had flipped the game on its head.
“We were executing better on offense,” Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley said. “We had some open looks from three and then we still didn’t forget about attacking the paint.”
The game was still in reach for UMass even after allowing an offensive outburst, but its scoring reverted to its mean late. The Minutemen did not make a single field goal over the game’s final six minutes, with their misses ranging from heavily contested jumpers to point-blank layups. Arizona State continued to hit shots down the stretch, growing its lead into a 16-point margin that hardly represented how much of the game was played.
In the second half, UMass would have been outscored by even more than 18 points were it not for the play of Diggins. The senior found success in the mid-range once the Sun Devils defense began pressing up on him, and when the pressure became too much, he made good passes to keep the offense flowing. Diggins ultimately had one of his strongest outings of the season with 24 points, 15 of which came post-halftime.
Diggins was the only Minuteman to score in double figures. Past him, Daniel Rivera had nine points and nine rebounds while Malek Abdelgowad finished with eight points.
Arizona State was led by a pair of big men in Basheer Jihad and Jayden Quaintance. The latter had an impressive showing on both ends, moving Abdelgowad and Shahid Muhammad around down low on offense while altering or rejecting a host of Minutemen drives on defense. The five-star true freshman finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Jihad led the Sun Devils in scoring with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. The Ball State transfer was quick enough to blow by defenders before converting on a host of good looks at the rim. Two other Arizona State players scored in double figures, with guards Alston Mason and BJ Freeman scoring 13 and 11 points respectively.
With its non-conference slate concluded, UMass will now turn its attention to Atlantic 10 play. Its conference opener is on New Year’s Eve against Saint Joseph’s. That road game tips off at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
“I’m going to try and figure out a way to stay optimistic, that we’re going to continue to grow,” Martin said. “Everything that we talked about was preparing for the Atlantic 10, which that starts on the 31st and [we’ll] make sure that we’re ready to roll from day one.”
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @DeanWende1.
