The Massachusetts basketball team lost its first conference game of the season, 81-72, against Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday. Rahsool Diggins and Daniel Rivera combined for 56 of the Minutemen’s (5-9, 0-1 Atlantic 10) 72 total points.
The matchup against the Hawks (10-4, 1-0 A-10) served as the last A-10 season opener for UMass in its final season within the conference. Despite holding an early lead, the Minutemen fell behind in the middle of the first half and couldn’t get back in front.
Diggins had a career-high 33 points, making the trip back to his home state to take on St. Joe’s. After dealing with a cold stretch earlier in the season, the Philadelphia native got back on track with 24 points against Arizona State last week before having an even better game against the Hawks.
“[Diggins] has worked his tail off,” head coach Frank Martin said. “He had a great preseason. I think he put too much pressure on himself early in the year and his ball didn’t go in, and he got wrapped up in the wrong feelings.”
The senior guard’s first 30-point game came with more of an inside presence compared to his usual sharpshooting style of play. Diggins had success getting to the hoop off the dribble, floating layups over defenders with touch and using his physicality to get to the free throw line.
“[Diggins] has taken the leadership role on our team with so many first-year guys,” Martin said. “He’s recentered himself … just worried about what we need him to do, and he’s starting to play well.”
Rivera produced another big chunk of UMass’ scoring, finishing with a season-high 23 points. After scoring only five points before halftime, the senior forward flipped the script in the second half against St. Joe’s. Similarly to Diggins, Rivera had success down low, scoring all of his points inside the paint and at the charity stripe.
With his team struggling to find consistent scoring threats outside of Diggins on Tuesday, Rivera worked in the low post to make some tough shots and keep the deficit manageable. Along with his success scoring at the basket, Rivera made his presence known on the glass with nine rebounds.
Only three other Minutemen made their way onto the scoring sheet, with Daniel Hankins-Sanford scoring seven points in his first game back from injury. Shahid Muhammad finished with six of his own to go along with four blocks. Jaylen Curry rounded out the scoring, hitting just one three-pointer on a tough shooting day where he went 1-of-12 from the field.
The rest of UMass’s players missed each of their combined 14 shots on another day where the team struggled to find consistent scoring. The team shot just 32.9 percent from the field and 18.8 percent from deep, compared to 45.6 and 35.5 percent for the Hawks.
Uncommon for a Martin-led team, the Minutemen were out-rebounded by 14 on Tuesday. Part of that was due to misses on 49 of 73 UMass shot attempts, which was 16 more attempts than St. Joe’s had. The turnover battle also swayed heavily in favor of the Minutemen, with just four compared to the Hawks’ 17.
St. Joe’s spread its scoring out much more than UMass did, with five different players in double figures. Rasheer Fleming led the way for the Hawks with 16 points despite getting into early foul trouble and eventually fouling out of the contest toward the end of the game.
The Minutemen will look to bounce back and get their first conference victory of the season on Saturday, Jan. 4 against Richmond. Tipoff from the Mullins Center is set for 12 p.m. The game can be watched on NESN.
“We’re playing hard enough to win,” Martin said. “We didn’t play hard enough six, seven weeks ago. We didn’t. We talked a lot and did very little competing. We’re starting to figure that out.”
Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.
