The Massachusetts men’s basketball team delved into multiple styles of offense in its win over Northeastern. The Minutemen (5-7) let the flow of the game dictate their point of attack against the Huskies (8-4) and spread the ball around effectively when changing their approach.
UMass had five players end the game with double-figures in scoring. Along with this, nine of the 10 players that touched the floor for the Minutemen scored in this well-rounded effort.
“When I see that, it reinforces to me that we’re playing the game right offensively,” head coach Frank Martin said.
UMass pushed the pace strongly in the first half as every defensive rebound turned into a race down the floor as Minutemen charged toward the basket. Rahsool Diggins was aggressive during this stretch as he sought a way to the hoop whenever Northeastern’s defense wasn’t fully set. Marqui Worthy took on that same attacking role when he substituted in at guard for UMass, going hard to the hoop and relentlessly finding a way to score.
The paint attacks also benefited the Minutemen by sending them to the foul line where they dominated in the first half. Jaylen Curry, Malek Abdelgowad, Daniel Rivera, and Diggins all contributed to an 8-of-9 start from the charity stripe.
At halftime, UMass scored 28 of its 35 points from inside the paint or at the free throw line in the opening and ended the first half with a 13-6 fastbreak points advantage. A huge reason the Minutemen ran the floor so efficiently was the rebounding effort by Rivera and Abdelgowad. The UMass bigs boxed out effectively in the first half, allowing the guards to receive the ball with downhill momentum and an open rim on the offensive end.
“They were taking contested shots and missing, and we were rebounding. That allowed us to get out and run,” Martin said. “In the second half we couldn’t run [because] we couldn’t get a defensive rebound.”
Without the ability to create fast breaks on a whim, the Minutemen had to settle more into their half-court offense in the second half. Curry thrived when change was needed, flipping the script of the UMass offense by unleashing a plethora of shots from beyond the arc.
In the first half, the Minutemen shot just 1-of-7 from three compared to 5-of-11 from outside in the second half. Curry led the charge by hitting four of his six attempts from deep, providing a vital threat to the UMass offense that it needed dearly as the Huskies clawed their way closer on the scoreboard. The sophomore guard scored 18 points in the second half, reaching a career-high 24 points by the final buzzer.
The other made three of the latter half belonged to Diggins who is a source of shooting that the Minutemen have missed in previous games. The senior guard is currently shooting 25.3 percent from three, a career-low mark that has changed the Minutemen’s offense in many ways.
“We [got to] get [Diggins] going,” Martin said. “He kind of went off the tracks on me a little bit because his ball wasn’t going in. He’s back in a real good space again so we need to get him going offensively [because] he could be really good for us.”
Rivera was the second-highest scorer in the second half as he put up seven while refusing to leave the paint attack behind. With a pair of layups and eight free throws drawn, it was clear Rivera was on a mission to get to the hoop. In part, this paint threat allowed UMass to find open shooters in key moments.
The Minutemen will now focus its attention on its final non-conference matchup coming up against Arizona State. The Minutemen will face the Sun Devils (8-2) at the Mass Mutual Center on Dec. 21 at 4 p.m., available to watch on CBS Sports.
Tym Brown can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @tym_brown1.
