The Massachusetts men’s basketball beat George Washington by a score of 74-61 in a tough Atlantic 10 battle. The Minutemen (9-11, 4-3 A-10) secured their third straight win with this victory, establishing their first winning streak of the season.
Making the most of the home environment for UMass was the guard duo of Rahsool Diggins and Jaylen Curry. Both starting guards scored 19 points while Curry added six assists and Diggins snagged four steals.
Rafael Castro led the Revolutionaries (13-6, 2-4 A-10), scoring 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Castro helped to cultivate productive extra chances for George Washington, grabbing four offensive boards and scoring eight second-chance points.
With 16:05 left in the second half, Castro brought the Revolutionaries to within one point of the Minutemen with an and-one on a putback layup. This topped off a 6-0 George Washington run as they took advantage of a slow UMass start to the half.
After a media timeout, the Minutemen looked desperately for an offensive spark. Diggins stepped up as he took a handoff from Daniel Hankins-Sanford on the left wing and drained a three with a foul tacked on.
This sparked a 12-3 UMass run that showed off the team’s ability to get downhill. Diggins, Curry, Hankins-Sanford, Shahid Muhammad, Marqui Worthy and Malek Abdelgowad all scored at the cup during this breakaway effort. The offense was flowing well for the home squad as ball movement and offensive rebounding were the catalysts of the scoring explosion.
Christian Jones brought the Revolutionaries back within 10 points with a free throw, but Diggins nailed a triple off a broken play to steady the Minutemen once again. With six minutes left to play, UMass and George Washington steadily traded baskets, pushing the pace to the maximum as both teams attempted to get ahead of the other’s heavy paint defense.
Castro made the most impact for the Revolutionaries during this streak while Daniel Rivera attempted to match his effort for the Minutemen. With defensive attention on him, Rivera handed off to Diggins at the same wing as before, and he stuck a dagger three through a heavy contest.
This put the lead at 12 for UMass with under three minutes to go, but just for good measure, Diggins would hit another triple with 49 seconds left to cement the final score and the win for his team.
Though the Minutemen closed the game with a strong offensive effort, the beginning of the game was a polar opposite showing. In the first ten minutes of the game, UMass scored just eight points, yet trailed by just seven due to the strong defensive effort, particularly from Abdelgowad and Muhammad.
“[Abdelgowad and Muhammad] have really, really grown up and they’re starting to embrace success,” head coach Frank Martin said. “That’s the fun part of doing this, when you watch guys get better.”
The defensive output from the center position was an aspect of this Minutemen team that Martin often criticized after games, but the output in this game was seemingly serviceable. The wall formed inside by the interchangeable big men kept their team within striking distance early in the first half, until an inevitable offensive run came.
“We’ve learned how to manage those moments in games, now we keep defending,” Martin said. “When we’re struggling to score, we got guys that are continuing to try to play through structure.”
The offense picked up when Curry made a pair of threes, accompanied by baskets from Hankins-Sanford and Worthy down the late stretch of the first half. UMass went from down by nine to up seven in a matter of nine minutes.
It took a minute for that momentum to pick back up in the second half for the Minutemen, but Diggins woke up the offense and helped UMass secure another tough win in conference play.
The Minutemen will look to continue this newfound winning streak after a week of rest when they visit Rhode Island on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. That game will be available to watch on ESPN+.
Tym Brown can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @tym_brown1.