While the city of Philadelphia was focused on a football game arriving later Sunday night, there was one native who had his own sporting event to focus on first.
Rahsool Diggins always seems to hit a different level when he takes the floor in his hometown, and Sunday’s game against La Salle was just the latest in a series of strong performances. The senior began the season inefficient, but that version of himself has mostly disappeared. Cold nights like the one he had on Tuesday against Saint Louis still pop up, but where early-season Rahsool might have carried that performance into a multi-game slump, late-season Rahsool used it as fuel for one of his best games of the season.
“I’m not a Philly guy, but I’ve been around ball for a long time [and] Philly guys take a lot of pride in being Philly guys,” head coach Frank Martin said. “Rahsool has grown up in it and obviously he’s done an unbelievable job in leading our team this year.”
Diggins finished with 34 points on 13-of-20 shooting and seven made threes as the Massachusetts men’s basketball team defeated the Explorers (12-12, 4-7 Atlantic 10) for the second time in three weeks. With fourth and 13th place in the A-10 separated by just two games, every one of the Minutemen’s (11-13, 6-5 A-10) final eight games are vastly important. The 78-55 win marks a good beginning to the final stretch that’ll determine the team’s conference tournament seeding.
“We were able to create some switches to get Rahsool into favorable matchups, but still, he’s got to make the shots, and he did … I’m really proud of Rahsool because he’s embraced that responsibility.”
Before the senior heated up, the lead bounced back and forth between both teams for much of the first half. With Diggins and backcourt mate Jaylen Curry nailing their 3-pointers, UMass went with much more of a perimeter-oriented attack than usual. Baskets were answered swiftly by La Salle, however, with leading scorer Corey McKeithan finding success by making tough shots and getting to his spots in the mid-range.
The breakthrough moment for the Minutemen occurred shortly after the second half began. Up two, Diggins and Curry got good looks from deep on consecutive possessions, and both shots went in. A stop and a Daniel Hankins-Sanford score later, the lead was up to 10 before the first media timeout arrived.
From there, play only improved for UMass. The stagnancy and difficult shot selection that has plagued the team at times was nowhere to be found. Player movement was fluid, screens were set hard and plays were ran to the best of players’ abilities.
“We’ve learned how to play in our structure and get the ball to the right guys in the right places,” Martin said. “When we defend the way we did and rebound the way we did today, it allows us to get in the open court and run.”
Individual shot creation also improved, specifically from Diggins. When all else failed, the team relied on the guard to get his own, and he did just that. One of the senior’s top plays of the day came in isolation with the game largely decided. With six minutes left, he unleashed a James Harden-like stepback on Ryan Zan that created a ton of space on the left wing. The open shot went through and served as a dagger to top off an excellent second half for player and team.
“Not letting [Diggins] touch the ball was probably as good a strategy as we could have,” Explorers head coach Fran Dunphy said. “I thought [UMass] ran some good stuff to get him free and then I didn’t think he was ever selfish [on] one possession today.”
The play of Shahid Muhammad also had a role in the Minutemen opening the game up. Throughout this season, Martin has spotlighted the play of his bigs as a weak point. Though it might not pop on the box score, Muhammad’s eight points and four rebounds in the second half were important to the team’s success and indicated signs of development for the 6-foot-10 junior.
Four of Muhammad’s eight points were solid examples of just how successful the Minutemen offense was. After Jayden Ndjigue found his big for an emphatic flush, it only took 59 seconds for the big to rock the rim again. On that possession, he set a screen on the right wing for Curry and rolled hard to the basket. Curry then dribbled into the paint with help settling down on him, leaving one of the best leapers in the A-10 with a free pass for an alley-oop.
Thanks to three made 3-pointers, Curry was second for UMass in scoring with 13 points. The sophomore has now made three triples in three of his last four games after only doing so once in his freshman season. In the frontcourt, Hankins-Sanford continued to do work around the rim and in the mid-range. His gritty play led to a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double.
La Salle was led by the Rider transfer McKeithan with 17 points. Shepherd and Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi were the other Explorers to score in double figures, as they finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Next up for the Minutemen is Davidson, the first of back-to-back dates at the Mullins Center. That game is on Wednesday and tipoff will be at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @DeanWende1.
