Get off the ledge folks – it’s just an exhibition game.
The Minutemen played pretty even with an average Division II team last night, winning 91-87, but don’t think the game serves as an indicator for the rest of the season. If nothing else, we got a chance to see what we’re working with and what UMass needs to work on.
First of all: How about that Anthony Gurley?
Gurley put up 17 points and showed us that he will be the third head to the Maroon and White’s backcourt hydra. Ricky Harris ad Chris Lowe showed us what we already knew, and the trio scored a remarkable 58 points between them.
For those non-Math majors out there, that’s almost 64 percent of the team’s total points.
It also appears that Tony Gaffney is going to see a lot of playing time – meaning he needs to lose a little bit of his aggressive tendencies to keep from fouling out against bigger opponents. Gaffney played more minutes (34) than anyone else on the team. He also gave us five steals, so his defense appears to have carried over from last year.
Another positive, Gary Correia is still improving and will see some minutes this year behind Lowe.
Now, the bad:
Where are the big men, and why aren’t they taking any shots?
Gaffney led all forwards with 10 points, but he only took four shots (and luckily hit them all). Aside from that Luke Bonner took three, Terrell Lynch took four, and Matt Hill took one (in limited playing time).
It’s math time again: UMass forwards took 18 percent of the team’s total shots (65).
That is not going to work throughout the season.
Another thing that will not fly is getting outrebounded by a smaller team. How can a crop of Division I athletes get outrebounded by a Division II team – especially on the offensive boards? Bonner played OK, but it’s not acceptable to let another team’s GUARD grab eight rebounds.
Also not great – this is the same Dowling that Travis Ford beat 96-55 three years ago.
I think Kellogg may have said it best:
“When you look at the board in our locker room, it says UMass Basketball, intensity, enthusiasm, passion. No one walks into the Mullins Center and out plays you. Quite honestly that team out worked us and out played us.”
