AMHERST — Preston Santos was at the 3-point line when Sean East II released an ill-advised attempt from behind the arc in transition.
As soon as his teammate’s shot went up, Santos rushed toward the hoop in anticipation of a rebound. When he saw East’s shot was going to miss, he skied toward the rim and jumped in front of Rodney Chatman for the tip-in.
The bucket stopped a more than nine-minute scoreless stretch for UMass on Saturday against then-No. 6 Dayton and was Santos’ 28th offensive rebound on the season. The freshman guard has always seemed to be in the right place recently on offense to provide those timely energy boosts with second-chance points.
“When it hits the top point of when it goes up and it’s about to come down, I try to time it and get it in,” Santos said. “If I get a dunk or a layup, either way it’s two points, but to be honest, I always run a bit low, real low because that’s where most of my power comes from, my legs, so when I get up the ball in the air, I have a long reach so I can go up and grab it above everybody and put it in.”
Nearly half of Santos’ rebounds this season have come on the offensive end, and he’s collected at least one offensive rebound in 10 of 12 Atlantic 10 games this season, including the last eight. The only player with more offensive rebounds in conference play for the Minutemen is sophomore Samba Diallo, who has pulled down 26 offensive rebounds in 12 league contests.
The duo have become an added offensive weapon for UMass with their ability to extend possessions. The pair take advantage of the attention Tre Mitchell attracts on offense and use it to help the Minutemen with those critical second and third chances at scoring.
“People forget about them a lot for some reason,” Mitchell said. “Me being there draws their main rebounder away from the hoop and a lot of time those other guys on the court aren’t focused on boxing somebody out. Samba or Preston gives them one quick hit to get them off balanced then they can go get the rebound.”
The two approach offensive rebounding with very different styles. Santos is the athletic wing player who uses his impeccable timing and leaping ability to grab missed shots before they have a chance to fall to bigger rebounders. He’s more likely to sneak up on defenders and look like he’s coming out of nowhere to surprise people with the highlight-reel putbacks.
“Pretty much it’s all timing,” Santos said. “But also having the mindset and awareness to know I have the best chance of getting the ball so instead of making it 50-50, try to make it 100-0. That’s where my mindset has gone and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Meanwhile, Diallo uses great technique and great positioning to grab his second chances. He’s more likely to emerge from a physical battle in the post with the ball, outmuscling defenders for his offensive rebounds. It doesn’t lead to as many second-chance points, but Diallo is able to reset the offense and give the Minutemen another opportunity to run a play with a fresh shot clock.
“I’m just going for the ball as soon as I’m in the lane or on the perimeter and somebody shoots the ball,” Diallo said. “The defenders, once the ball goes up, they don’t usually look at their man to box them out, they turn around and look at the basket. That’s when I take my chances and go around and go get the ball.”
Diallo had a career-best 14 rebounds last month when UMass (10-15, 4-8 Atlantic 10) played at Saint Louis, and half of those came on the offensive end. With the Billikens (18-7, 7-5) returning Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game at the Mullins Center, UMass coach Matt McCall said he feels like his sophomore forward isn’t getting enough attention for all he’s doing for the Minutemen.
Diallo has had multiple offensive rebounds in six of his last nine games, and he is currently 10th in the league with an average of 2.2 offensive rebounds per game. He’s also tasked with defending the other team’s best player for the most part when UMass is playing man-to-man defense, and effectively shutting down that player.
“As we continue to grow and build and hopefully move towards the top of the Atlantic 10 in the next coming years, he needs to get more credit for the amount he does on the glass rebounding and defensively,” McCall said. “He’s really embracing that for us, which has been good, and we need him to continue to play with that level of ferociousness each and every day.”