Ready for Round 2?
After Rhode Island beat up the UMass basketball team in the paint during their first meeting at the Mullins Center, the Minutemen are hoping to return the favor at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Ryan Center.
“We’ve got to be able to finish in and around the basket. The points in the paint discrepancy was a huge difference,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “That was guarding the ball, that was pick and roll coverage. Those two things, I think, are the biggest things.”
It’s been three weeks since that game, during which UMass has gone 2-2 and Rhode Island posted just a 1-4 mark. The Rams (12-8, 3-5 Atlantic 10) have lost their last four games. That skid has dropped them to ninth in the Atlantic 10 standings, just a game above the Minutemen (9-11, 2-6) in 12th.
McCall and his staff gleaned some lessons from observing what teams did to Rhode Island during its losing streak.
“One thing was the level of aggression that those teams played with. Their effort was through the roof,” McCall said. “Fordham was doing some different things, they were changing some defenses. Dayton was picking up full court and pressing a little bit more.”
Conveniently, UMass has had nearly a full week to focus on those things. The Minutemen haven’t played since falling to George Mason at home Sunday. It was the Patriots’ 10th win in their last 11 games against UMass.
“Our intensity level, how hard we play, that was the most disappointing thing for George Mason was our overall effort,” McCall said. “Understanding we all need to take ownership in that, and we need to play a lot harder.”
The Minutemen should receive a boost with the return of point guard Noah Fernandes. He’s missed the past two games in concussion protocol but returned to practice this week.
“He’ll be ready to go barring something crazy,” McCall said. “It’ll be good to have him back out there.”
Fernandes leads UMass in scoring (16 points per game), assists (5.2 per game) and steals (1.4 per game). He’s also the No. 7 scorer in the A-10 and ranks fifth in the league in assists.
“Him being on the floor opens up more opportunities for other guys to score,” UMass forward Trent Buttrick said. “He’s a great facilitator. That’s going to be a huge piece and helping us having him back. It’s good to have him back out here.”
The Minutemen won’t have everyone available, however. McCall announced that one UMass player is in quarantine and will be out for Saturday’s game but didn’t specify the player.
“It’s only one player right now. Hopefully it doesn’t become more,” McCall said.
The Minutemen are used to playing at the Ryan Center shorthanded. They won there last season without Fernandes or (since transferred to Texas) Tre Mitchell behind a strong game from Mark Gasperini. Granted that was with two largely different teams in a fan-less arena.
Rhode Island’s fans will be back this season, returning some of the rivalry game’s atmosphere that was lacking a season ago.
“I’ve been there before when it’s completely sold out. You can barely hear yourself in the huddles, great environment. Obviously when you get an opportunity to play on the road and play in those types of environments, it’s exciting,” McCall said. “We’ll go in and try to put our best foot forward to try and get this one.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.