AMHERST — It was an odd feeling for the UMass basketball players and coaches when they returned to Amherst after the Christmas break.
The campus, normally bustling with activity, was quiet as the students have left for their winter break.
Despite the eeriness of a lonely campus, the Minutemen returned to practice Wednesday with their focus solely on basketball. UMass has gone through three two-a-days with the extra time, with weight lifting and skill instruction in the morning and then normal practices in the afternoon.
The focus for Matt McCall over the last three days has been on defense, a definite weakness for the Atlantic 10’s leading offense. The Minutemen score 3.3 more points per game than second-place Davidson, but they rank 13th out of 14 conference teams in scoring defense by allowing 74.6 points per game.
“(We’re) just trying to turn up the intensity defensively,” McCall said. “Our focus has really been that we always get back on our heels, we need to be the aggressor defensively. We’re back on our heels way too much and very unaggressive, and our numbers show it. There’s been an emphasis and a premium put on just being really aggressive defensively.”
UMass will receive an added boost on defense with the addition of 6-foot-10 Djery Baptiste, who finally joined the Minutemen at practice Wednesday. The Vanderbilt transfer will play Sunday against Georgia, but how much has not been determined yet, McCall said.
In the meantime, McCall said Baptiste’s presence has raised the bar for the Minutemen’s other two primary big men, freshman Sy Chatman and fifth-year senior Rashaan Holloway. The coach said both players have practiced with an edge since returning from the holiday break.
“With him being out on the floor, you see other guys trying to raise their level of play,” McCall said. “Sy Chatman, who may now be able to slide a little more to his natural position at the power forward spot, he’s played a lot harder the last two days. Rashaan has got to bring it. Now he’s got a guy just as big, just as physical as him that he’s got to play against every day. Those two guys colliding in practice is good for their developments.”
Baptiste, though, brings a defensive skill set that neither Chatman nor Holloway possess. He is a longer, more physical interior defender than Chatman, who uses his natural athleticism to try to alter shots. Baptiste’s also more agile on the perimeter than Holloway, who has worked diligently to improve his defense against pick and rolls.
McCall said he’s excited to see how Baptiste’s rebounding and shot blocking will impact UMass’ defense, but also thinks the graduate transfer will bring a calmness on that end of the floor that the team requires.
“He just has an unbelievable amount of maturity, which I think our team needs,” McCall said. “He’s just such a presence when he’s out there guarding pick and rolls. Just his body itself, he can get in the way of ballhandlers and really get his hands in passing lanes and do those type of things. He’s going to be great for us defensively.”
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS — McCall’s first game as a college head coach came three years ago at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. On that November day, McCall’s Chattanooga squad left with a 92-90 overtime victory over Georgia.
The 2015-16 season ended for the Mocs in the NCAA Tournament against Tom Crean and Indiana. It was McCall’s first postseason game as a head coach.
McCall returns to Athens on Sunday at 6 p.m. with UMass (7-5) to face the Bulldogs (7-4), now coached by Crean, who replaced Mark Fox during the spring. During his four years as an assistant at Florida, McCall faced Fox’s Georgia teams twice a year.
He said Fox’s teams were easier to scout because they had set plays on offense that you could practice against. But Crean has brought a different offensive philosophy to the Bulldogs, one that is much harder for which to plan.
“This team that Crean has now is not nearly as patterned,” McCall said. “It’s a lot of five out, it’s a lot of dribble weaves and he puts guys in different positions. He has a (power forward) in (Nicolas) Claxton that’s going to have the ball in his hands in the middle of the floor and they spring him into a pick and roll and let him play off it. He’s long — 6-8, 6-9 — and when he gets a rebound, he’s racing it up the floor.”