UMass basketball: Minutemen drop 4th game in a row in blowout loss to George Washington

UMass guard Marqui Worthy (3) attempts a layup during a game against Davidson at the Mullins Center earlier this month. STAFF PHOTO / DANIEL JACOBI II

By GARRETT COTE

Staff Writer

Published: 02-23-2025 12:51 PM

It feels like an eternity ago that the UMass men’s basketball team was in the mix for a second consecutive double bye in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. Back on Feb. 4, the Minutemen gave away a late lead to Saint Louis with third place in the conference on the line. They beat La Salle the very next game, but have since dropped four in a row – losing by an average margin of 18.5 points.

Saturday was the latest blowout defeat for UMass, as it traveled to George Washington and laid an egg in a 74-52 loss in Washington, D.C.

The Minutemen played their third consecutive game without starting point guard Jaylen Curry, and it’s clear how much his presence has been missed on the offensive end. UMass hasn’t reached the 60-point mark in each of those games.

The Revolutionaries led 33-25 at halftime before blowing it open in the second, outscoring UMass 41-27. George Washington shot 48 percent from the field compared to the Minutemen’s 34, and GW made nine 3s while UMass only made three.

Every other part of the game was even. Each team coughed up a dozen turnovers, UMass had a grabbed one more rebound (38-37) than the Revolutionaries, the free-throw disparity was about the same (GW attempted one more than UMass) and the Minutemen scored only two less points in the paint (36-34). It simply came down to UMass not making shots, which has been an issue all season.

Rahsool Diggins (four steals), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (11 rebounds) and Marqui Worthy all tied for a team-high 12 points. Nobody else scored more than five. Daniel Rivera went 0-for-5 and scored one point in 17 minutes of action. Rivera added four rebounds and four assists.

Head coach Frank Martin said following the St. Bonaventure game on Feb. 15 – Curry’s first missed game (wrist) – that he didn’t have an idea how long Curry would be out for. Martin mentioned that all tests came back negative on Curry’s wrist, but the discomfort became too much to play through.

UMass certainly needs its star sophomore in order to have a fighting chance at making any kind of noise in Washington, D.C. at the Atlantic 10 tournament next month.

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