AMHERST — Down by three with under 15 seconds remaining in the UMass men’s basketball team’s game at Fordham on Jan. 15, the Minutemen needed a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime after being up as many as a dozen earlier in the second half.

And while UMass tried to screen open Rahsool Diggins, who was working on a career night and seemingly couldn’t miss from behind the arc, the Rams defense was adamant Diggins wouldn’t be the one to take the shot. So Diggins swung the ball over to Marqui Worthy on the wing, where Fordham played off of the career 13 percent 3-point shooter – daring him to shoot.

Worthy didn’t hesitate, and teed one up from distance. The ball touched only the net as it swished home to tie the game at 79. UMass would eventually win a triple-overtime marathon, 120-118, Worthy’s shot playing a main part in a game that featured plenty of heroics.

Two games prior, the Minutemen played host to Dayton – a team widely regarded as the best in the Atlantic 10. Worthy put UMass ahead 74-71 with 30 seconds to go, using his strong base to create space and bury a 12-foot floater. The Minutemen hung on 76-72. They’re currently 3-1 in their last four games and have a chance to win a third straight game for the first time this season on Wednesday night (7 p.m.) at home against George Washington.

Over the past two weeks it’s been Worthy who has made countless clutch plays in massive moments. After playing sparsely as a freshman last season, the Anaheim, Calif., native has finally found his role, and he’s averaging career highs in every statistical category across the board.

“The growth mentally comes from last year, kind of just figuring everything out, being in a new space and coming across the country playing at a high level. That’s different,” Worthy told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “So this year, I feel more comfortable, more confident, just believing more in my work and staying true to myself in the grind. And also my teammates believing in me.”

As is the case with most Division 1 freshmen, Worthy came into his first year fresh off a dominant high-school senior season. He admitted he didn’t know exactly what to expect at UMass last winter, but was eager to find his rhythm and contribute in any capacity.

He played double-digit minutes in most of the Minutemen’s non-conference games, but slowly fell out of the nightly rotation as the 2023-24 season progressed.

Worthy went 13 consecutive games without scoring a point.

“I knew college was going to be hard and definitely a different level from high school, but it was an up and down year for me,” he said. “I feel like I started out OK,  but I just hit some struggles and really wasn’t able to get over those. I wasn’t able to get in my groove, so it turned into a learning year for me.”

That’s something that shows a ton of maturity for a teenage freshman – Worthy’s ability to recognize that although he may not be seeing the floor as much as he had hoped, there is still a ton of knowledge there to be absorbed. So he started to pick up on training habits from older players, and asked UMass’ coaching staff questions every day looking for pointers.

Any way he could help, he was going to do it.

“I learned a lot about myself mentally that year, because I would say I hadn’t gone through that difficult of hardships yet in my career or in my life,” Worthy said. “So that taught me a lot off the court and on the court, just to keep working and believing in myself and figuring it out. It’s not the end of the world when stuff is going bad… In high school, I was playing all the time and was one of the best players on my team. Coming here, you’re kind of, in a way, a nobody, and you’ve got to create a role for yourself.”

And create a role he did.

Because his rookie collegiate season had many more downs than ups, and considering Worthy was about 3,000 miles away from his family in frigid temperatures during the season, it wouldn’t have been questioned if he decided to jump ship and pursue a different environment.

Not once did that cross his mind. He made a commitment to UMass, and he wanted to fulfill it by any means necessary.

“See, it wasn’t a thought of just getting up and leaving,” Worthy said. “It’s not the kind of guy I am. I couldn’t really put the blame on others for me not playing. I did a lot of self-reflection and realized I needed to change some stuff within myself and keep working hard. I knew I would have a chance on this team.”

Once the season finally ended, Worthy sat down with Martin and discussed what had to be done in order for him to come back as a sophomore and earn more playing time. With the departures of guys like Keon Thompson and Robert Davis Jr., opportunities opened up for him. Shooting, learning how to make the right reads on pick-and-rolls and sharpening ball handling filled Worthy’s summer, all of which were suggested by Martin.

The third-year UMass head coach “put the confidence” in Worthy during their conversation, reassuring him he can be a great player at the Division-1 level.

He’s taken off ever since.

“Marqui’s a great kid,” Martin said. “Like, a great kid. I never put him in games last year. He could have packed his bags and gone back to California, but he said, ‘No, this is where I belong. You’re my guy. I love my teammates, and I’m here.’ There’s a level of commitment to be here, and so guys fight because they made the commitment. We didn’t trick them to stay here. They made the commitment. So that’s awesome.”

If his career highs in points (18), rebounds (3) and assists (7) this season weren’t proof that his work has paid off, the fact that Martin has kept Worthy in the lineup during tight games in pressure moments certainly is.

Worthy had never stepped foot in the Northeast and hadn’t made it further north on the East coast than North Carolina until the first time he visited UMass. Coming from California, Worthy is still getting used to the weather.

“It’s cold as hell right now,” he said with a laugh.

Yes, it is, but Worthy’s game right now is the opposite – and choosing to bear the New England cold for a second year has him playing the best basketball of his college career for the streaking Minutemen.