University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen Face Indiana In Season Opener
November 19, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2002
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Game Day Quick Facts
EA Sports Maui Invitational First Round
The Teams: UMass (0-0) vs. Indiana (0-0)
Date: Nov. 25, 2002
Time: 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Place: Lahaina Civic Center (2,400), Lahaina, Hawaii
ESPN2 Television: Dave O'Brien (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (color), Jay Bilas (sidelines)
UMass Sports Radio: Bob Behler (play-by-play) and Jack Leaman (color); WRNX 100.9 FM, Holyoke, Mass., flagship
Probable Massachusetts Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 2 Jackie Rogers 6-8 217 Sr. F 34 Raheim Lamb 6-6 198 Jr. C 4 Gabe Lee 6-9 202 So. or 40 Micah Brand 6-11 262 Sr. G 12 Anthony Anderson 5-11 164 Jr. G 50 Marcus Cox 6-4 200 Jr.
Probable Indiana Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 32 Kyle Hornsby 6-5 205 Sr. F 50 Jeff Newton 6-9 225 Sr. C 5 George Leac 6-11 240 Jr. G 3 Tom Coverdale 6-2 185 Sr. G 4 Bracey Wright 6-3 185 Fr.
The Game: For only the fifth time in school history, Massachusetts faces a nationally-ranked (Associated Press poll) opponent in its season opener, as the Minutemen square off against 2002 NCAA runner-up and 21st-(ESPN/USA Today) and 22nd-(AP) ranked Indiana in the first round of the 2002 EA Sports Maui Invitational. Coach Steve Lappas' Minutemen opened their exhibition slate by posting a 61-49 victory over Team Nike, Nov. 8, then downed the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars, 90-60, Nov. 16, to sweep the exhibition schedule for the second consecutive season and the seventh time since 1989-90. UMass, opening its 94th intercollegiate basketball campaign and second under Lappas' direction, returns three starters and four other letterwinners from last year's 13-16 team which set a school single-season record for three-point field goals made (204) and attempted (587). Those returnees provided 45.6 percent of the scoring and 39.0 percent of the rebounding a year ago. Defending Big Ten co-champion and national runner-up Indiana, meanwhile, also swept its exhibition slate, downing Athletes in Action, 97-56, Nov. 8, and Team Nike, 74-49, Nov. 16. Coach Mike Davis' Hoosiers return two starters and four other letterwinner's from last year's 25-12 squad which dropped a 64-52 decision to Maryland in the NCAA championship game. Indiana, which drained a school and Big Ten record 270 three-pointers a year ago, hit 31-for-59 (52.5 percent) from bonus distance in its exhibition games this season. The UMass-IU winner advances into tomorrow's 4:30 p.m. semifinal contest to meet the winner of the Gonzaga-Utah game, while the loser of this contest faces the Gonzaga-Utah loser Tuesday at 11 a.m. in a consolation bracket semifinal. A tournament bracket is included in this notes package.
Minuteman Coach Steve Lappas: Massachusetts coach Steve Lappas (City College of New York, 1977) begins his second season on the Minuteman bench and his 15th as a Division I head coach with a 243-188 (.564) career record, including a 13-16 (.448) one-year mark in Amherst. Just the third rookie UMass coach to start his career in Amherst 4-0, and first since Johnny Orr in 1963-64, Lappas has enjoyed tremendous success in year two of his rebuilding projects in stops at both Villanova and Manhattan. In fact, he won an average of eight more games in his second year than he did in his rookie campaign at those institutions. At Villanova, Lappas won 20 games and the school's first NIT championship in 1993-94 after a debut season that produced an 8-19 record, while his second season at Manhattan saw the Jaspers post an 11-17 record after a 7-21 mark in his rookie campaign. Introduced as UMass' 19th basketball coach on March 26, 2001, Lappas came to Amherst after nine highly-successful years at Villanova (1992-93 through 2000-01), where he guided the Wildcats to a 174-110 (.613) record and seven postseason appearances (four NCAA, three NIT). He ranks as the sixth-winningest coach in Big East history (and was the third-winningest among active league coaches when he left the Main Line) with 97 league victories. At Manhattan (1988-89 through 1991-92), Lappas improved the Jaspers' win total every year, going from seven in 1988-89, to 11 the following year, 13 in his third season and 25 in his fourth and final campaign (1991-92) en route to a 56-62 (.475) four-year mark and one postseason (NIT in 1991-92) appearance. Equally impressive as Lappas' on-court record is the classroom performance of his players, as all of his seniors at Massachusetts, Villanova and Manhattan have graduated. Prior to moving to Manhattan, Lappas spent four seasons as an assistant to Rollie Massimino at Villanova, and was a member of the Wildcats' 1985 national championship staff. He is coaching against Indiana and its coach, Mike Davis, for the first time.
Indiana Coach Mike Davis: The Hoosiers' Mike Davis (Thomas Edison College, 2001) carries a 46-25 (.648) record into his third season as a head coach, all at Indiana. In Davis' rookie season, the Hoosiers fashioned a 21-13 mark, went 10-6 in the Big Ten, and played in the NCAA Tournament. His second season at the helm saw IU capture a share of the Big Ten's regular season title and advance to the Final Four, where it beat No. 3 Oklahoma, 73-64 in the semifinals before dropping a 64-52 decision to No. 4 Maryland in the national championship game, en route to a final mark of 25-12. Davis, whose 46 victories are the most-ever by an Indiana coach in his first two seasons, is facing UMass and Lappas for the first time.
Lappas No Stranger to Maui: When UMass coach Steve Lappas sets foot in the Lahiana Civic Center for the Minutemen's first-round game against No. 21/22 Indiana in the 19th Maui Invitational, he'll look to keep his record in the building perfect, as he led his fourth Villanova team to the 1995 Maui crown. The Wildcats, behind tournament MVP Kerry Kittles, downed Wisconsin (66-58), Santa Clara (77-65) and North Carolina (77-75) to claim the title, en route to a 26-7 record and the 1995-96 Big East regular-season title. In Maui, Lappas will attempt to become just the fourth coach in the event's history to win more than one Maui Invitational title, and the second to lead two different schools to the tournament's crown. Only Bill Frieder (three), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (three) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (two) have won multiple Maui titles, with Frieder being the only coach to win the event at two different institutions (Michigan and Arizona State).
Lappas' Teams Enjoy Success Outside Continental U.S.: Off the mainland, Steve Lappas-coached teams have been nearly unbeatable, posting a 14-1 (.933) record and winning four tournament titles. He directed Villanova to 12 consecutive tournament wins en route to championships of the 1994 Great Alaska Shootout, 1995 Maui Invitational, 1996 Puerto Rico Shootout and 1997 Top of the World Classic, before the streak ended with a first-round 1999 Rainbow Classic loss to Colorado. His 1999-2000 'Nova team, though, rebounded to win its final two Rainbow Classic games and finish fifth in the eight-team tournament.
The Series: This is the first-ever meeting between the Minutemen and the Hoosiers, but it marks the third consecutive season Massachusetts has played a Big Ten institution. Last year, UMass dropped a 70-62 decision to Ohio State in Amherst, while in 2000-01, the Buckeyes beat the Minutemen in Columbus, 54-51. UMass owns a 10-19 (.345) all-time record against current Big Ten members, but 23 of those games were played against former Atlantic 10 Conference rival Penn State (UMass was 10-13 vs. the Nittany Lions during their A-10 years from 1976-77 through 1978-79 and 1982-83 until 1990-91). In addition to Ohio State and Penn State, the Minutemen have faced Michigan (0-1), Michigan State (0-1) and Purdue (0-2).
For Openers: UMass owns a 61-32 (.656) all-time mark in season openers, including wins in its last four lid-lifters and eight of its last nine (the lone loss in that stretch being an 82-64 setback at No. 13 Fresno State in the first game of the 1997-98 campaign). Last year, the Minutemen opened their season with a 66-60 come-from-behind victory over Arkansas-Little Rock in Amherst. As noted on page 1 of this notes package, Massachusetts is opening the season against a ranked (AP) foe for just the fifth time ever, and the first time since starting the 1997-98 season with a loss at No. 13 Fresno State. UMass is 2-2 in opening games against ranked opponents, having beaten No. 1 Arkansas, 104-80, to open the 1994-95 season, and No. 1 Kentucky, 92-82, to begin the 1995-96 campaign, and losing to No. 11 Florida State, 67-64, in 1992-93 and Fresno State in 1997-98.
UMass Against Ranked Opponents: After ending the 2001-02 season with a heartbreaking 65-59 overtime loss to No. 24 Xavier in the quarterfinals of the 2002 Atlantic 10 Tournament in Philadelphia, the Minutemen tip-off year two of the Steve Lappas-era in Amherst against another rated foe in 21st- and 22nd-ranked Indiana. UMass owns a 27-56 (.325) all-time mark against ranked opponents, including an 0-2 record under Lappas. The Minutemen have dropped nine of their last 10 games to ranked foes, with their lone victory over that stretch being a 75-70 decision over No. 21 Saint Joseph's in the semifinals of the 2001 Atlantic 10 Tournament in Philadelphia.
Massachusetts in Regular-Season Tournament Play: The Minutemen sport an all-time record of 65-57 (.533) in regular-season tournament games with 16 titles to their credit in 53 events. UMass has won 24 of its last 33 tournament games, but has dropped three straight and five of its last six in-season tournament tilts. Since the 1990-91 season, the Minutemen have captured seven tournament crowns, winning the Abdow's Classic (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993), the Franklin National Bank Classic (1995), the Great Alaska Shootout (1991) and the Rainbow Classic (1995). This marks UMass' second Maui Invitational appearance, and first since the 1996 event. That year, the Minutemen, coming off a Final Four appearance in 1995-96, beat Chaminade, 59-48, in the first round, then fell to Virginia in the semifinals, 75-68, and California, 59-55, in the third-place game.
Cox Is No Maui Invitational Stranger Either: Junior Marcus Cox is making his second trip to the EA Sports Maui Invitational, having been a member of Connecticut's fifth-place team in the 2000 event. As a sophomore, Cox's Huskies dropped an 80-66 decision to Dayton in the first round, then beat Chaminade (77-61) and Louisville (83-71) to finish fifth. Cox started all three UConn tournament games, and averaged 5.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 2.3 apg in 21.0 minutes per outing. He tallied a tournament-high nine points in the Chaminade victory, had four rebounds in each game, and dished out a tournament-best three assists against Dayton.
Team Nike Review: The University of Massachusetts men's basketball team placed three players in double figures en route to a 61-49 exhibition game victory over Team Nike, Nov. 8. The game was close for the first half, with the Minutemen taking a 22-20 halftime lead. Team Nike's Dave Ferguson tied the game at 22-all on a short jumper with 19:35 left in the game, but UMass used a 19-0 run to push the lead to 41-22 with 12:56 to play. Jackie Rogers, playing in his first game after sitting out the 2001-02 season as a redshirt, had eight points in UMass' second half run and finished with a team-high 14 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Massachusetts enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 46-26 with 8:41 left in the game, and held a 51-35 lead with 4:18 to play. Team Nike's Dedric Willoughby, though, scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the game's final 4:06 to make things interesting down the stretch. Willoughby's lay-up with 1:46 to play brought Team Nike within 53-49, and capped a 14-2 run for the visitors. But, UMass went 8-for-8 at the foul line in the game's final 1:07 to hold off its guests, and claim its fourth straight exhibition game victory, and its eighth in its last nine preseason tilts. Micah Brand had 13 points, five rebounds and five steals for the Minutemen, while Marcus Cox, a transfer from Connecticut and playing in his first game at UMass, had 12 points. The Atlantic 10's 2002 Rookie of the Year, Anthony Anderson, had a game-high seven assists and three points in 31 minutes of work. UMass shot 36.2 percent from the field for the game, 15.4 percent from three-point range, and 68.0 percent at the free throw line. The Minutemen held Team Nike to 34.0 percent field goal shooting, forced 22 turnovers and allowed their fewest points ever (49) in exhibition play.
Coaches vs. Cancer Review: Five players scored in double figures to lead UMass to a 90-60 victory over the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars, Nov. 16. Anthony Anderson led the Minutemen with a game-high 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Massachusetts took control of the game early, racing to a 13-1 lead just under four minutes into the game, and stretched the lead to 23 at 41-18 with 4:22 left in the first period. The All-Stars, though, trimmed the home team's lead to 45-31 at intermission. Coaches vs. Cancer closed to within 13 of the Minutemen with 13:39 left in the game, but freshman guard Michael Lasme scored nine consecutive points to push the UMass advantage back to 63-41 and the home team never looked back in posting its fourth consecutive exhibition victory. Lasme tallied 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Marcus Cox tallied 12 points, Jackie Rogers added 11 and Raheim Lamb contributed 10 points to the victory. Micah Brand missed the game due to injury. Massachusetts hit 58.5 percent from the field against the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars, including 50.0 percent from three-point range, held a 39-32 advantage on the glass and forced 19 turnovers.
Preseason Forecasts: Most, if not all, of the preseason magazines have hit the stands by now, and the reviews on coach Steve Lappas' Minutemen have been solid. The Atlantic 10 preseason coaches and media poll pegged UMass third in the East behind Temple and Saint Joseph's, but ahead of St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Fordham. Meanwhile, the West Division was forecast as a Xavier, Dayton, Richmond, La Salle, George Washington and Duquesne finish. Anthony Anderson earned preseason third team All-Atlantic 10 honors, while Michael Lasme was named to the league's preseason All-Rookie unit. Here's a look at some of the preseason magazines and their season forecasts for the Minutemen:
Another Tough Slate: Challenging schedules and UMass basketball have gone hand and hand for more than a decade, and that beat should continue for the Minutemen in 2002-03. The RPI Report ranked UMass' 2001-02 slate as the nation's 49th-toughest, the 10th time in the last 11 seasons the Minutemen ranked among the nation's top 50 in schedule strength. After opening the 2002-03 campaign in a loaded EA Sports Maui Invitational that includes six postseason tournament teams from a year ago, including NCAA runner-up Indiana, UMass' first-round foe, and Sweet 16 entrant Kentucky, UMass will return to the mainland for three consecutive games against 2002 NCAA Tournament entrants in Central Connecticut State, Boston College and UConn. The only other 2002 postseason tournament team the Minutemen face during the non-conference season is North Carolina State, a program that advanced to the NCAAs for the first time in more than a decade a year ago. In the A-10, Massachusetts will play more than half (nine) of its 16-game league slate against league members that earned postseason bids a year ago. The Minutemen will tackle NIT entrants Temple, St. Joseph's and St. Bonaventure on a home-and-home basis, while meeting NCAA Tournament team Xavier, and NIT participants Richmond and Dayton once each.
Second-Year Improvement: If history holds true to form for UMass coach Steve Lappas, the Minutemen will likely see a big improvement in the victory column this season. Why? Because in each of Lappas' first two head coaching stops, at Villanova and Manhattan, he won an average of eight more games in his second season on the bench than he did in his rookie season. At Villanova, he posted eight victories in his first season (1992-93), but went 20-12 in his second year and captured the school's first-ever National Invitation Tournament championship. At Manhattan, Lappas went 7-21 in year one, but improved to 11-17 the second season. Improvement in year two has been a trend among basketball coaches in Amherst, too, as eight of UMass' last nine head coaches have won more games in their second campaign than they did in year one. Coach Robert T. Curran engineered the biggest turnaround over that stretch, a nine-game improvement in the win column from four victories in 1952-53 to 13 in his second year, while John Calipari saw a seven-game improvement in his victory total from 10 wins in his rookie season to 17 and a postseason bid (NIT) in year two. Calipari is the only UMass coach to follow a losing rookie campaign with a postseason bid the next season.
Team Captains Named: In voting conducted by the team, the Minutemen selected their only seniors on the roster, center Micah Brand and forward Jackie Rogers, to serve as team captains for the 2002-03 campaign. It marks the fifth consecutive year that UMass will have at least two players serving as team captains.
A Grand for Brand: UMass senior center Micah Brand heads into his final campaign with 631 points, just 369 points shy of becoming the school's 36th career 1,000-point scorer. Having improved his scoring and rebounding marks every year of his Minuteman career, he will need to average 12.3 ppg over the 30-game slate to reach the 1,000-point mark. Since David Brown topped the 1,000-point mark as a senior in 1988-89, UMass has had at least one player reach either the career 1,000- or 2,000-point plateau in 13 of the past 14 seasons, including each of the last nine campaigns. Nearly half (17) of UMass' 35 career 1,000-point scorers, and both of the program's 2,000-point men, have come over the last 14 seasons.
Welcome to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood: After electing to sit out the 2001-02 season as a redshirt so that he could graduate in the same year his athletic eligibility ends, senior forward Jackie Rogers returns to the fold in 2002-03. The lone fifth-year senior on the UMass roster, Rogers is playing for his fourth different head coach in Steve Lappas, and his sixth in the last seven years dating to his senior year of high school. Rogers averaged 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 2000-01, but against A-10 foes his averages were slightly higher at 7.9 ppg and 4.6 rpg. He started six games as a junior, and hit a team-best 55.3 percent from the field, including 61.5 percent against A-10 opponents.
UMass' Double A Looks to Build on A-10's Rookie Award: Past UMass A-10 Rookie of the Year honorees have gone on to enjoy outstanding careers in Amherst, a trend junior guard Anthony Anderson, the award's 2002 winner, hopes to continue. As a sophomore, Anderson was UMass' top three-point shooter at 38.8 percent, and he also led the Minutemen in three-point goals made (71) and attempted (183). He ranked second on the team in scoring (10.0 ppg), assists (100), minutes played (985) and steals (31). Just the fourth Minuteman to earn the league's top rookie, newcomer or freshman honor, Anderson, a preseason third team All-Atlantic 10 selection, follows in the footsteps of Marcus Camby (1994), Jim McCoy (1989) and Edwin Green (1989), a trio that combined to score 5,148 points as Minutemen, earn eight All-Atlantic 10 certificates (including five first team awards) and produce the school's first-ever national player of the year in Camby.
International Flavor: UMass freshmen Michael Lasme and Alassane Kouyate both played prep hoops in the United States, but claim hometowns on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Lasme, who can speak four languages (English, French, German and Spanish), is a native of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in Africa. He moved to France when he was 12, and has lived in the United States the past two and a half years. Not to be out done by his new teammate, Kouyate, a native of Bamako, Mali, can speak five languages -- English, French, and three African dialects. He has been in the United States for the last three years. In addition, Massachusetts sophomore Kyle Wilson is from White Rock, British Columbia, and junior Paco Kotaridis hails from Athens, Greece, giving the Minutemen a foursome of international diplomats on their 2002-03 roster.
The Baker's Dozen: Over the last 13 seasons, Massachusetts owns a 282-141 (.667) overall record, an average of 21.7 wins per season. The Minutemen have made 10 postseason appearances over that stretch, while recording seven 20-win campaigns, 12 winning conference records and 11 .500 or better campaigns in that stretch. After posting no winning campaigns, just two .500 records and a 53-133 (.285) record in its first 13 seasons in the A-10, UMass has gone 144-66 (.686) in regular-season league play over the last 13 campaigns en route to 10 conference crowns (five regular season, five tournament). Eight times over the last 13 seasons the Minutemen have won at least 11 league games. In the Atlantic 10, no program that has called the league home in each of the last 13 years has won more games overall than UMass (282). Xavier, though, does have 285 victories to its credit over that time frame, but the Musketeers didn't join the A-10 until the 1995-96 campaign.
Getting it Done With Defense: The key to UMass' success a year ago was its play at the defensive end of the floor, a longtime trademark of the Minuteman program that continued in Steve Lappas' rookie season in Amherst. The Minutemen were 11-1 on the year when allowing 62 or fewer points, and yielded just 58.3 ppg in their wins, compared to 72.0 in their losses. A year ago, Massachusetts ranked second in the A-10 in three-point percentage defense (.317), third in field goal percentage defense (.406) and fourth in scoring (65.9 ppg) defense. In league play, the Minutemen were fourth in three-point percentage defense (.324), fifth in scoring defense (.365) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (.420).
This Defense Never Rests: How good was UMass' defense last season? Consider that the Minutemen held their opponent under both their season scoring and field goal percentage marks in 19 of 29 starts. Massachusetts was 12-7 on the year when holding its opponents under both their season scoring and field goal shooting averages, but 1-9 when allowing its foes to exceed one or both of their season marks. In each of the past 11 seasons, the Minutemen have held their opponents to season marks below 70.0 ppg and 42.0 percent field goal shooting.
Dialing Long Distance: Massachusetts drained a school single-season record 204 three-pointers in Steve Lappas' rookie season on the bench, 24 more than it made in 34 games during the 1994-95 season. The Minutemen's 587 three-point attempts also ranked as the highest one-season total in school history, 60 more than the 1994-95 team's 527 attempts. In each of Lappas' head coaching stops, his teams have established school records for three-point goals made. Heading into the 2002-03 campaign, UMass has made at least one trey in 122-consecutive games (its opponents have a string of 66-straight games with at least one bonus basket) and in 498 of 505 games it has played since the arc was added to the college game in 1986-87.
Minutematters: Trends to ponder as Massachusetts begins its second season under the direction of coach Steve Lappas, and its 94th intercollegiate basketball campaign . . .