University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen To Face Boston College
December 06, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2002
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Game Day Quick Facts
The Teams: Massachusetts (1-3) vs. Boston College (2-2)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Place: William D. Mullins Memorial Center (9,493), Amherst, Mass.
Television: ESPN; Sean McDonough, play-by-play; Bucky Waters, color
UMass Sports Radio Network: Bob Behler, play-by-play; Jack Leaman, color; WRNX 100.9 FM, Holyoke, flagship
UMass Student Radio: WMUA 91.1 FM, Amherst
Tickets: Priced at $20 each, may be purchased by calling 1-866-UMASS-TIX or on game day
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 40 Micah Brand 6-11 262 Sr. G 12 Anthony Anderson 5-11 164 Jr. G 50 Marcus Cox 6-4 200 Jr.
Probable Boston College Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 1 Craig Smith 6-7 265 Fr. G 11 Louis Hinnant 6-4 190 Fr. C 13 Nate Doornekamp 7-0 263 So. G 2 Troy Bell 6-1 183 Sr. F 5 Ryan Sidney 6-2 205 Jr.
The Game: After racking up more than 10,000 miles on the road to play its first four games of the season, the Massachusetts basketball team makes its 2002-03 Mullins Center debut before the ESPN national spotlight, as the Minutemen host longtime New England rival Boston College in the eighth annual Commonwealth Classic. UMass, 1-3 after Monday's 46-45 upset loss to 2002 NCAA Tournament entrant Central Connecticut State at Mohegan Sun Arena, hopes to end a two-game losing streak to the Eagles in the Commonwealth Classic (and a three-game skid overall in the series, including an 83-59 setback in the fifth-place game of the 1999 Puerto Rico Holiday Classic at Bayamon, P.R.). BC snapped Massachusetts' five-game Commonwealth Classic win string and captured the first Classic game played in Amherst, 74-65, in 2000-01, then won last year in Chestnut Hill, 80-78. Today's game against the Eagles is UMass' fourth (with a fifth contest against 2002 Elite Eight entrant and No. 11 Connecticut looming on the horizon next Tuesday in Hartford) of the young season against a 2002 NCAA Tournament team. Coach Steve Lappas' Minutemen, with only two seniors on their roster, opened with an 84-71 loss to 2002 NCAA runner-up Indiana in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational, then dropped a 69-53 decision to another 2002 NCAA Tournament team in Utah. UMass rebounded to beat host Chaminade, 69-55, in Maui's seventh-place game, then returned to the mainland and lost to the Blue Devils. Boston College, meanwhile, is 2-2 after Wednesday's 105-96 overtime homecourt victory over St. Bonaventure. The Eagles, playing their third game of the season against an Atlantic 10 East division foe today, opened their season with an 85-58 homecourt loss to Saint Joseph's, then beat 2002 NCAA Tournament participant and crosstown rival Boston U., 80-61, before falling to Holy Cross, another 2002 NCAA team, 71-70, last Sunday in Worcester. The high-flying Eagles, scoring at a 78.2 ppg clip this year (down slightly from last year's 79.6 ppg mark), have averaged 92.5 points in their two victories, but just 64.0 ppg in their losses. BC, which has won 49 games since the start of the 2000-01 season, fashioned a 20-12 overall record a year ago and earned a second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.
Minute-Matters: An inside look at the numbers as Massachusetts takes aim at its sixth Commonwealth Classic title in eight tries . . .
The Coaches: Massachusetts coach Steve Lappas (City College of New York, 1977) owns a 14-19 (.424) record in his second season on the Minuteman bench and a 244-191 (.561) mark in his 15th season as a Division I head coach. Lappas, who last year became just the third UMass rookie coach to start his career 4-0, and the first since Johnny Orr in 1963-64, 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, he spent four seasons as an assistant to Rollie Massimino at Villanova, and was a member of the Wildcats' 1985 national championship staff. His staff includes second-year assistant coaches John Leonard, Andrew Theokas and Chris Walker, as well as Director of Operations Paul Culpo and Administrative Assistant Carey Edwards. Lappas is 11-10 all-time against Boston College, 4-5 in head-to-head meetings against its coach, Al Skinner (Massachusetts, 1974). The Eagles' Skinner owns an 81-75 (.519) record in his sixth season at Boston College, and a 219-201 (.521) mark in his 15th season as a Division I head coach. He spent nine seasons at Rhode Island, where he fashioned a 138-126 (.543) record before moving to BC. Skinner is 5-21 vs. his alma mater as a head coach, including a 3-3 mark at Boston College. A standout for the Minutemen under coach Jack Leaman from 1972 through 1974, Skinner was inducted into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982, as he led the school to a pair of Yankee Conference titles and two NIT appearances during his three seasons on the varsity. A three-time first team All-Yankee Conference performer, Skinner ranks 16th on the UMass scoring chart (1,235 points), ninth on the assist list (320), 10th in rebound average (9.5 rpg). He remains the last player in school history to record a triple-double (a trick he turned with a 27-point, 18-rebound, 10-assist effort against St. Peter's, Dec. 28, 1973).
Central Connecticut State Review: Massachusetts scored the game's first five points, led by nine less than eight minutes into the game, and stretched the advantage to as many as 13 points in the first half before taking an 11-point 28-17 halftime lead. The Minutemen enjoyed their biggest lead of the game at 34-19 with 18:00 to play, but Central Connecticut State refused to die and rallied for a 46-45 victory Monday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. UMass held a 40-30 lead with 7:44 to play, but the Blue Devils ended the game on a 16-5 run to pull out the victory. The Minutemen held Central Connecticut State to 32.7 percent shooting for the game, including 26.9 percent marksmanship in the first half. UMass' frontline duo of Jackie Rogers and Micah Brand led the Minutemen with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Brand also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to record his fourth career double-double and first of the 2002-03 season. Ricardo Scott led Central Connecticut State with game-high 18 points.
The Series: This is the 36th meeting in a series that Boston College leads, 18-17, but that has seen UMass win 11 of the last 15 games between the schools. The Eagles, though, have won the last three games since a 74-67 Massachusetts victory at the Conte Forum, Dec. 4, 1999, beating the Minutemen during the 1999-2000 season in the fifth-place game of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic at Bayamon, P.R., 83-59, and the last two years in the Commonwealth Classic, 74-65 at the Mullins Center in 2000-01 and 80-78 a year ago at Chestnut Hill. Boston College's three-game series win streak is its longest over UMass since a seven-game string from the 1964-65 season through the 1969-70 campaign. The series in Amherst is tied, 6-6, but BC won the only previous meeting between the teams at the Mullins Center, 74-65, Dec. 17, 2000.
2002 Commonwealth Classic: It was a game of two entirely different halves for the Minutemen against 13th-ranked Boston College, but in the end the Eagles prevailed, 80-78, to capture their second straight Commonwealth Classic title. UMass held a 6-3 lead before the Eagles used a 25-4 run to take a commanding 28-10 lead with 7:49 left in the first half, and held a 44-24 halftime lead. UMass hit just 25.0 percent from the floor in the first stanza, 10.0 percent from beyond the arc and 36.4 percent at the foul line, while BC connected on 40.0 percent of its fielders, drained six treys and hit 71.4 percent at the stripe. After falling behind 49-23 with 18:16 left, the Minutemen used a 30-8 run to get within 57-53 with 7:29 to play. Leading, 59-54, with 6:27 to go, BC's 6-0 run pushed the lead back to 11 at 65-54, but the Minutemen refused to quit. Down 77-69 with 31 seconds left, Anthony Anderson hit three consecutive treys in the game's final seconds to nearly complete the improbable comeback bid. UMass hit 59.5 percent from the field, 54.5 percent from behind the arc and 70.0 percent at the line in the final half, while BC shot 33.3 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from three-point range and staved off the Minuteman comeback bid with 70.8 percent marksmanship at the line. Anderson led the Massachusetts attack, which had five double-figure scorers, with a then-career-high 19 points, while Shannon Crooks had 18, Raheim Lamb and Micah Brand each netted 12 and Eric Williams contributed 10. Lamb recorded then-career-bests in both points and rebounds (seven). Troy Bell led the Eagles, who also placed five players in double-digits, with a then-career-high 34 points. In four career games against UMass, the BC All-American has averaged 24.5 ppg.
About the Commonwealth Classic: UMass owns a 5-2 record in the Commonwealth Classic, having won the first five titles before giving way to Boston College the past two years. The first three Commonwealth Classic contests were played at Boston's FleetCenter, with Massachusetts winning 65-57 during the 1995-96 season, 90-78 in 1996-97 and 65-57 in 1997-98. The series moved to Worcester's Centrum Centre for the 1998-99 campaign, but UMass still won, 75-45, and the 2000 game was played on campus for the first time, with the Minutemen scoring a 74-67 victory at the Conte Forum. BC then beat Massachusetts, 74-65, in 2000-01 at the Mullins Center, and 80-78 last year back at Conte Forum.
The Minutemen at Mullins: Massachusetts, which went 8-6 at the Mullins Center last season (9-6 overall at home, including a win over eventual Elite Eight entrant Oregon at the Springfield Civic Center), stands 84-29 (.743) entering its 11th season of play in the building, 59-18 (.766) all-time vs. A-10 opponents and 25-11 (.694) vs. non-league foes. The Minutemen have posted a .500 or better homecourt record for 20-straight seasons, including each of the 10 seasons they have called the Mullins Center home.
Home Openers: While the college basketball season is nearly a month old, the Minutemen are playing their first home game of the 2002-03 campaign today. It marks the latest home opener for UMass since the 1996-97 season, when it also played its first home game on Dec. 7, a 90-72 victory over Wyoming. That game actually started on Dec. 7, but was finished on Dec. 8 due to a loss of power at the Mullins Center. Massachusetts has won 12 of its last 13 and 18 of its last 22 home openers, including last year's 66-60 win over Arkansas-Little Rock, and owns an all-time record of 69-24 (.742) in the season's first home game. The teams to spoil the Minutemen's home debut over the last 22 years were Harvard (1980-81 and 1982-83), Lowell (1989-90) and Marshall (1999-2000). UMass, 8-1 all-time in Mullins Center lid-lifters, is facing Boston College in the home opener for the first time since the 1966-67 season. That year, in Jack Leaman's first game on the Massachusetts bench, the Eagles scored an 86-63 victory, Dec. 3, 1966.
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 now, 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. UMass, 0-3 against 2002 NCAA Tournament teams heading into today's game, plays its next two games against teams which earned invitations to last season's Big Dance in Boston College and Connecticut. 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, Saint Joseph's and St. Bonaventure on a home-and-home basis, while meeting NCAA Tournament team Xavier, and NIT participants