University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen Travel To No. 9 Connecticut
December 09, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2002
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GAME DAY QUICK FACTS
The Teams: Massachusetts (1-4) vs. #9 Connecticut (5-0)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Hartford Civic Center (16,294), Hartford, Conn.
Television: ESPN Regional; Kenny Albert, play-by-play; Ron Perry, color
UMass Sports Radio: WRNX 100.9 FM, Holyoke, flagship; Bob Behler, play-by-play; Jack Leaman, color
UMass Student Radio: WMUA 91.1 FM, Amherst, Mass.
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 Connecticut Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. F 25 Mike Hayes 6-8 236 Sr. F 33 Denham Brown 6-5 205 Fr. C 50 Emeka Okafor 6-9 252 So. G 4 Ben Gordon 6-2 295 So. G 12 Taliek Brown 6-1 200 Jr.
The Game: Rivalry Week continues for the Massachusetts basketball team, as coach Steve Lappas' Minutemen battle ninth-ranked (both polls) and defending Big East regular season and tournament champion Connecticut with hopes of ending the Huskies' 11-game series win streak in the 105th meeting between a pair of longtime New England foes. Massachusetts, 1-4 after Saturday's 80-62 homecourt loss to Boston College in the Commonwealth Classic, is facing its fifth 2002 NCAA Tournament entrant of the young season in UConn, a program which advanced to the Elite Eight, while also playing its fifth game of the year away from the Mullins Center. Following this game, the Minutemen return to the Commonwealth for five consecutive contests before returning to the road for the Atlantic 10 opener at Fordham, Jan 5. Armed with only two seniors on its 13-man 2002-03 roster (and just one other player, UConn transfer Marcus Cox, with more than a year's worth of collegiate experience under their belt), UMass opened its season 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 Utah, another 2002 NCAA Tournament team. The Minutemen rebounded to beat host Chaminade, 69-55, in Maui's seventh-place game, but have since returned to New England only to drop games to a pair of 2002 NCAA Tournament entrants in Central Connecticut State (46-45 at Mohegan Sun Arena, Dec. 2) and BC. Connecticut, 5-0 after Saturday's 97-85 homecourt victory over Wagner and winners of 17 of its last 18 games dating to last year, is off to its best start since the 1998-99 campaign when it ran off 19 consecutive victories to open the year en route to a 34-2 finish and a 77-74 victory over Duke in the NCAA championship game. The Huskies, 5-0 for the fifth time in coach Jim Calhoun's 17-year tenure, are 4-0 at home this season, including a 1-0 mark at the Hartford Civic Center. UConn owns an 87-18 (.829) mark in its 27th season of play here against non-league foes, including a 67-55 victory over George Washington, Nov. 25. The high-scoring Huskies, who have topped the 90-point barrier in three of five starts (while yielding 78 or fewer points four times), average 89.4 ppg and feature four double-digit scorers led by sophomore Ben Gordon's 20.6 ppg mark. Another sophomore, Emeka Okafor, has turned in a double-double in every start this year, while averaging 19.2 ppg and 13.6 rpg.
Minute-Matters: An inside look at Massachusetts as the Minutemen aim to snap an 11-game UConn series win streak, and beat a ranked Husky squad for the first time in seven tries . . .
The Coaches: Massachusetts coach Steve Lappas (City College of New York, 1977) owns a 14-20 (.412) record in his second season on the Minuteman bench and a 244-192 (.560) 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. Lappas is 6-11 all-time against UConn, 0-1 as UMass' bench boss. 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. Connecticut's Jim Calhoun (American International, 1968) owns a 381-149 (.719) record in his 17th season with the Huskies, and a 629-286 (.687) mark in his 31st season as a Division I head coach. Calhoun, who fashioned a 250-137 (.646) record in 14 seasons at Northeastern before moving to UConn, has led the Huskies to postseason play in each of the last 15 seasons (11 NCAAs, four NITs), and directed his 1998-99 team to the NCAA championship and the 1987-88 squad to the NIT crown. All-told, 20 of his 30 teams have advanced to postseason play (16 NCAA, four NIT). The winningest coach in Northeastern, UConn and New England Division I college basketball history, Calhoun ranks as the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I today and his four 30-win seasons rank in a tie for second all-time behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewksi. Calhoun, whose first victory at UConn was a 58-54 decision over UMass, Nov. 29, 1986, in Storrs, is 14-8 all-time against the Minutemen, 9-0 as head coach at Connecticut and 5-8 during his Northeastern tenure.
Boston College Review: For the second consecutive game, Massachusetts got out of the gate quickly, racing to a 7-0 lead in the game's first 90 seconds. Boston College, though, used a 10-2 run to take a 10-9 lead with 15:21 left in the first half, but the game remained tight for much of the half. The visiting Eagles took the lead for good on a Troy Bell dunk with 6:59 left in the opening half that broke a 24-all tie, and took a 34-28 lead into halftime. UMass scored the first hoop of the second half on a Micah Brand jumper to pull within 34-30, but BC scored the game's next 14 points to stretch the lead to 18 at 48-30 with 16:17 left in the game. The Minutemen would get no closer than 14 the rest of the way in dropping their fourth straight game overall to the Eagles, and their third straight in Commonwealth Classic play. Michael Lasme led the Minutemen with 13 points off the bench, while Gabe Lee added a career-high 11 points off the pine, and Brennan Martin chipped in with a career-high-tying nine points. BC placed four players in double figures, led by Bell's game-high 21 points, and held a 44-31 advantage on the boards.
The Series: This is the 105th meeting in a series UConn leads, 66-38, and that has seen the Huskies win 11 straight and 19 of the last 20 meetings dating to the 1977-78 season to take command of a series that it once led only by a 47-37 count. The Minutemen, who dropped a 69-59 decision to the Huskies last year in Amherst, haven't beaten Connecticut since posting a 67-65 overtime victory, Dec. 15, 1983, in Curry Hicks Cage. This series dates to a 66-22 UMass victory at Storrs, Feb. 14, 1905, and ranks as the second-most played series in Massachusetts history behind the Rhode Island series (118 games). UConn's current 11-game win streak is the longest for either team in the series. UMass is 1-4 against the Huskies in the Hartford Civic Center, with its lone victory being an 81-80 decision, Jan. 13, 1977, a win which also marks the last time the Minutemen beat UConn in the state of Connecticut. Two years ago here, the Huskies scored an 82-67 victory over Massachusetts.
About Last Year's UMass-UConn Game: Connecticut built a double-digit lead in the game's first seven minutes, held a 13-point halftime lead, and went on to post a 69-59 victory over Massachusetts in Amherst, Dec. 11, 2001. Trailing, 36-23 at halftime, the Minutemen pulled to within 41-37 with 12:07 left in the game, but could get no closer in dropping their 11th-straight game to the Huskies. UConn kept UMass at bay by hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the game's final 42 seconds. Shannon Crooks led the UMass attack with 14 points, while Kitwana Rhymer turned in a 12-point, 12-rebound effort and Anthony Anderson tallied 10 points. Tony Robertson led UConn with a game-high 15 points. UMass hit a then-season-low 32.9 percent from the field for the game (just 5.6 percent from three-point range), while UConn connected on 47.8 percent of its field goals and 57.1 percent of its three-pointers. The Minutemen, though, outrebounded the Huskies, 46-28.
UMass Against Ranked Opponents: Massachusetts owns a 27-57 (.321) all-time mark against ranked opponents, including an 0-3 record under coach Lappas. The Minutemen have dropped 10 of their last 11 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. UMass, which dropped an 84-71 decision to then-22nd-ranked Indiana in its 2002-03 season opener at the Maui Invitational, is 0-6 all-time against ranked Connecticut squads.
Preseason Forecast: 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.
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, 0-4 against 2002 NCAA Tournament teams heading into tonight's game against the Huskies, still must face a North Carolina State team, which advanced to the NCAAs for the first time in more than a decade a year ago, next month in Amherst. 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 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.
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, 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-plus seasons, Massachusetts owns a 283-145 (.661) 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 (283). Xavier, though, does have 290 victories to its credit over that time frame, but the Musketeers didn't join the A-10 until the 1995-96 campaign.
Looking Ahead to 2003-04: Art Bowers, a 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard from St. Benedict's (N.J.) Prep School, signed a National Letter of Intent during the recently completed early-signing period to play for the Minutemen next season. "We are really excited to sign Art," UMass coach Steve Lappas said. "He's a player who will really fit into our system. Art is a tremendous athlete and a gifted offensive player. I'm really looking forward to having him in our program, because he's a special talent. Art's a driver, but he also has the ability to hit the three-pointer, too, so his versatility is a huge plus." As a junior for coach Danny Hurley, Bowers, a native of Wilmington, Del., averaged 16 points per game en route to first team All-State honors. He led St. Benedict's, located in Newark, N.J., to a 22-7 record and the state championship. Ranked as the nation's 32nd-best prep prospect by ESPN.com and the 44th-best by PrepStars, he earned All-Tournament honors at the PowerAid and Slam Dunk to the Beach events as a junior. Bowers is also a two-time Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions Most Valuable Player. Bowers, who selected UMass over Wake Forest, Rutgers, De Paul and Pittsburgh, outscored 2002 Ohio high school Player of the Year and Sports Illustrated coverboy Lebron James, 21-18, in a head-to-head match-up last season, but James' St. Vincent-St. Mary's team pulled out a 67-60 victory. In addition to Bowers, top 100 recruit Rashaun Freeman (Schnectady, N.Y.), who signed with UMass in 2001, is attending Massachusetts this season and will be eligible next year.
Fast Breaks: Boston College (Eagles, 80-62)--Minutemen raced to 7-0 lead in game's first 90 seconds and hit 9-of-12 from the field in the early going, but Boston College broke a 24-all tie on a with a dunk by Troy Bell and never trailed again in beating UMass for second straight time in the Mullins Center and the fourth time overall; UMass was within 34-30 with 19:51 left in the game, but a 14-0 Eagles' run put the game away, as BC built lead to as many as 23 in second half; Michael Lasme led UMass with a 13-point effort off the bench, while Gabe Lee tallied career-high 11 and Brennan Martin added a career-high-tying nine points; BC outrebounded UMass, 44-31, and hit 49.2 percent from the field, including 54.3 percent in the second half; Crowd of 6,392 was largest for home opener since 7,536 were on hand for the Dec. 2, 1997 opener against College of Charleston. Central Connecticut State (Blue Devils, 46-45)--Central Connecticut State overcame a 15-point second half deficit to hand Minutemen their third loss in four games to open the season; Blue Devils closed the game on a 16-5 run to erase UMass' 40-30 advantage in the game's final 7:44; Loss ended UMass' 29-game win streak when holding an opponent to 49 or fewer points, dating to 1986-87 campaign; Micah Brand recorded his first double-double of the season (and the fourth of his career), an 11-point, 10-rebound effort; Jackie Rogers recorded his third double-figure scoring game of the season, a 13-point performance. Chaminade (Minutemen, 69-55)--UMass picked up first win of season behind Anthony Anderson's career-high-tying 20 points and career-best nine assists; Minutemen trailed by six early, but rallied to take 34-33 halftime lead; game was close early in final half, before Massachusetts used runs of 7-0 and 12-1 to push the lead to 16 at 65-49 with 4:33 left in the game, and the Silverswords would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way; Michael Lasme tallied career-best 14 points in third career game; UMass hit season-high 47.2 percent from the field, including 52.2 percent in the second half. Utah (Utes, 69-53)--In first-ever meeting between the schools, UMass had 23-18 lead with 3:15 left in the first half, but Utah scored final 12 points to take 30-23 halftime lead; Utes pushed lead to 16 at 51-35 with 10:55 left in the game, but Minutemen used 12-2 run to pull within 53-47 with 6:11 to go; Down 55-49 at the 4:22 mark, UMass watched Utah score the game's next eight points to put the game away, as Utes closed game with 14-4 run; Jackie Rogers was lone Minuteman to score in double-digits (17 points), as Massachusetts started the season 0-2 for the first time since the 1982-83 campaign (0-4); Nick Jacobson led the Utes, who shot 58.5 percent from the field for the game (68.8 percent in the second half), with a game-high 21 points. Indiana (Hoosiers, 84-71)--Minutemen held four-point lead (11-7) at the 15:56 mark, but 2002 NCAA runner-up Indiana broke 16-all tie with a 6-0 run to take a 22-16 lead and the closest UMass would get the rest of the way would be four points, the last time at 44-40 with 2:29 left in the first half; Hoosiers scored final six points of first half to push halftime lead to 50-40, and Minutemen got no closer than seven in the second stanza; Four Minutemen scored in double figures, led by Raheim Lamb's first career double-double, a 17-point, career-high 12-rebound effort; UConn transfer Marcus Cox had collegiate high 14 points in his UMass debut; All five Indiana starters scored in double figures, led by Tom Coverdale's 20 points and George Leach's 19-point, 16-rebound double-double; Hoosiers went on to win Maui title.
From Here: The Minutemen return to the Mullins Center this Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest against Florida International, then take a break for final exams before returning to action on Dec. 21 against Lafayette at the Springfield Civic Center. Following tonight's game, UMass will play eight of its next 10 games in the Commonwealth. UConn is idle until hosting UNC Asheville at the Civic Center, Dec. 21.