University of Massachusets Athletics
Atlantic 10 Hosts Men's Basketball Media Day Tuesday
October 20, 2015 | Men's Basketball
| University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball At The 2015 Atlantic 10 Media Day | |
| Date | Time | Tuesday, Oct. 20 | 10:00 a.m. -- 4:00 p.m. |
| Location | Barclays Center; Brooklyn, N.Y. |
| Team Information | 2015 UMass Men's Basketball A-10 Media Day Notes  |
| Watch | A-10 Live! |
| Photos | Facebook gallery from media day |
| @UMassBasketball | @UMassAthletics | |
The Rundown: Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Media Day
The Atlantic 10 Conference holds its annual men's basketball media day Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event, which brings together each of the head coaches in the league for media availability ahead the preseason, features a variety of platforms and is broken up into a morning and afternoon session.
Split by a group luncheon from Noon -- 1:30 p.m., Atlantic 10 Media Day consists of print outlet interviews as well as an on-camera one-on-one with each coach streamed on A-10 Live! during the day. American Sports Network will be at the Barclays Center during the event to speak with each head coach while time is also budgeted out for additional electronic interviews and a social media aspect.
University of Massachusetts men's basketball head coach Derek Kellogg will participate in the afternoon session, which begins at 1:30 p.m.
Freshman Success Story
Donte Clark provided one of the best recent rookie season success stories in UMass basketball history in 2014-15 as the true freshman produced 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 23.2 minutes per game. Clark started the final 18 games and appeared in all 32 contests while he scored in double figures during 15 contests.
Clark led the team in scoring during five games while he provided an additional threat from outside with 29 made 3-pointers and had at least one in 18 games. The Charlotte, N.C., native set a career high with 25 points, including a 3-of-4 line from outside the arc in Springfield against Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 7 while he added a team-high 23 points with four assists on a career-best 5-for-7 performance from 3-point range during a 66-59 win over La Salle at home on Feb. 8.
Clark led the team over the final five games with 14.4 points scored on average and capped his season with 23 points and six boards against La Salle during the Atlantic 10 Tournament Second Round on March 12.
Pound The Paint
UMass possessed one of the best big man tandems in the Atlantic 10 in Maxie Esho and Cady Lalanne. This duo helped the Minutemen put up gaudy numbers in the paint during Atlantic 10 competition, during which the Minutemen produce 76.5 percent of their two-point baskets from close range.
Lalanne led all Minutemen with 11.6 points per game and hit 55.2 percent of his field goal attempts (138-250), the sixth-highest conversion rate across the Atlantic 10. Esho was second with 11.3 points while the redshirt senior forward made 133 of his 266 field goal tries (50.0 percent). Combined, the duo was 264-for-486 on attempts from inside the three-point arc (.543).
Tis The Season For Giving
As a team, UMass earned an assist on 55.6 percent of its field goals over the course of the 2014-15 season (429 assists on 772 made field goals). A year ago, the team dished out a helper over 55.4 percent of its baskets, the highest percentage since the 2005-06 squad (57.8).
UMass handed out a season-high 22 assists against Canisius on Dec. 13, and did so on 25 field goals made. The starting backcourt trio of Trey Davis (4), Derrick Gordon (5) and Jabarie Hinds (6) combined for 15. With an assist on 88.0 percent of its made field goals, UMass set the highest single-game total in the seven years under head coach Derek Kellogg, and the highest since Feb. 17, 2008, when the Minutemen assisted on 23 of 26 baskets during an 88-77 victory at home against Saint Louis.
Hinds Proves Clutch Off The Bench
Then-junior guard Jabarie Hinds proved clutch off of the bench in his first active season as a Minuteman since transferring from West Virginia prior to the 2013-14 campaign. Hinds ended the campaign averaging 8.1 points per game as the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native hit 41.0 percent of his field goal attempts (98-239) and dished out 70 assists with 32 steals.
Hinds produced 12 games with double-digit points totals over the year, including seven during Atlantic 10 competition. His 3-point accuracy steadily improved as the season progressed as he shot 42 percent over the final 13 games and made at least one triple in each of those contests.
Minutemen Picked 10th In Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll
UMass men's basketball was slated 10th overall in the conference in the poll of the league's head coaches ahead of 2015-16 Atlantic 10 Media Day. The Minutemen received 142 points in the poll and were slated ahead of Duquesne, Saint Louis, George Mason and Fordham. Dayton earned the top spot with 352 points and 12 first place votes while Rhode Island took second (347 points, eight first place votes).
Davidson took third ahead of George Washington in fourth. VCU (fifth), Richmond (sixth) and Saint Joseph's (seventh) closed out the top half of selections. St. Bonaventure earned eighth while La Salle was placed in ninth.
Lalanne Named A-10 All-Conference, USBWA All-District
Massachusetts senior center Cady Lalanne has been named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference and USBWA All-District I Teams. Lalanne was named to the Third Team in a vote of the conference's 14 head coaches. For the USBWA award, Lalanne was among 11 honorees for District I, which includes schools in the six New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
His inclusion on the team marks the fourth-consecutive year a UMass player has earned all-district and the 60th time for a Minutemen player since 1963. The Orlando native is one of just three players in school history to record more than 1,000 points, 800 rebounds and 100 blocks, joining Lou Roe and Harper Williams.
Free Throw Shooting Carries Minutemen
UMass ranked 55th in the country for free throws made (532) and 23rd in attempts (756), with per game averages of 17.1 made and 24.2 attempts, during the 2014-15 season. The Minutemen have made at least 10 free throws in 29 of 32 games and hit more than their opponents attempted on 11 occasions.
Among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs, the Minutemen had the most free throws made among teams who played in 32 or fewer contests during 2014-15.
Davis Turning It Up
Trey Davis dialed up his performances during the final two months of the season and averaged 11.8 points, 4.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds during the second half of the campaign. He has made 35 of the team's 102 3-pointers during the stretch, which encompasses the last 21 games.
The East Dallas native had been automatic at the free throw line, where he made 33 consecutive attempts prior to a second-half miss at Rhode Island on Feb. 18. His streak tied Chaz Williams for the UMass record of consecutive makes against a conference opponent. Donta Bright holds the school record for consecutive made free throws from when Bright knocked down 40-straight from Jan. 10-Feb. 1, 1996. Davis made 43-of-47 (.915) taken during the final minute of play in 2014-15.
Davis notched 15 double-figure scoring games as a junior, with nine in Atlantic 10 play, and he finished the year third among Minutemen in scoring at 10.8 points per game.
