Men’s Hoops To Face No. 14 Minnesota, BYU In Barclays Classic

AMHERST, Mass. – After grinding out a win against a scrappy Western Carolina team on Tuesday night, the UMass men's basketball team takes to the road to face No. 14 Minnesota on Friday and BYU on Saturday in the 2017 Barclays Classic. The match-up with the Gophers will tip at Noon at LIU Brooklyn's Steinberg Wellness Center, while Saturday's contest with the Cougars is set for a 2:30 PM start at the Barclays Center.

Both games will be streamed live via Stadium on its Facebook Live page. The games are free to watch and available on both desktop and mobile devices. Fans are also encouraged to interact and comment with the game talent as they look to bring fans behind-the-scenes of each game.

Locally, fans will also be able to listen to the games on 105.5 FM WEEI and 830 AM WCRN with Voice of the Minute Josh Maurer and Tim Collins bringing the action to the radio network. The audio stream is available through both www.UMassAthletics.com and the Tune-In app for mobile devices.

Tuesday night saw the Minutemen (3-1) use a pair of runs to get past Western Carolina improving to 3-0 at the Mullins Center this season. Luwane Pipkins led the offense with his first career double-double of 21 points and a career-high 10 assists. The scoring effort improved his scoring average to 22.3 points per game which ranks fifth-best in the Atlantic 10. Pipkins' 5.5 assists per game is also good for fourth among all league players.

Along with Pipkins' performance, his third-straight 20-plus point effort, UMass received strong play from guards Carl Pierre, Rayshawn Miller and Chris Baldwin against the Catamounts. Pierre nearly matched his career high with 15 points, while Baldwin set a new career-best with 12 points along with four rebounds. Miller made his third start of the season and though he scored just eight points, he drilled a key three pointer when UMass held a one-point lead late in the second half to spark an 11-to-0 run.

Though Pipkins is the only player averaging double-figures through four games, four other Minutemen are averaging over nine points on the year. Rashaan Holloway is second on the team at 9.8 points to go with 5.3 boards, while C.J. Anderson has scored 9.5 points per game with five assists. Pierre has moved up to 9.5 points a game in his freshman year. Malik Hines rounds out the top performers with 9.3 points and a team-best seven rebounds per game.

Overall, UMass is the fourth-best scoring team in the A-10 under first-year head coach Matt McCall with an 81.8 point per game average. The Minutemen have been efficient offensively ranking third overall with a 48.7 percent shooting percentage while limiting second chance points as the best defensive rebounding team in the league allowing just 27.5 rebounds a game for opponents.

UMass has also found success recently at the charity stripe converting 40-of-46 free throw attempts over the last three games. As a team, the Minutemen were 10-of-11 at Harvard, 10-of-13 vs. Niagara and 20-of-22 against Western Carolina.

Minnesota improved to 5-0 on Tuesday night with a 100-57 win over Alabama A&M as Jordan Murphy notched his fifth straight double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Gophers are coached by Richard Pitino whose father, legendary coach Rick Pitino, is a UMass basketball alum. Minnesota also played Niagara (W, 107-81) and Western Carolina (W, 92-64) in the opening campus games of the Barclays Classic. Along with Murphy's 23.8 points and 12.2 rebounds to lead the Gophers, four others are scoring in double figures led by Nate Mason and Amir Coffee who are just over 13 points per contest.

BYU (3-1) is coming off a 95-88 win over Niagara on Tuesday night in Provo, Utah. The Cougars will take on Alabama on Friday afternoon before matching up with the Minutemen on Saturday. Elijah Bryant leads the squad with 21.5 points per game, while Yoeli Childs and T.J. Haws are each averaging just over 13 points a night.

Following the pair of games in to finish the Barclays Classic, the Minutemen will next be in action on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at Quinnipiac in Hampden, Conn. Tip-off is set for 7 PM and the game will be available on ESPN3/WatchESPN.

For complete coverage of the UMass basketball team, follow the Minutemen on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UMassBasketball and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.

Scoreboard

Men’s Hoops To Face No. 14 Minnesota, BYU In Barclays Classic

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Players Mentioned

C.J. Anderson

Chris Baldwin

Malik Hines

Rashaan Holloway

Rayshawn Miller

Carl Pierre

Luwane Pipkins

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics