University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Saint Louis
Men's Hoops Heads To La Salle Wednesday Night
January 23, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Minutemen kickoff two-game road week with Explorers re-match.
Looking to snap a two-game skid, the UMass basketball team heads out on the road this week with a Wednesday night tilt at La Salle for the second meeting of the year between the two squads. UMass won an 86-79 overtime epic two weeks ago where the Minutemen erased a 21-point second half deficit behind a school-record 44 points by Luwane Pipkins. Â
UMass is currently ranks 7th in the A-10 standings with a 3-4 record alongside Saint Louis and Dayton. The Explorers are tied for 12th at 2-5 with George Washington.
Wednesday's game will be streamed live on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network. On the radio airwaves, the game will be broadcast on the UMass Sports Network anchored by flagship station 105.5 FM WEEI and online via the TuneIn App. Voice of the Minutemen Josh Maurer will be joined courtside by former Minuteman Jason Germain courtside.
Overall, UMass holds a 22-16 advantage in the series thanks in part to five straight wins at the Mullins Center. The two teams split the series last year with the Explorers picking up an 88-78 win at Tom Gola Arena last February.
The Minutemen struggled last Saturday with a suddenly surging Saint Louis squad which used a 16-to-0 run in the second half to put the game out of reach. The Billikens held UMass to a season-low 47 points. Luwane Pipkins led UMass with 17 points, while Carl Pierre notched 13. Saint Louis received double-double performances from Jordan Goodwin (19 pts, 10 reb) and Hasahn French (12 pts, 10 reb).
On the season, UMass continues to be led by Pipkins who is averaging 19.7 points followed by Pierre who is posting 11.4 points in his rookie campaign. The lone senior on the roster, C.J. Anderson, has been one of the most well-rounded players on the squad with 8.1 points, 5.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game.
After scoring 126 points over the last five games, Pipkins ranks third overall in the A-10 for scoring average this season. His 44 points against La Salle set a new UMass school record, a Mullins Center record, was the ninth-best performance in A-10 history and was the third-best individual performance in the NCAA this season. Defensively, the Chicago native is 10th overall in steals per game (1.50). Offensively, the guard has improved from 2016-17 to this season by +9.5 points per game - the best of any Minuteman this year.
Anderson ranks third among the league's best in assists as well with 5.3 per game while his 101 assists are second-most overall.
Pierre leads the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage (48.1%) and is the nation's most accurate three-point shooting freshman through 20 games. Overall, the Boston native ranks 11th nationally in three-point field goal percentage. He currently holds the third-best single-season shooting percentage in school history from beyond the arc.
As a team, UMass ranks sixth in the A-10 in shooting percentage (44.5%), third in 3-point percentage (37.0%) and fourth in free throw percentage (74.1%) this season. UMass' 163 made three-pointers are fourth most in the league, while the Minutemen rank third in the league for total assists (300).
Following Wednesday's game, UMass will remain on the road for a nationally televised game on the NBC Sports Network at Fordham's historic Rose Hill Gymnasium. The game is set for a 2 PM tip-off. Â
For complete coverage of the UMass men's basketball team, follow the Minutemen on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UMassBasketball and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.
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