University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Fordham
Saturday Matinee As Men's Hoops Heads To Fordham On Saturday
January 26, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Match-up against Rams will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
AMHERST, Mass. -Â Looking to bounce back from a tough loss at La Salle on Wednesday, the UMass basketball team looks to earn a split of the two-game road week with a Saturday match-up at Fordham. The game will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network with tip-off set for 2 PM. Â Â
UMass is currently tied for 10th in the A-10 standings with a 3-5 record alongside Saint Louis and La Salle. The Rams are in 14th place with a 1-7 league record (6-14 overall).
Jason Knapp (play-by-play) and Blaine Fowler (analyst) will have the call for NBC Sports which will also stream the game online via www.NBCSports.com.
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 Adam Frenier.
Overall, UMass holds a 29-15 advantage in the series though the Rams have won the last two meetings. Prior to the past two seasons, UMass had won five straight match-ups in the series dating back to 2012. Rose Hill has proven a challenging place to play for the Minutemen with the series record knotted 10-10 in the Bronx.
Wednesday night saw a hot shooting La Salle team claim an 87-72 victory in Philadelphia over the Minutemen splitting the season series as each squad won on its home court. Luwane Pipkins led UMass with 25 points on the strength of six three-pointers, while Malik Hines and Carl Pierre each added 11 points.
On the season, UMass continues to be led by Pipkins who is averaging 20.0 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, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.
After scoring 151 points over the last six games (25.2 ppg), 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 (1.52). Offensively, the guard has improved from 2016-17 to this season by +9.8 points per game - the best of any Minuteman this year.
Anderson ranks third among the league's best in assists as well with 5.1 per game while his 102 assists are second-most overall.
Pierre leads the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage (47.4%) and is the nation's most accurate three-point shooting freshman through 21 games. Overall, the Boston native ranks 13th 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 (44.7%), third in 3-point percentage (37.4%) and sixth in free throw percentage (73.2%) this season. UMass' 173 made three-pointers are third most in the league, while the Minutemen rank fourth in the league for total assists (312).
Following Saturday's game, UMass will return home to hose long-time New England rival Rhode Island on Tuesday night at 6:30 PM. The game against the 23rd-ranked Rams will air nationally on the CBS Sports Network. 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.
