University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
George Washington
Valentine's Day Match-Up As Hoops Hosts George Washington
February 12, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Minutemen host Colonials Wednesday night on Eleven Sports/NESN Plus.
AMHERST, Mass. - After a tough road loss in Philadelphia last Saturday, the UMass basketball team returns home to host George Washington on Eleven Sports/NESN Plus. The Valentines Day match-up will be a key league game as UMass enters the week tied for 11th and the Colonials in 14th as the regular-season begins to wind down.
Tim Neverett (play-by-play) and Frank Sullivan (analyst) will have the call for the telecast which will also be streamed online via the Atlantic 10 Digital Network outside of New England and www.NESNGo.com inside the region. Eleven Sports can be viewed on DIRECTV channel 623, Verizon Fios channel 597, AT&T U-verse channel 1665 and on Fubo.tv and PlayStation Vue.
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 Tim Collins.
Overall, George Washington leads the all-time series 40-29 including an 83-67 win in Washington, D.C., last season. The Colonials have won four straight in the series, but the series has historically be closer in Amherst with UMass holding a 15-14 edge.
In Saturday's loss at Saint Joseph's, Luwane Pipkins and Carl Pierre each tallied 21 points to lead the Minutemen. C.J. Anderson, who has been playing well over the last three games, was third in scoring with 14 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. The Hawks used a second half run to pull ahead of UMass after the teams were tied 41-41 at the intermission.
On the season, UMass continues to be led by Pipkins who is averaging 20.5 points followed by Pierre who is posting 12.3 points in his rookie campaign. The lone senior on the roster, Anderson, has been one of the most well-rounded players on the squad with 8.8 points, 5.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game. Over the last three games, Anderson has been scoring at a clip of 15.3 points while averaging 6.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds.
After averaging 23.4 points per game in January, Pipkins ranks second 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 fourth-best individual performance in the NCAA this season. Defensively, the Chicago native is 6th overall in steals per game (1.56). Offensively, the guard has improved from 2016-17 to this season by +10.3 points per game - the best of any Minuteman this year. Pipkins is looking to become the sixth player in program history to average 20-plus points for a season - a list which includes Julius Erving, Jim McCoy and Marcus Camby.
Anderson ranks fourth among the league's best in assists as well with 5.1 per game while his 123 assists are third-most overall as well.
Pierre ranks second in the A-10 for three-point field goal percentage (48.3%) and is the nation's most accurate three-point shooting freshman through 25 games. Overall, the Boston native ranks 7th nationally in three-point field goal percentage. He currently holds the second-best single-season shooting percentage in school history from beyond the arc. With 71 made three pointers, he has tied the UMass freshman record shared with Pipkins and Anthony Anderson (2001-02).
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.
