University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Davidson
Men's Hoops Heads To Davidson For Saturday Match-Up
February 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Minutemen look to snap skid against Wildcats.
AMHERST, Mass. - Looking to snap a two-game skid, the UMass basketball team heads to North Carolina to take on Davidson this Saturday (7 PM). The game will be carried online only via the Atlantic 10 Digital Network. Â
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.
UMass is currently tied for 12th in the A-10 standings with a 4-9 league record - tied with George Washington. Davidson is tied for second alongside St. Bonaventure with a 9-4 league mark.
Davidson leads the all-time series 7-4 and has won the last three meetings. The last UMass win was 73-65 in Amherst on Dec. 22, 2011. Though Davidson is one of the newest members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, the two teams played each other prior to the series being a league match-up. The first-ever meeting was on Dec. 11, 1982 in the Charlotte Coliseum.
Wednesday's game saw C.J. Anderson score a team-high 21 points followed by another 20 point performance from Luwane Pipkins. Anderson posted his first career double-double adding 11 rebounds while scoring over 20 points for the second time this season. Pipkins hit five three-pointers to move him inot 10th all-time at UMass in career three-point field goals made (152). Also of note in the game, Carl Pierre notched his 72nd three-point field goal of the season to give him the UMass freshman record makes beyond the arc. Pipkins and Pierre are currently one of the top 8 duos in the NCAA in combined three-point field goals this season.Â
Prior to the George Washington game, the Minutemen also added a player - UMass football back-up quarterback Randall West. The redshirt junior tried out and practiced on Tuesday, Feb. 13 before playing the following day. The Mullins Center heard a loud chorus of cheers from a large contingent from the football team when West was inserted into the game. Those repeated when he had an offensive rebound and assist for his first UMass basketball statistics.
On the season, UMass continues to be led by Pipkins who is averaging 20.5 points followed by Pierre who is posting 12.2 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 9.3 points, 5.0 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. Over the last four games, Anderson has been scoring at a clip of 16.8 points while averaging 5.3 assists and 7.0 rebounds.
After averaging 23.4 points per game in January, 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 fourth-best individual performance in the NCAA this season. Defensively, the Chicago native is 5th overall in steals per game (1.58). 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 5.0 per game while his 126 assists are third-most overall as well.
Pierre ranks second in the A-10 for three-point field goal percentage (47.4%) and is the nation's most accurate three-point shooting freshman through 26 games. Overall, the Boston native ranks 9th nationally in three-point field goal percentage. He currently holds the third-best single-season shooting percentage in school history from beyond the arc. With 72 made threes, he broke the previous UMass freshman record shared by 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.
