University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
La Salle
Men's Hoops Opens A-10 Championship Wednesday Versus La Salle
March 06, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Tip-off set for 6 PM at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
It's officially March Madness as the UMass basketball team heads to Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., to kickoff the 2018 Atlantic 10 Championship tournament. The Minutemen enter as the No. 13 seed and will face 12th-seeded La Salle on Wednesday night. The game is set for a 6 PM tip-off and will be televised by Stadium.
Matt Martucci (play-by-play) and Tim Welch (analyst) will have the call for Stadium. The game will also be streamed online for free via 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 Tim Collins.
The other opening round game will pit No. 14 seed Fordham against No. 11 seed George Washington. The winner of the UMass/La Salle game will advance to face 5th-seeded George Mason on Thursday at 2:30 PM. That game will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
UMass and La Salle split their two-game series this year with both teams winning on their home court. The first game of the year saw an epic 44-point effort by Luwane Pipkins as UMass erased a 21-point second half deficit to defeat the Explorers 86-79 in overtime. La Salle returned the favor in Philadelphia with a hot-shooting night to pick up an 87-72 win at Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers hit 55-percent from the field as B.J. Johnson and Amar Stukes scored 26 and 22 points, respectively.
Overall, UMass is 26-17 all-time against La Salle. The teams have played just three times before against each other in the Atlantic 10 Championship tournament with the Explorers holding a 2-1 edge. La Salle won the last A-10 tournament meeting, 76-69, in the 2015 second round.
The Minutemen snapped a six-game skid with an 85-75 win over Duquesne in the regular-season finale. Malik Hines had a career-high 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting, while C.J. Anderson produced a Senior Night double-double of 12 points and 12 assists in his final home game. Overall five players reached double-figures in the scoring column with both Rayshawn Miller and Pipkins scoring 16 points, while Carl Pierre added 15 points.
Pipkins remains ninth all-time for career three-pointers made (169) and moved into a tie for third for single-season threes (98), while Pierre moved into seventh with 88 three-pointers extending his UMass freshman record.
On the season, UMass continues to be led by Pipkins who is averaging 21.1 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 10.3 points, 5.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Over the last nine games, Anderson has been scoring at a clip of 15.8 points while averaging 5.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
After averaging 23.4 points per game in January, Pipkins ranks second in the A-10 for scoring average this season and is 28th nationally. His 44 points against La Salle set a new UMass school record, a Mullins Center record, was the 10-best performance in A-10 history and was the 10th-best individual performance in the NCAA this season. Defensively, the Chicago native is 8th overall in steals per game (1.53). Offensively, the guard has improved from 2016-17 to this season by +10.9 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 A-10's best in assists as well with 5.2 per game while his 156 assists are third-most overall.
Pierre ranks second in the A-10 for three-point field goal percentage (47.1%) and is the nation's most accurate three-point shooting freshman. Overall, the Boston native ranks 7th 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 88 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.
