Minutemen Head To Rutgers For Black Friday Matinee

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game 8	Massachusetts (5-2) at Rutgers (5-1)
Date \| Time	Friday, November 29, 2019 \| 2:00 p.m.
Location	Piscataway, N.J. \| The RAC \| Tickets
Watch	BTN Plus
Listen	105.5 FM (WEEI) \| 830 AM (WCRN) \| Tune-In App
Live Statistics	SIDEARM
Game Notes	Massachusetts Notes \| 2019-20 Prospectus
Plant The Flag Podcast	Coach McCall \| Nov. 26, 2019
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassBasketball
Instagram	UMass Basketball
Facebook	UMass Basketball
UMass Home Tickets	Get Your 2019-20 Tickets Now! \| 2019-20 Promotional Calendar

AMHERST, Mass. – The UMass basketball team heads back on the road for a Black Friday matinee at Rutgers at 2 p.m. at the RAC in the first meeting between the squads since 2009. The Minutemen are in search of their first win over a Big Ten opponent since 2013.

The series with Rutgers
The Minutemen and Scarlet Knights are meeting for the 49th time in series history, and first since Nov. 27, 2009. The Scarlet Knights lead the series, 28-20, which dates back to 1961, but it's been UMass with wins in nine of the last 10 meetings, dating back to 1992.

3J Weeks
Freshman T.J. Weeks is tied for eighth in the NCAA, and first among rookies, in three-point shooting percentage (22-of-42; 52.4%), and his 22 made three-pointers are tied for 13th in the country and second among freshmen. As a team, UMass is shooting nearly 37% beyond the arc (63-of-171), and its 63 made threes are tied for 22nd in the NCAA.

Lending a helping hand
Rookie Sean East II is 25th in the nation with 36 assists through seven games, tied for third among freshmen, including a season high eight against Rider on Nov. 20.

Best start since 2013
UMass entered last weekend at 5-0 on the young season, the best start for the program since the 2013-14 season. Before last Saturday's loss to No. 7/6 Virginia, the Minutemen were one of 53 remaining unbeaten teams in the NCAA, and one of 22 with a record of 5-0 or better.

It was the 15th time in school history that UMass has started 5-0, and made Matt McCall the eighth head coach in program history to lead a team to a 5-0 start.

Protecting the ball
UMass turned the ball over just seven times against Northeastern on Nov. 12, the fewest for the Minutemen since Feb. 24, 2018 at George Mason. Overall, UMass is tied for 34th in the NCAA in turnovers per game (11.1).

On the flip side, the Minutemen are averaging 7.9 steals per game, including a season-high 13 against CCSU, the third time this season and fourth time in the Matt McCall era that a UMass team had at least 10 steals in a game.

From East II Western Mass.
Down 34-33 with 0.6 seconds remaining in the first half against Northeastern on Nov. 12, freshman Sean East II launched a shot from more than 75-feet away that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, sending the Mullins Center into a frenzy.

The play went viral on social media and landed at No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays later that night.

According to basketballreference.com, since the 2009-10 NBA season only 2-of-583 shots from 70+ feet have been made (0.34%), and neither were from longer range than East II's:

How low can you go?
The defensive performance against CCSU on Nov. 16 was one for the ages for UMass. The Minutemen held the Blue Devils to just 48 points, the fewest points allowed since Jan. 21, 2006 against Temple.

St. John's pulls away from UMass at Mohegan
Freshman Tre Mitchell recorded his first collegiate double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to pace a UMass basketball team that led by a point at halftime before St. John's used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to overtake the Minutemen and hold on for a 78-63 victory on Sunday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Mitchell, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, was one of three Minutemen in double figures, joining T.J. Weeks who had a game-high 19 off the bench on 5-of-15 shooting (2-of-8 from three) and Keon Clergeot (11 points).

UMass inks two during early NLI signing period
UMass officially added a pair of talented newcomers for next season as Javohn Garcia (Columbus, Ohio) and Cairo McCrory (Hartford, Conn.) signed National Letters of Intent on Wednesday during the start of the early signing period.

Garcia, a 6-4, 175-pound guard, will arrive in Amherst from Brewster Academy, while McCrory is a 6-5, 185-pound guard from Woodstock Academy.

The road ahead
UMass returns home for three of its next four games, beginning on Wednesday when the Minutemen host South Carolina at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on CBSSN.

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Players Mentioned

Keon Clergeot

Sean East II

Tre Mitchell

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics