UMass Heads Back On The Road To Battle George Mason Wednesday

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game 17	Massachusetts (7-11, 1-4) at George Mason (12-6, 1-4)
Date \| Time	Wednesday, January 22, 2020 \| 7:00 p.m.
Location	Fairfax, Va. \| Eaglebank Arena
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	WEEI (105.5 FM) \| WCRN (830 AM) \| Tune-In App
Live Statistics	Live Statistics
Game Notes	Massachusetts Notes \| 2019-20 Prospectus
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 men's basketball team returns to the court on Wednesday night as the Minutemen continue Atlantic 10 play at George Mason. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

The series with George Mason
Wednesday is the 12th all-time meeting between the two teams with the Patriots holding an 8-3 record in the series. George Mason has won the last seven meetings, including both last season, with UMass' last win coming on Feb. 21, 2016.

Stiff competition
UMass has gone up against some of the nation's top teams, including eight currently ranked in the top-100 of the NCAA NET Rankings: Dayton (5), Rutgers (18), Saint Louis (54), Yale (58), Virginia (63), Akron (65), St. John's (77) and Harvard (93).

Pierre climbing the ranks
On Jan. 8 against La Salle, captain Carl Pierre became the 52nd player in team history to reach 1000 career points. His 11 points on Saturday vs. George Washington moved him into a tie for 43rd on UMass' all-time scoring list:

Tre ball
Freshman Tre Mitchell had a career-high 28 points on Jan. 15 vs. St. Bonaventure, and is seventh in the Atlantic 10 and first among rookies averaging 15.4 points per game this season. Mitchell's 28-point night against the Bonnies were the most for a UMass freshman since Rashaun Holloway scored 31 on Feb. 28, 2004.

Double 'em up
Samba Diallo's 11 point - 14 rebound performance on Jan. 5 at Saint Louis marked the first career double-double for the sophomore. He's the third Minuteman this season to record his first-ever double-double, joining Carl Pierre (23 points, 10 rebounds at Akron) and Tre Mitchell (14 points, 12 rebounds vs. St. John's).

Diallo followed it up with a 12 point - 12 rebound night vs. La Salle on Jan. 8 for his second straight.

Dibaji Walker receives waiver from NCAA
UMass announced on Dec. 30 that Dibaji Walker has received a waiver from the NCAA and is immediately eligible for competition. Walker transferred to UMass this fall after a season at Cleveland State, and made his Minuteman debut on Dec. 30 at Akron.

Walker played a year of prep hoops at Woodstock Academy under current UMass assistant coach Tony Bergeron, where he helped guide the Centaurs to a 35-5 record and a No. 3 national ranking. The 14th-ranked recruit in the 2018 class of Conn. averaged 11 points per contest and added five boards, three assists and two steals at Woodstock.

Walker had a season-high 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and five rebounds off the bench on Saturday against George Washington.

Guess who's back, back again
Jan. 5 at Saint Louis marked the return of freshman guard Kolton Mitchell, who had missed the previous 12 games with a hand injury. Since returning, Mitchell is averaging 14 minutes per game off the bench.

Between Mitchell, John Buggs III and T.J. Weeks, the Minutemen have missed a combined 34 games due to injury this season. At the time of his injury, Weeks was leading the team in scoring (14.7 ppg) and was 10th in the NCAA, and first among rookies, in 3-point shooting percentage (32-of-66; 48.5%).

We'll be taking that
The Minutemen are averaging 7.4 steals per game, good for 96th in the NCAA, including a season-high 13 against Maine, the fourth time this season and fifth time in the Matt McCall era that a UMass team had at least 10 steals in a game.

The Minutemen are also 79th in the country and fourth in the conference in forced turnovers (15.17), and have forced their opponents into 20+ turnovers three times (CCSU, Maine, Saint Louis).

From deep
UMass is shooting better than 35% beyond the arc (152-of-429), and its 152 made threes are fifth in the Atlantic 10 this season and 97th in the nation. UMass is 77th in the NCAA with 8.4 three-pointers per game, while Carl Pierre is 36th in the country and second in the A-10 with 53 made threes.

Youth movement
It's a new look roster for the Minutemen in 2019-20 with nine newcomers, including seven freshmen. The seven rookies are the most for UMass since the 2007-08 season. All seven freshmen (John Buggs III, Sean East II, C.J. Jackson, Kolton Mitchell, Tre Mitchell, Preston Santos, T.J. Weeks) have made their collegiate debuts, with Tre Mitchell and East II starting all 17 games.

The rookies have combined for 55.6% (697-of-1255) of the Minutemen's scoring so far this season.

Weeks and East II started the season with back-to-back Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week accolades, marking the first time since the 2003-04 that UMass collected consecutive conference rookie of the week honors.

Scoreboard

UMass Heads Back On The Road To Battle George Mason Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

John Buggs III

Samba Diallo

Sean East II

C.J. Jackson

Kolton Mitchell

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

Preston Santos

Dibaji Walker

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics