Minutemen Return Home To Host La Salle On Wednesday At Mullins

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game 15	Massachusetts (6-8, 0-1 Atlantic 10) vs. La Salle (10-4, 1-1 Atlantic 10)
Date \| Time	Wednesday, January 8, 2020 \| 7:00 p.m.
Location	Amherst, Mass. \| Mullins Center
Watch	NESN \| NESNgo \| ESPN+ (outside New England)
Listen	WEEI (105.5 FM) \| WCRN (830 AM) \| Tune-In App
Live Statistics	SIDEARM Live Stats
Game Notes	Massachusetts Notes \| 2019-20 Prospectus \| Podcast with Coach McCall
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 home for the first time in 2020 on Wednesday night when the Minutemen host Atlantic 10 foe La Salle at 7 p.m. on NESN.

Wednesday's promotions
Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes. Help us celebrate all the superheroes out there, both fictional and real. Come dressed as your favorite superhero for a chance to win a UMass Basketball prize pack. We will also be recognizing the everyday superheroes in our community, the first responders, police officers, and firefighters. Come early for your chance to get your hands on a UMass superhero cape!

In addition, UMass is offering free admission to all college students who present a valid college ID at the box office during the winter break.

The series with La Salle
Overall, UMass leads the series with La Salle, 23-19, which dates back to 1971-72. It's been the Explorers, though, with wins in three of the last four meetings, including a pair of nine-point wins last season in the home-and-home series.

East Mode
Sean East II averaged 22 points and 5.5 assists in two games last week en route to his second Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week nod of the season.

It marks the first time since the 2003-04 season that Massachusetts has collected four conference rookie of the week nods in the same season, and makes East II the first Minuteman since Chris Lowe in 2005-06 to earn the honor twice in a season.

East II is sixth in the nation among freshmen, and t-66th overall, in total assists with 72 through 14 games, including a season-high nine against Yale on Dec. 11. His 5.1 assists per game are tied for 56th in the NCAA and fifth among rookies.

Milestone watch
Carl Pierre is inching his way closer to another feat. The Boston native currently sits at 986 career points, and is closing in on becoming the 52nd player in team history to reach 1000 career points.

He poured in 23 points and 10 rebounds on Dec. 30 at Akron for his first career double-double, and added 16 in 41 minutes at Saint Louis last Sunday.

Home sweet home
The Minutemen are back at the Mullins Center for the first time in over two weeks where they are 5-2 this season. UMass is outscoring opponents by an average of 13.4 points per game and shooting nearly 42% from three (76-of-177) at home.

Carl Pierre (16.6) and Tre Mitchell (15.6) are both averaging better than 15 points per game at home, while the defense is forcing opponents into an average of 17.1 turnovers per game.

Stiff competition
Massachusetts has gone up against some of the nation's top teams in 2019-20, including seven currently ranked in the top-100 of the NCAA NET Rankings: Rutgers (29), Akron (50), Virginia (51), Yale (58), St. John's (60), Saint Louis (74) and Harvard (98).

The road doesn't get any easier for the Minutemen, who head on the road to take on No. 15/18 Dayton (8 in the NET) on Saturday. It will mark the first time since the 2008-09 season that UMass will square off against two AP top-15 teams in the same season.

Dibaji Walker receives waiver from NCAA
UMass announced on Monday 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.

Guess who's back, back again
Sunday at Saint Louis marked the return of freshman guard Kolton Mitchell, who had missed the previous 12 games with a hand injury. Mitchell played six minutes against the Billikens, going 2-of-2 from the floor.

Between Mitchell, John Buggs III and T.J. Weeks, the Minutemen have missed a combined 26 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 three-point shooting percentage (32-of-66; 48.5%).

We'll be taking that
The Minutemen are averaging 8.1 steals per game, good for 62nd 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 52nd in the country in forced turnovers (16.21), and have forced their opponents into 20+ turnovers three times (CCSU, Maine, Saint Louis).

From deep
UMass is shooting nearly 36% beyond the arc (123-of-346), and its 123 made threes are fourth in the Atlantic 10 this season. The Minutemen are 65th in the NCAA with 8.8 three-pointers per game, while Carl Pierre is 67th in the country and 15th in the A-10 from deep (40-of-104; 38.5%).

Double 'em up
Samba Diallo's 11 point - 14 rebound performance on Sunday 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).

Scoreboard

Minutemen Return Home To Host La Salle On Wednesday At Mullins

Next Event

Players Mentioned

John Buggs III

Samba Diallo

Sean East II

Kolton Mitchell

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

Dibaji Walker

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics