Minutemen Open Atlantic 10 Slate Wednesday At La Salle

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game 3	Massachusetts (1-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10) vs. La Salle (2-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
Date \| Time	Wednesday, December 16, 2020 \| 12 p.m.
Location	Philadelphia, Pa. \| Gola Arena
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	WEEI (105.5 FM) \| WCRN (830 AM) \| Tune-In App
Live Statistics	Live Stats
Game Notes	Massachusetts Notes \| 2020-21 Prospectus
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassBasketball
Instagram	UMass Basketball
Facebook	UMass Basketball

AMHERST, Mass. – The UMass men's basketball team opens conference play on Wednesday afternoon when the Minutemen travel to Philadelphia for a 12 p.m. matchup with La Salle. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ as Massachusetts looks for a victory in its A-10 opener for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The new normal
On November 17, the Massachusetts men's basketball team paused all team activities following a positive COVID-19 test result among the program's Tier 1 personnel, which consists of coaches, student-athletes, team managers and support staff. Results were detected during COVID-19 surveillance testing, which is conducted three times a week in accordance with NCAA guidelines.

Due to a pause in team activities, UMass did not participate in the Multiple Team Event at Mohegan Sun previously scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. UMass returned to practice on December 5.

Friday's game vs. Northeastern marked the latest the team started a season since 1947-48, when the team's first game was held on December 12, 1947.

The series with La Salle
Overall, UMass leads the series with La Salle, 25-19, which dates back to 1971-72. The Minutemen won both meetings in 2019-20, including a 75-64 win at Gola Arena that gave UMass a first-round in the A-10 Championship for the first time since 2016. A win on Wednesday would give UMass three straight wins against the Explorers for the first time since 2015.

Back on the road
UMass will look to continue elevating its play away from the Mullins Center in 2020-21, with three of its first four conference games on the road. The Minutemen ended last season with two wins in its last three road games, while Tre Mitchell averaged 19.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg and shot 44% over nine A-10 road contests last season.

Picking up where he left off
Tre Mitchell wasted no time in confirming that the hype is real last Friday vs. Northeastern with 31 points and 11 rebounds in his season debut, including 19 points and six boards in the first half alone.

Mitchell's performance put him on a list with some of the UMass greats, tying him for the fourth most points in a season opener in program history behind only Lou Roe, Marcus Camby and Julius Erving.

Mitchell is one of only 34 players in the country with a 31-point game or better this season.

Garcia dazzles in UMass debut; named A-10 Rookie of the Week
Javohn Garcia's 23-point performance against Northeastern on Friday tied T.J. Weeks Jr.'s night last season as the most points for a Minuteman in his collegiate debut in more than 20 seasons. Since 1999, only 10 players have scored at least 23 points in the season opener.

Garcia was named the A-10 Rookie of the Week on Monday after averaging 20.5 ppg and shooting 80% from deep. It's the 10th A-10 ROW honor for a Minuteman in the last two seasons.

He gets buckets
Redshirt-freshman T.J. Weeks Jr. is back in the lineup for the Minutemen after missing the final 21 games of last season due to injury. At the time of his injury last season, Weeks Jr. was 15th in the NCAA with 32 made three-point field goals, and finished the year shooting 48.5% from beyond the arc.

After scoring 11 points in his return to the lineup on Dec. 11 vs. Northeastern, he followed it up with 14 points in just 18 minutes on Sunday, including eight points in the final 52 seconds to help UMass nearly erase a 10-point deficit in the last minute of the game.

Weeks Jr. is the son of former UMass great Tyrone Weeks Sr., who scored over 1,000 points for UMass from 1994-98 and played in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

O Captain, My Captain
Last season, senior captain Carl Pierre became the 52nd player in team history to reach 1000 career points, and is two points shy of cracking the top-30 on UMass' all-time scoring list. Pierre is also fourth all-time at UMass in career three-point field goals made, and hit his 250th on Friday vs. Northeastern:

Veteran leadership
UMass' four upperclassmen (Brady Antonopoulos, Mark Gasperini, Carl Pierre, Dibaji Walker) make the Minutemen tied for 12th in the nation for the fewest upperclassmen on an NCAA roster this season.

It's the second straight year that UMass has had four or fewer upperclassmen.

Scoreboard

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Players Mentioned

Brady Antonopoulos

Javohn Garcia

Mark Gasperini

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

Dibaji Walker

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics