Men’s Hoops Opens A-10 Championship On Tuesday Against Richmond

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
A-10 First Round	#13 Massachusetts (15-15 Overall, 6-12 Atlantic 10) vs. #12 Richmond Spiders (14-17 Overall, 7-11 Atlantic 10)
Date \| Time	Tuesday, March 7 \| 11:30 a.m.
Location	Brooklyn, N.Y. \| Barclays Center
Tickets	Tickets
Watch	ESPN+
Game Notes	Massachusett s
Listen	WEEI (105.5 FM) \| WCRN (830 AM) \| Varsity Network App
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassM BB
Instagram	UMass Basketball
Facebook	UMass Basketball

AMHERST, Mass. - The No. 13-seed Massachusetts Minutemen begin Atlantic 10 Championship play tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in the Barclays Center against the No. 12-seeded Richmond Spiders. UMass (15-15 Overall, 6-12 A-10) and Richmond (14-17 Overall, 7-11 A-10) tip-off the A-10 postseason with the first of 14-games in Brooklyn for the league.

Senior Day Saturday
UMass closed out the regular season with a 71-60 win over St. Bonaventure on Senior Day in the Mullins Center on Saturday. RJ Luis and Rahsool DIggins each scored 14 points while Luis tied his career-high with nine rebounds. The Minutemen hauled in 19 offensive boards with Wildens Leveque adding five to go along with 11 points.

At The Tournament
The Minutemen are 40-40 all-time at the Atlantic 10 Tournament and have won their first game at the last two. As a 13 seed, UMass is 1-2 and picked up a win over La Salle in the first round in 2018, 69-67. UMass and Richmond have faced off one time in the Atlantic 10 Tournament with the Spiders winning 77-72 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 tournament in Atlantic City, N.J.

Last Time vs. Richmond
UMass defeated Richmond 85-76 on Jan. 25 in the Mullins Center behind four double figure scorers. RJ Luis led the Minutemen in the win with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while Matt Cross added 16 points and eight boards. Rahsool Diggins chipped in 12 points and six assists with Isaac Kante and Dyondre Dominguez adding 10 and eight, respectively.

Three-Time RoW
RJ Luis was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week three times this season and most recently earned the weekly honor on Monday. The guard averaged 18.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game for the Minutemen last week. Luis scored 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting with seven rebounds at Duquesne on Wednesday. In Saturday's win over the Bonnies, Luis grabbed a tied for career-high nine rebounds and finished tied for team-high with 14 points.

Bench Boost
The Minutemen rank 13th nationally and lead the Atlantic 10 in bench points per game at 27.9. RJ Luis leads the bench scoring attack with 11.5 points per game while Dyondre Dominguez adds 8.9 per contest. Last time out, Rahsool Diggins scored a tied for team-high 14 points off the bench as part of a 29-0 advantage for the Minutemen over the Bonnies in bench scoring.

Crashing The Boards
UMass averages 12.9 offensive rebounds per game to rank 14th in the country and atop the A-10. The Minutemen also rank 30th nationally in total rebounds per game at 38.1. Matt Cross leads a group of four Minutemen who average 4.4 or more rebounds per game with 6.2 while his 2.4 offensive boards per game rank seventh in the conference. UMass finished with 19 offensive rebounds in the regular season finale win over St. Bonaventure.

Last Conference Tournament
The Minutemen went 1-1 in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Championship at the Capital One Center and opened postseason play with a 99-88 win over George Washington in the second round. UMass went down to the wire with Dayton in the quarterfinals and wound up falling to the Flyers 75-72. Noah Fernandes scored a career-high 29 points and set a new UMass conference tournament record with seven steals in the win over GW and added 26 against the Flyers.

The Rook
RJ Luis is leading the Minutemen in total points in Atlantic 10 play with 204 in 14 league appearances for an average of 14.6 per game. The freshman has reached double figures in scoring in 12-of-14 A-10 contests and poured in a career-high 31 in a home win over Duquesne. Luis opened A-10 play with seven straight games of 10-plus and averaged 16.9 points per game during the span. The guard ranked 16th in the A-10 in conference points per game and ranked third in free throw percentage (.866), 13th in field goal percentage (.527), and shot 40-percent from 3-point range.

Dre On Target
Dyondre Dominguez ranks 10th in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage on the season at .533 and is eighth among league leaders that have attempted 150 or more shots this season. The junior is shooting .425 from deep in A-10 play to rank eighth among league leaders in conference competition.

T.J. Approaching Top-12
T.J. Weeks Jr. is just three 3-pointers away from tying Anthony Gurley (155, 2009-11) for the 12th most 3-pointers made in a career at UMass. Weeks has made 152 during his four years in Amherst and is a career 37-percent shooter from range.

Back To Barclays
The Minutemen played in the Barclays Center earlier this season on Dec. 11 in the Hall of Fame Invitational. UMass defeated Hofstra 71-56 and outscored the Pride 41-26 in the final 20 minutes. Matt Cross scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to be named the game's MVP while Tafara Gapare and Dyondre Dominguez added 13 and 12, respectively, off the bench.

Not In Wildens' House
Wildens Leveque has swatted away a team-leading 32 shots on the season and ranks seventh among A-10 leaders in blocks per game (1.2). The center set a new Myrtle Beach Invitational record with five blocks in the tournament opening win over Colorado in November. Leveque closed out the regular season with three blocks in the win over St. Bonaventure.

Freshman Floor General
Freshman point guard Keon Thompson has stepped into a starting role for the Minutemen this season and has been in the starting lineup the last nine games for UMass. Thompson is averaging 9.2 points per game over the eight starts and is dishing out 4.1 assists per game. The guard became one of three individual players in the A-10 this season to record 12 or more assists in a game with 12 against Davidson on Feb. 4.

Kante Among Active Leaders
Isaac Kante ranks inside the top-50 among active DI leaders in both rebounds and double-doubles. Kante is 42nd among active leaders in career rebounds with 840 and ranks 46th in career double-doubles with 21. The graduate forward has also scored 1,262 career points during his five-year career.

Clicking On Defense
UMass has reached multiple season-best marks defensively in three of the last five contests. In Saturday's season finale, the Minutemen held the Bonnies to 20 points in the first half to mark the least surrendered in an opening half this season. UMass held Rhode Island under 50 points in a 69-45 win on Feb. 18, marking the least amount of points allowed this year. Against Loyola Chicago on Feb. 14, UMass held the Ramblers without a field goal for the final 9:51 of game time and allowed just three points during that time.

90s Championship Success
UMass had one of the most successful conference tournament runs of any program from 1992-1996, winning five A-10 Tournament championships during the span. The Minutemen were five-time regular season champions during the span.

Scoreboard

Men’s Hoops Opens A-10 Championship On Tuesday Against Richmond

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Players Mentioned

Matt Cross

Rahsool Diggins

Dyondre Dominguez

Noah Fernandes

Tafara Gapare

Isaac Kante

Wildens Leveque

RJ Luis

Keon Thompson

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

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