Minutemen Claim Hard Fought 77-72 Win Over Northeastern

AMHERST, MASS. -- Massachusetts basketball (5-7) claimed a hard fought 77-72 win over regional foe Northeastern (8-4) on Wednesday night at the Mullins Center. The Minutemen were fueled by balanced scoring as five minutemen finished the game in double figures, including a pair of double-doubles from Malek Abdelgowad and Daniel Rivera.

Hard fought ??#Flagship?? pic.twitter.com/kpuqe0ZUo5
— UMass Men's Basketball (@UMassMBB) December 19, 2024

Daniel Rivera flirted with a triple-double scoring 12 points to along with 10 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks. The performance makes him the first Minuteman to record eight or more blocks in a game since Tony Gaffney had nine versus Boston College on Dec. 6, 2008. It marks the fourth double-double of the season for Rivera and the second occasion he has done so in back-to-back games.

????#Flagship?? pic.twitter.com/wwTVT7NLuE
— UMass Men's Basketball (@UMassMBB) December 19, 2024

Jaylen Curry poured in a career-high 24 points, going 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range including a key deep ball late in the second half. Curry also contributed on the defensive end, swiping a career-high five steals.

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Needed it from @Jaylencurry0!! pic.twitter.com/T3df7i8T2H
— UMass Men's Basketball (@UMassMBB) December 19, 2024

Malek Abdelgowad collected his second consecutive double-double scoring 12 points and nabbing 11 rebounds on the night. Rahsool Diggins and Marqui Worthy each recorded 10 points and three assists in the contest, rounding out the double figures scorers for the Minutemen

The Huskies were led by Rashad King who put forth a double-double performance of his own with 19 points and 11 rebounds across 38 minutes on the court.

Breaking Down The Action

A pair of free throws and a jumper by Malek Abdelgowad gave the Minutemen a 4-0 lead to open the contest
UMass pushed it to an 8-2 lead after a Rahsool Diggins two-pointer with 16:25 left in the half, forced a Northeastern.
The Huskies cut it to 14-10 but a Tarique Foster jumper made it 16-10 with 11:40 left in the half.
Abdelgowad proceeded to sink a three and Daniel Rivera followed with a dunk shortly after for a nine-point lead with 7:30 left.
A Jaylen Curry reverse layup with just over four minutes left pushed it to a 32-19 game.
Northeastern chipped away and eventually cut it to a 35-30 halftime lead for the Minutemen.
Curry hit a three for a 40-32 Minuteman lead, however Diggins picked up his third foul of the game with 18:28 left in the second half.
Five straight points by Curry, including his second three of the night, made it a 46-38 UMass lead with 15:30 left in the second half.
A Huskies layup cut it to 51-47, but Rivera crashed the boards at the other end and his putback layup followed by Marqui Worthy driving layup moved it to 55-49 with just over 12 minutes left.
Diggins hit his first three of the game to make it 69-58 UMass lead with 6:30 left in the game.
Northeastern's Rashad King hit a three to cut the lead to one, 69-68, at 3:03 in the second.
Rivera hit one free throw at 2:11, making it 70-68 but NU converted at the other end to tie it 70 apiece.
Curry answered with a three at 1:35 to restore the UMass lead, 73-70
The Minutemen came up with a pair of defensive stops allowing Rivera to take a loose ball the other way and force a shooting foul.
Rivera made the first of two for a four-point lead, 74-70 with 25 seconds on the clock.
With 20.3 seconds left, NU's Masai Troutman hit two free throws to cut the lead to two, 74-72
Marqui Worthy found Rivera for a fastbreak dunk to seal the win off the ensuing in-bound play.
A three-pointer from Rashad King came up short as the final buzzer sounded, 77-72.

Newcomer Notifications

Five newcomers saw action on the evening, with Rivera and Abdelgowad entering as starters.
Abdelgowad collected the third double-double of his career, playing 27 minutes.
Daniel Rivera played 33 minutes, earning his fourth double-double of the year.
Shahid Muhammad grabbed three rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
Nate Guerengomba saw 8 minutes of action, sinking a pair of free throws.

Numbers To Know

2: Abdelgowad and Rivera both recorded a double-double in back-to-back games
3: Diggins and Worthy each contributed three assists.
4: Rivera recorded his fourth double-double of the season.
5: Curry recorded a career-high five steals, becoming the first Minuteman since Jayden Ndjigue (12/21/23 vs. Ga. Tech) to swipe 5 or more in a game.
5: Five Minutemen finished the game with double digits, Curry (24), Abdelgowad (12), Rivera(12), Diggins (10) and Worthy (10) each reached the mark.
8: Rivera swatted a career-high eight blocks on the night, the first Minuteman to record eight or more since 2008.
11: Abdelgowad grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
31: The Minutemen shot 31 free throws for the second time this season.
39: Massachusetts led for 39 minutes on the night.

Series History

With the result, Massachusetts now holds a 40-19 record against the Huskies all-time.
The Minutemen now hold a 25-12 record at the Mullins Center under Head Coach Frank Martin.

Up Next

The Minutemen face Arizona State as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m. in Springfield, Mass. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Malek Abdelgowad

Jaylen Curry

Rahsool Diggins

Tarique Foster

Nate Guerengomba

Shahid Muhammad

Jayden Ndjigue

Daniel Rivera

Marqui Worthy