Massachusetts Opens Conference Play Against Kent State

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Notes & Information
Matchup	Massachusetts vs. Kent State
Date \| Times	Saturday, Dec. 20 \| 2:00 p.m. ET
Location	Amherst, Mass. \| Mullins Center
Twitter	@UMassMBB
Instagram	@umassbasketball
Facebook	UMass Men's Basketball

AMHERST, MASS. - The Minutemen open MACtion on Saturday, Dec. 6 against Kent State with tip-off set for 2 p.m. at the Mullins Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).
This week for the Minutemen

The Matchup

Saturday's matchup marks the third meeting between the two programs with the Minutemen holding a 0-2 record all-time.
The teams last faced each other on Dec. 28, 1985, with Massachusetts dropping a 74-64 matchup.

Last Time out

A second half rally lifted the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team to a 103-95 victory over Florida State in game one of the AutoNation Orange Bowl Classic on Saturday afternoon at the Amerant Bank Arena.
Senior Daniel Hankins-Sanford recorded his third double-double of the season with 24 points, going 10-for-16 from the field, and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. Hankins-Sanford earned game MVP honors.
Florida native K'Jei Parker tabbed a career-high 24 points. Parker went 7-for-11 from the field, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Leonardo Bettiol (20) and Marcus Banks Jr. (18) reached double figures on the night while Danny Carbuccia dished out eight assists.
As a team, UMass made a season-high 38 field goals, including a season-best 12 three-pointers. The win pushed the Minutemen's win streak to five, the longest since winning six in a row during the 2022-23 season (Nov. 17-Dec. 5).

Scouting the golden flashes

The Golden Flashes come into Saturday's matchup off an 88-78 loss against Portland.
Delrecco Gillespie recorded 21 points in the meeting and grabbed 14 rebounds marking his 10th double-double this season. The Senior leads the MAC in rebounding averaging 11.9 per game, paces the conference in blocks with two per game and sits second in the conference in scoring, averaging 19.4 points.
Morgan Safford scored 12 points in the matchup going 7-7 from the charity stripe, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out four assists. The Grad Student stands first in the conference for assists averaging 6.4 per game.
Kent State leads the conference in team scoring averaging 96.6 points a game.

Year Four Under Coach Martin

Massachusetts basketball enters its fourth season under head coach Frank Martin in 2025-26.
Martin and the Minutemen finished the 2024-25 season with 12 wins, including seven in conference play. Under Martin's tutelage guard Rahsool Diggins had a breakout senior season, averaging a team-high 16.8 points on his way to earning All-Atlantic 10 Third Team honors.
In 2023-24 Martin led the Minutemen to their best season since 2014, finishing with a 20-11 overall record and securing a top-four seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Coach Martin started his time in Amherst by leading the Minutemen to their best record under a first-year head coach since 1996 and the Myrtle Beach Invitational title during the 2022-23 campaign.
Martin holds a 342-251 (.575) collegiate coaching mark, picking up 171 of his wins in 10 seasons at South Carolina while recording 117 wins in five seasons at Kansas State.
Head coach Frank Martin picked up his 300th collegiate coaching win on Jan. 25, 2023 with a 85-76 win over Richmond.

On The Bench

Head coach Frank Martin boasts a talented staff full of experienced assistants featuring three former head coaches, two former McDonald's All-Americans and a former NBA lottery pick.
Associate Head Coach Allen Edwards was the head coach of the Wyoming Cowboys from 2016-20. Edwards' teams recorded 60 wins over four seasons, including back-to-back 20-win campaigns.
Assistant Coach Matt Figger spent the last three seasons at UT Rio Grande Valley after four seasons leading Austin Peay.
Assistant Coach Brian Steele enters his second second UMass after spending time on head coach Frank Martin's staff at South Carolina. Steele was a three-year letter winner at South Carolina as a student-athlete and served as a student assistant during the 2015-16 season in addition to the 2016-17 Final Four campaign.
Director of Player Development Anthony Evans spent five seasons as the head coach at FIU following six years as the head coach at Norfolk State. At FIU, Evans' teams ranked in the top-10 percent nationally from 2015-17 in the NCAA Academic Progress Report and coached multiple Conference USA all-league and all-defensive players.
Director of Player Personnel Doug Edwards ed the Seminoles to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1990-93. The Miami, Fla. Native scored 1,604 points in his career and is the only player at FSU to score 500 or more points in three consecutive seasons. Edwards earned All-SEC Second-Team honors as a senior before being drafted with the 15th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1993 NBA Draft.
Coaches Allen Edwards, Matt Figger and Anthony Evans combined hold 360 wins and two coach of the year awards at the division I level.
Head Coach Frank Martin coached now associate head coach Allen Edwards and director of player personnel Doug Edwards at Miami Senior High School.

Up Next

The Minutemen take on UMass Boston for the final non-conference matchup on Monday, Dec. 22 with tip-off set for 12 p.m. at the Mullins Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Banks Jr.

Leonardo Bettiol

Danny Carbuccia

Rahsool Diggins

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

K'Jei Parker