Massachusetts Travels to Eastern Michigan For Tuesday Tilt

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Notes & Information
Matchup	Massachusetts at Eastern Michigan
Date \| Times	Saturday, Dec. 30 \| 7:30 p.m.
Location	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Gervin GameAbove Center
Twitter	@UMassMBB
Instagram	@umassbasketball
Facebook	UMass Men's Basketball

AMHERST, MASS. - The Minutemen travel to Eastern Michigan for its first road MACtion game on Tuesday, Dec. 30 with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. 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

Massachusetts has faced Eastern Michigan three times in series history, winning each of the previous matchups.
The teams first met on Dec. 29, 1972 at the Motor City Tournament in Detroit, Michigan, with the Minutemen posting a 68-61 neutral site win.
UMass and Eastern Michigan then played a home-and-home series over the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
The Minutemen won 75-61 at the Mullins Center on Jan. 5, 2013, with Freddie Riley (18 points) and Chaz Williams (14 points, nine assists) leading the way.
Massachusetts then downed the Eagles 69-57 on Dec. 3, 2013 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Raphiael Putney scored 15 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 21/22 Massachusetts beat Eastern Michigan 69–57 in its first game as a ranked team in 15 seasons.
Putney ignited a decisive late run with an alley-oop dunk from Chaz Williams as the Minutemen closed the game on an 18–9 run to improve to 7-0 on the season

Last Time out

Massachusetts dominated UMass Boston, 91-40, on Monday, Dec. 22, at the Mullins Center.
Leonardo Bettiol led UMass with 20 points on an efficient 9-for-10 from the field, tacking on eight rebounds, two assists and a block.
Daniel Hankins-Sanford and Danny Carbuccia each chipped in 11 points with Charles Outlaw posted 10 points.
Luka Damjanac nabbed a career-high 12 rebounds on the day.

Scouting the Eagles

Eastern Michigan enters Tuesday's matchup coming off a 70-64 loss to Wright State on Monday, Dec. 22.
Eagles Head Coach Stan Heath is in his fifth season at Eastern Michigan, accumulating a 53-84 (25-50 MAC) overall record during his time in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Mohammad Habhab and Carlos Hart lead the team in points averaging 14.5 and 13.4 points per game, respectively. Both Habhab and Hart accumulated 174 points each.
Habhab leads the Eagles with 7.8 rebounds per game, sitting third in the MAC rankings.
The Eagles are 6-7 overall this season, including 0-1 in the conference.

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 344-251 (.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.

TIP-OFF TIDBITS

UMass has held opponents to a 25.7 shooting percentage from three, ranking first in the conference and fourth in the country.
UMass' +8.2 rebounding average ranks first in the MAC and 41st in the NCAA.
Massachusetts ranks second in the MAC in rebounds per game (39.23) and offensive rebounds per game (13.23).
The Minutemen rank third in the MAC and 31st nationally with 18.4 assists per game.
UMass features four players averaging double figures in points including Leonardo Bettiol (16.5), Marcus Banks Jr. (16.4), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (11.9) and K'Jei Parker (10.5).
Bettiol and Banks Jr. rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in points per game in the MAC.
In the MAC, Banks Jr. ranks third in three-point percentage (38.1), second in three pointers per game (3.08), second in three pointers made (40) and first in field goal attempts (167).
Danny Carbuccia's 5.3 assists per game rank second in the MAC and 54th in the country.
Bettiol is also averaging 7.8 rebounds per game to rank second in the MAC.
Daniel Hankins-Sanford (4) Leo Bettiol (2) each have multiple double-doubles this season.

Up Next

The Minutemen return to the Mullins Center and challenge Bowling Green to open the new year on Saturday Jan. 3, 2026 with tip-off set for 2 p.m. 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

Leonardo Bettiol

Danny Carbuccia

Luka Damjanac

Rahsool Diggins

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

Charles Outlaw

K'Jei Parker