Minutemen Fall Narrowly To Saint Louis, 73-71

AMHERST, MASS. -- Massachusetts basketball (10-13, 5-5 A-10) dropped a close 73-71 decision to Saint Louis (13, 7-3) on Tuesday evening at the Mullins Center.

Daniel Rivera notched his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds. The Senior went perfect from the free throw line while tacking on a block and two steals.

Jaylen Curry tallied a team-high 16 points, shooting 3-of-6 from three-point range. The point total marked his 16th double-digit performance this season. Daniel Hankins-Sanford followed with 14 points of his own going 6-for-8 from the field goal and nabbing seven rebounds.

The Billikens were led by Isaiah Swope who scored game-high 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field.

Breaking Down The Action

Saint Louis opened the scoring with a layup from Isaiah Swope keying an early 10-2 run over four minutes.
The Minutemen answered with back-to-back jumpshots from Jaylen Curry and a layup by Hankins-Sanford to put UMass within four.
Both teams traded baskets with the Billikens extending their lead, 19-13 with 10:41 left in the half.
Diggins drained a three-pointer to put Massachusetts within three.
The two teams went back and forth with the Minutemen cutting their deficit to one with a jumper from Diggins with 5:02 on the clock.
Back-to-back shots from the Billikens extended their lead, 30-26.
With baskets by Marqui Worthy and Rivera from the charity stripe, the Minutemen came within one.
After a layup by Dylan Warlick, Massachusetts gained momentum with layups of their own from Ndjigue and Rivera to give Massachusetts its first lead of the night with 37.5 left in the half.
A shot from behind the arc by Swope gave Saint Louis a 35-33 lead heading into halftime.
Ndjigue opened the second half with a layup to tie the game, 35-35.
Kalu Anya's layup gave the Billikens the lead with 18:57 on the clock.
Curry sank back-to-back three-pointers to give Massachusetts a 41-37 advantage.
A pair of free throws from Avila gave Saint Louis the lead, 42-21 with 15:20 on the clock.
Massachusetts answered with a 9-3 run over three minutes to retake the lead with 12:21 left in the game.
The Minutemen's momentum continued with layups from Rivera and Ndjigue to extend the lead, 58-49.
After a three-minute scoring drought, Johnson sank a shot from the arc to cut the Billiken's deficit to six.
Coming off a timeout, Saint Louis went on a 7-0 run elapsed across a minute to pull within three with 5:25 on the clock.
The two teams went back and forth but, the Billikens notched a late 7-0 run over less than 30 seconds to take the lead for a final score of 73-71.

Newcomer Notifications

Four newcomers saw action on the evening, with Rivera and Abdelgowad entering as starters.
Rivera recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds on the night.
Akil Watson played six minutes, scoring six points while going 2-for-3 from the field.
Shahid Muhammad scored four points across 11 minutes.

Numbers To Know

3: Three minutemen had double digits performances, Curry (16), Rivera (14), and Hankins-Sanford (14).
6: The Minutemen nabbed 6 steals on the night.
7: With Rivera's double-double performance, he tabbed his seventh of the season.
16: Curry notched his 16th game in double figures.
19: Massachusetts has now recorded 30 or more points in the paint in 19 games this season.
41: Massachusetts grabbed 41 rebounds including 21 on the offensive glass.

Series History

With the result, Massachusetts now hold a 9-18 record against the Billikens all-time.
Massachusetts is now 22-24 in A-10 play and 28-14 at home with Coach Martin at the helm.

Up Next

The Minutemen head to Philadelphia for a matchup against La Salle on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at the John Glaser Arena. The game will be broadcast on USA network with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard

Next Event

Team Stats

Jaylen Curry

Hankins-Sanford Daniel

Daniel Rivera

Jayden Ndjigue

Players Mentioned

Jaylen Curry

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

Shahid Muhammad

Daniel Rivera

Akil Watson

Marqui Worthy

Players Mentioned

Jaylen Curry

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

Shahid Muhammad

Daniel Rivera

Akil Watson

Marqui Worthy

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics