Massachusetts Basketball Travels To Northern Illinois On Saturday

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Notes & Information
Matchup	Massachusetts at Northern Illinois
Date \| Times	Saturday, Jan. 17 \| 3:00 p.m.
Location	DeKalb, Ill. \| Convocation Center
Twitter	@UMassMBB
Instagram	@umassbasketball
Facebook	UMass Men's Basketball

AMHERST, MASS. - The Minutemen hit the road to take on Northern Illinois, in DeKalb, Illinois, on Saturday, January 17, at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed 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 Northern Illinois three times in series history, winning all three of the previous matchups.
The teams' first meeting came during the 2007-08 season, with UMass posting a 102-87 win in the BTI Tip-Off Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
UMass and Northern Illinois then played a home-and-home series over the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
The Minutemen won 64-59 on the road in DeKalb, Illinois, on December 29, 2012, with Maxie Esho (14 points) leading the team in scoring.
Massachusetts then took down the Huskies, 80-54, at the Mullins Center on December 14, 2013, with five players reaching double digits and Cady Lalanne (17 points, five rebounds) leading the Minutemen in scoring.

Last Time out

Massachusetts defeated Western Michigan, 85-82, on Tuesday on the road in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The first half saw 14 lead changes, but never trailed in the second and making key free throws down the stretch to pick up UMass second MAC victory (2-4 MAC).
Marcus Banks Jr. led the Minutemen with 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field, 5-for-12 from three.
Leonardo Bettiol followed with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting, aided by a 7-for-7 night at the charity stripe. Bettiol alos grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
K'Jei Parker reached double figures, scoring 20 on 6-for-11 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Danny Carbuccia tallied a game-best nine assists and added three steals.

Scouting the HUSKIES

Northern Illinois is coming off a 77-59 loss at Eastern Michigan heading into Saturday afternoon's contest.
Huskies Head Coach Rashon Burno is in his fifth season at Northern Illinois, accumulating a 44-95 (23-56 MAC) overall record during his time in DeKalb.
Makhai Valentine leads the team in points, averaging 13.5 per game (216 total), ranking 18th in the conference.
Valentine also has a team-high 91 rebounds (5.7 per game) which ranks 17th in the MAC.
The Huskies are 5-11 overall and 1-4 in the MAC.

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 344-255 (.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 28.9 shooting percentage from three, ranking first in the conference and 22nd in the country.
UMass' +6.6 rebounding margin ranks first in the MAC and 44th in the NCAA.
Massachusetts ranks second in the MAC in rebounds per game (38.50) and third in offensive rebounds per game (12.33).
The Minutemen rank third in the MAC and 25th nationally by averaging 18.1 assists per game.
UMass features four players averaging double figures in points including Leonardo Bettiol (16.6), Marcus Banks Jr. (16.2), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (12.0) and K'Jei Parker (11.8).
Bettiol and Banks Jr., rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in points per game in the MAC.
Bettiol is also shooting 61.7 percent from the field to rank first in the league and 21st nationally.
Bettiol is also averaging 7.4 rebounds per game to rank fifth in the MAC, while Hankins-Sanford ranks eighth (7.1).
Among MAC players, Banks Jr. ranks first in three-point attempts (148) and three pointers made (56), while ranking second in three pointers per game (3.11) and fifth in three-point percentage (37.8).
Danny Carbuccia's 5.9 assists per game rank second in the MAC and 30th in the country, while his 3.34 assist/turnover ratio is second in the league and 26th in the country.
Carbuccia's 3.34 mark ranks second in the country among freshmen, trailing only Ethan Elliott of Northern Kentucky (3.56).
Hankins-Sanford (6) and Bettiol (3) each have multiple double-doubles this season.
Hankins-Sanford's six double-doubles are the second most in the MAC.

Up Next

The Minutemen return to the Mullins Center on Tuesdya, Jan. 20, for a 6 p.m., contest against Toledo. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard

Massachusetts Basketball Travels To Northern Illinois On Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Banks Jr.

Leonardo Bettiol

Danny Carbuccia

Rahsool Diggins

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

K'Jei Parker

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics

Massachusetts Basketball Travels To Northern Illinois On Saturday

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Banks Jr.

Leonardo Bettiol

Danny Carbuccia

Rahsool Diggins

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

K'Jei Parker

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