Massachusetts Hosts Eastern Michigan For Saturday Matchup

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Notes & Information
Matchup	Massachusetts vs. Eastern Michigan
Date \| Times	Saturday, Jan. 31 \| 6:00 p.m.
Location	Amherst, Mass. \| Mullins Center
Twitter	@UMassMBB
Instagram	@umassbasketball
Facebook	UMass Men's Basketball

AMHERST, MASS. - The Minutemen return to the Mullins Center on Saturday, Jan. 31, for a 6 p.m matchup against Eastern Michigan. 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 Eastern Michigan four times in series history, winning three of the previous four matchups.
Earlier this season, the Eagles downed the Minutemen, 80-74, on Dec. 30, 2025 in Ypsilanti, Michigan to earn their first win of the series.
Senior forward Daniel Hankins-Sanford led the Minutemen with a double-double, inluding 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Marcus Banks Jr., and K'Jei Parker added 14 points apiece and Dimitri Clerc contributed a career-best 13 points.
Carlos Hart and Addison Patterson posted double-doubles for the Eagles, with Hart putting up a game-high 23 points and 12 boards, while Patterson had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
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 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 Williams as the Minutemen closed the game on an 18-9 run to improve to 7-0 on the season.

Last Time out

Massachusetts fell just short, 86-84, at undefeated and 24th-ranked Miami (OH) on Tuesday night, moving to 4-6 in the MAC.
Graduate student Leonardo Bettiol registered his fourth double-double of the season with 22 points and a career-best 16 rebounds.
Bettiol shot 7-for-11 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Marcus Banks Jr., put up 18 points, going 4-of-9 from the three-point arc, as Daniel Hankins-Sanford followed with 16 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field.
K'Jei Parker contributed 10 points and Danny Carbuccia dished out six assists.

Scouting the EAgles

Eastern Michigan enters Saturday's game coming off a 100-65 loss at Central Michigan on Tuesday night.
Eagles Head Coach Stan Heath is in his fifth season at Eastern Michigan, accumulating a 56-90 (28-55 MAC) overall record during his time in Ypsilanti.
Mohammad Habhab averages a team-leading 14.3 points per game and a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game.
In the MAC, Habhab is ranked 13th in points per game, while sitting second in rebounds per game.
The Eagles are 9-12 overall and 3-6 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 29.5 shooting percentage from three, ranking first in the conference and 20th in the country.
UMass' +5.9 rebounding margin ranks second in the MAC.
Massachusetts ranks third in the MAC in offensive rebounds per game (12.33) and rebounds per game (37.82).
The Minutemen rank fourth in the MAC and 38th nationally by averaging 17.4 assists per game.
Massachusetts' 10 MAC games have been decided by a combined 38 points or 3.80 points per contest.
Seven of UMass' 10 MAC have been decided by three points or less (UMass is 3-4 in those seven games).
UMass features four players averaging double figures in points including Leonardo Bettiol (17.3), Marcus Banks Jr. (16.3), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (11.9) and K'jei Parker (11.5).
Bettiol and Banks Jr., rank sixth and ninth, respectively, in points per game in the MAC.
Bettiol is also shooting 60.6 percent from the field to rank first in the league and 24th nationally.
Bettiol is also averaging 7.9 rebounds per game to rank fourth in the MAC, while Hankins-Sanford ranks sixth (7.2).
Among MAC players, Banks Jr., ranks first in three-point attempts (186), and second in three pointers made (70), three-point percentage (37.6), and three-pointers per game (3.18).
Danny Carbuccia's 6.0 assists per game rank second in the MAC and 31st in the country, while his 3.20 assist/turnover ratio is second in the league and 33rd in the country.
Carbuccia ranks third in the country among freshmen in both categories.
In MAC games only, Carbuccia's 3.88 assist to turnover ratio ranks first in league games, while his 6.60 assists per game mark ranks third.
Hankins-Sanford (8) and Bettiol (4) each have multiple double-doubles this season.
Hankins-Sanford's eight double-doubles are the second most in the MAC.

Up Next

The Minutemen welcome Central Michigan to the Mullins Center on Tuesday, Feb. 3 for a 7 p.m. matchup. The game will be streamed 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

Dimitri Clerc

Rahsool Diggins

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

K'Jei Parker