Minutemen Travel to Bowling Green for Saturday Matinee

University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Notes & Information
Matchup	Massachusetts at Bowling Green
Date \| Times	Saturday, February 28 \| 2:00 p.m.
Location	Bowling Green, Ohio \| Stroh Center
Twitter	@UMassMBB
Instagram	@umassbasketball
Facebook	UMass Men's Basketball

AMHERST, MASS. - The Minutemen head to Ball State on Saturday for their final regular season road game. Opening tipoff on Saturday is set for 2 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

Saturday's matchup marks the second meeting all time with Bowling Green holding a 1-0 advantage after its 101-100 overtime win on Jan. 3.
Leonard Bettiol tallied 32 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. The grad student went 11-for-13 from the field and 10-of-14 from the free throw line en route to his career-high point total.

Last Time out

Massachusetts men's basketball fell victim to a Ball State comeback as the Cardinals erased an 18-point deficit to beat the Minutemen in overtime, 74-73.
Isaiah Placide tied a Division I career high with 19 points, 14 coming after halftime, including the game-tying three-pointer to send the game to overtime, and a go-ahead three late in the extra session.
Ball State responded on the other end with a basket and the Minutemen couldn't get a shot off at the buzzer.
Leonardo Bettiol added 14 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
Danny Carbuccia had 12 while K'Jei Parker tallied 10. Placide had another run of six straight points in overtime to give the Minutemen a lead in the final minute, but it wasn't enough.

Scouting the Falcons

Bowling Green stands 16-13 on the season, 7-9 in the MAC following an 88-79 loss to Western Michigan.
The Falcons have lost three straight overall and hold a 9-7 record at home this season.
Javontae Campbell leads the team in scoring with 18.6 points per game, ranking fourth in the conference. Campbell paces the conference in steals with 3.1 per game
Sam Towns dominates the boards for Bowling Green, pulling down 6.7 a game.

Year Four Under Coach Martin

Massachusetts basketball enters its fourth season under head coach Frank Martin in 2024-25.
Under Martin's leadership the Minutemen enjoyed their best campaign since 2014 last year, finishing the 2023-24 season with a 20-11 overall record and securing a top-four seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship
Martin ended the 2023-24 campaign ranked third in program history with a 35-27 record through his first two seasons with the Minutemen, sitting just below Bruiser Flint and Travis Ford.
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 350-261 (.576) 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.
Martin picked up his 350th collegiate coaching win on Feb. 3, 2026 with a 95-89 win over Central Michigan.

TIP-OFF TIDBITS

Isaiah Placide scored 19 points at Ball State, 14 coming after halftime. It tied his Division I career high, originally set two games prior against Miami (OH). He also played a Division I career high 27 minutes on the evening.
Massachusetts' 16 MAC games have been decided by a combined 68 points or 4.25 points per contest, with each finishing with single-digit margins.
Nine of UMass' 16 MAC games have been decided by three points or less (UMass is 4-5 in those eight games).
The Minutemen's 49 rebounds on Tuesday at Ball State marked their most ever in a MAC game.
On the season, UMass has played 11 games that have been decided by three points or fewer (5-6 in those 10 games), including the triple overtime thriller at Coastal Carolina (L, 94-91).
The Minutemen have now played in four overtime games this season, most recently falling to Ball State on the road, 74-73.
The Minutemen are averaging 9.8 made threes over their last six games, with at least eight threes in each of the contests.
In the game at Coastal, Daniel Hankins-Sanford pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds - the most rebounds in a game for a Minuteman since Jim Town had 27 against Boston College on Dec. 12, 1976.
It marked the 10th triple overtime game in program history and the first since last season's 120-118 win at Fordham (Jan. 15, 2025).
UMass head coach Frank Martin, who is in his fourth season at UMass and 19th overall as a head coach, has 350 career wins (including stints at Kansas State, South Carolina and UMass).
UMass' +5.4 rebounding margin ranks second in the MAC.
Massachusetts also ranks third in the MAC in offensive rebounds per game (12.7) and rebounds per game (37.66).
The Minutemen rank second in the MAC and 21st nationally by averaging 17.5 assists per game.
UMass has held opponents to a 32.5 shooting percentage from three, ranking third in the conference.
UMass features four players averaging double figures in points per game, including Leonardo Bettiol (17.6), Marcus Banks Jr. (16.6), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (11.6) and K'Jei Parker (11.5).
Bettiol and Banks Jr., rank sixth and ninth, respectively, in points per game in the MAC.
Bettiol is shooting 59.5 percent from the field to rank first in the league and 27th nationally.
Bettiol is also averaging 8.0 rebounds per game to rank third in the MAC, while Hankins-Sanford ranks seventh (7.2).
In MAC games, Parker has hit 25 of 27 free throw attempts to rank second in the league (.926) if he had enough attempts to qualify.
Hankins-Sanford (9) and Bettiol (7) each have multiple double-doubles this season. Hankins-Sanford's nine double-doubles are the third most in the MAC while Bettiol's seven are fourth.

Up Next

The Minutemen close out the regular season with a Tuesday contest against Ohio. Opening tipoff on March 3 is set for 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Marcus Banks Jr.

Leonardo Bettiol

Danny Carbuccia

Daniel Hankins-Sanford

K'Jei Parker

Isaiah Placide