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After a week-long layoff, UMass is back on the court and back home to take on a pesky Quinnipiac team. Two of the top rebounding teams in the country will be on display, as the battle of the boards could determine Saturday night's winner.
It’s going to be another exciting finish in the I-91 rivalry after a tight first half between the UMass Minutemen and Quinnipiac Bobcats.
Chaz Williams leads UMass with eight points and four assists including a running layup with under five seconds left in the half to close the deficit to four. Sophomore forward Raphiael Putney added seven points for the Minutemen and Freddie Riley and and Javorn Farrell chipped in five points.
Quinnipiac was led by the two-headed monster of James Johnson and Ike Azotam. The pair scored 26 of the team’s 40 points in the half, with Azotam finishing with 12 points and six rebounds.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, with the Bobcats hitting 55 percent of their attempts and UMass knocking down 41 percent of their shots. The squads were even more impressive from beyond the arc, with both teams hitting five attempts.
Event: Umass Minutemen (8-3) Vs. Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-4)
Date/Time: Saturday December 17, 2011-7 p.m.
Location: Mullins Center (Capacity: 9,493)-Amherst, MA.
Broadcast Info: The Minutemen will be back on TV for the first time in awhile, as NESN will carry the game. Listeners can also tune in to 1510 AM in Boston, to Josh Maurer and Tim Kenney on the radio.
All Time Series: This series is very young, but the games have been fantastic thus far. Quinnipiac and UMass have squared off just twice previously, with a game each of the past two years. The Minutemen have squeaked by in both games with a 62-58 win at home in 2009 and a 66-64 victory last year in Connecticut, behind a last-second, goaltending call.
Last Time Out: It's been awhile since UMass has been in action, a full week in fact. Last Friday, UMass returned to Massachusetts and took down Siena 82-78, behind a 20-point second half from point guard Chaz Williams. After trailing by six at halftime,the Minutemen went on a 16-3 run early in the second half to win their annual game at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. Freddie Riley added 20 points, on six 3-pointers and Williams and Raphaiel Putney combined for 21 of the team's final 25 points in the win over the Saints.
Quinnipiac is sporting a three-game winning streak after consecutive wins over America East opponents. Sunday they traveled to Burlington and escaped with a 62-58 victory over the Vermont Catamounts. Junior forward Jamee Jackson had a big game with 20 points, seven rebounds and two steals to help push the Bobcats back over .500.
Storylines: Two of the best mid-majors in New England will tipoff Saturday night with winning streaks on the line, as the Minutemen look to stay perfect against Quinnipiac in their young, but very competitive series. For UMass, it will be their first true home game in almost three weeks as the Minutemen's last game at that Mullins Center was a 85-56 win over Towson on November 30. UMass will put their 6-0 in-state record on the line, as they play the first of their final four non conference games on the season.
Saturday's match-up will be a match-up of strengths as the number one and number 12 rebounding teams in the nation battle on the boards. Quinnipiac is the top rebounding in the country at 44.1 rebounds per game and average 17.2 offensive rebounds per game. Even more impressively, Quinnipiac is third in the nation in rebounding margin at 11.6 rebounds per game. Umass leads the Atlantic 10 in rebounding at 41.8 rebounds per game, have pulled down 16 offensive rebounds per game but only have a rebounding margin of three boards per game.
Three-point shooting could be a huge factor for the Minutemen in how the game goes. In eight wins this season, UMass is shooting 37 percent and hitting over seven triples a game; in the Minutemen's three losses, the team has averaged just over four made 3-pointers and hit 17 percent of their attempts. With shots likely at a premium against such a strong rebounding team, UMass will have to take advantage of the Bobcats weak perimeter defense. Quinnipiac's opponents have hit 39 percent of their 3-point attempts on the year, with six or more opponents made 3-pointers in each of the team's four losses.
The Bobcats out of the Northeast Conference are led by a trio of J's. Senior guard James Johnson leads the team with 17 points per game. While Jamee Jackson and Dave Johnson (no relation) are the team's third and fourth leading scorers, with Jackson the team's second leading rebounder and Johnson leading the team in assists.
Players to Watch: The player to be highlighted for UMass could be anyone as the Bobcats provide some of the toughest match-up problems UMass has seen all year and everyone will need to contribute. Freddie Riley is the pick though because of what he can bring to the table. The Minutemen big men will likely be expending most of their focus on the boards, which means additional scoring is going to have come from somewhere. The sharp-shooting junior is more than capable of scoring in bunches but hasn't shown the kind of consistency the team needs. If Riley can be a threat from beyond the arc, it will force the Bobcat guards to step farther away from the basket to defend him and give the taller Minutemen forwards, a better chance of tracking down rebounds.
Sophomore forward Ike Azotam has filled the role of Justin Rutty quite nicely for head coach Tom Moore. The Boston native has is averaging a double-double (13.4 ppg, 10.9 rbg) and chips in a block per game, after serving as a bench player last year. The 6-7 forward has been dominant this season and most impressively has stayed out of foul trouble. If Quinnipiac is going to earn their first win against UMass, the Bobcats are going to need a big game from Azotam; if the forward can dominate the boards, it will slow the game down, and UMass won't be able to push the ball in transition as often.
Prediction: Quinnipiac is the toughest opponent UMass has faced all year at home and Saturday's game should be a dandy. These two teams know each other well after playing the past two years and they don't like each other. The edge goes to UMass because of the X-factor: Chaz Williams. The ultra speedy guard brings a new dynamic to Amherst, which the Bobcats won't be able to keep down for an entire 40 minutes.
UMass 73, Quinnipiac 68
UMass 72, Quinnipiac 67: Umass Knocks Off I-91 Rivals
UMass used an 18-0 run to begin the second half to grab a double-digit lead and had just enough to hold on against Quinnipiac (5-5). After trailing 40-36 late in the first half, Chaz Williams knocked down what looked to be an innocuous, running lay-in to end the first half to spark the beginning of the run.
Despite getting nothing from a stagnant offense down the stretch, UMass (9-3) held on 72-67, for their third victory in as many years against the Bobcats. With the win, UMass stayed perfect at home moving to 5-0.
Williams led the Minutemen with 14 points and seven rebounds but struggled shooting the ball. The point guard hit just 5-of-15 field goals and the normally reliable free throw shooter (79 percent) missed five free throw attempts, including three in the final minute.
Forwards Terrell Vinson and Raphiael Putney both came up big for the Minutemen finishing in double figures. Vinson grabbed eight rebounds and Putney pulled down five rebounds and hit two free throws to ice the game with under 10 seconds to go.
Quinnipiac received 22 points from both Ike Azotam and James Johnson but no other Bobcats finished with more than five points. Azotam hit 10-of-17 shots and pulled down 13 rebounds while Johnson knocked down five 3-pointers and added four assists. The pair had 28 of their 44 points in the first half, with Johnson forced to sit for long stretches of the second half with four fouls.
Rebounding was a key to the game for both teams, with each squad ranked among the top-12 in the nation and it was a tight struggle. Quinnipiac pulled down five more rebounds (47-42), but also turned the ball over 16 times.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than six points. Azotam and Johnson dominated for the Bobcats, while Umass relied on their bench to keep them in the game. Quinnipiac looked to be pulling away with a six-point advantage in the final minute of the half, before Williams turned the corner and banked the ball off the backboard, to cut the deficit to four with two seconds remaining. The Bobcats final heave fell well short and all the momentum the Bobcats had heading into the halftime was quickly erased.
UMass opened the second half on an 18-0 run, behind three 3-pointers and the team's patented transition game. With Williams pushing the ball, the team added four layups and quicjly opened up a 54-50 lead. An Azotam free throw ended the run but UMass would grab their largest lead of the game at 56-41 when Cady Lalanne converted on a 3-point play with 14:37 remaining.
The Minutemen held a comfortable double digit lead for the next six minutes as the Bobcats slowly chipped away at the deficit. A Johnson jumper with 4:27 remaining cut the deficit to 69-63 but the two teams would go cold for the next three minutes. UMass continued to settle for long 3-pointers as they desperately tried to let the clock run out while Quinnipiac just struggled to hit shots.
An Azotam layup with 58 seconds remaining cut the deficit to as few as three but the Bobcats would fail to get any closer. Javorn Farrell came up with a key rebound on the defensive end before calling timeout and Putney knocked down two free throws with eight seconds remaining to clinch the victory.
UMass will finish off their first semester schedule with a home contest Thursday agaisnt Davidson at 7 p.m.
Dec 17 9:48p by Seth Orensky