Event: UMass Minutemen (4-1) Vs. Utah Utes (1-3)
Date/Time: Friday November 25, 2011-9:30 p.m. EDT.
Location: Imperial Arena at the Atlantis Resort (Capacity: 4,500), Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Broadcast Info: Friday's first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament will be available on HDNEt nationally. Radio coverage of the game will be available on 1510 AM in Boston with Josh Maurer and Tim Kenney on the call.
UMass will look to get back on track after their first loss of the season Thursday. Playing against a long and athletic Florida State squad, the Minutemen were stymied in trying to push the pace and failed to hit open shots in the 73-53 loss in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.
Thursday's opening round loss was even worse for the Utes. Harvard jumped all over Utah early and never let them get into the game as the Crimson led from start-to-finish. Leading scorer Josh Watkins finished with 12 points in the loss as Utah dropped their third consecutive game against a school from a smaller conference.
Prediction: UMass showed they could pester and get under the skin of a very good Florida State team and played a much better game than the score suggests. Expect the Minutemen to run past Utah and focus on getting better shots after they took a slew of long 3-pointers Thursday.
UMass 81, Utah 65