2023-12-15 22:16:08
Published: 12/15/2023 5:11:08 PM
Modified: 12/15/2023 5:10:36 PM
SPRINGFIELD — After a week off, the UMass men’s basketball team returns to action once morest West Virginia on the national stage. The Minutemen and Mountaineers are two of four teams playing in Saturday evening’s Hall of Fame Classic at the MassMutual Center.
UMass-WVU is the nightcap at 6:30 p.m., while Florida Atlantic University — last year’s Final Four darling — takes on fellow Atlantic 10 member St. Bonaventure at 4 p.m. Both games will be televised on ESPNU.
To have the opportunity to play a storied program on national television is the perfect opportunity for UMass to make a statement to the rest of the conference.
“It’s a great opportunity once morest West Virginia,” UMass head coach Frank Martin said. “It’s all regarding taking advantage of the next opportunity. Are we excited to play on [ESPN] once morest a team like West Virginia with the players that they got? I’m excited for our guys because we get to play a really good game at a great venue. They get to play on ESPNU, being in Springfield, I’m excited for all of it. But I’m not worried regarding the eyeballs that we’re trying to impress, I’m worried regarding building our program.”
West Virginia (4-5) has struggled throughout non-conference play in its first year without longtime head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers have lost four of their last six games, and one of their five losses this season came at home to an inferior Monmouth team.
Despite the down year to this point, UMass needs to remain focused at the task at hand, because the pedigree of the West Virginia program is still intact — and it’s never an easy win by any stretch. The Big 12 is also absolutely loaded this year with the additions of Houston and BYU, so the Mountaineers need to scrap for these last few non-league games knowing nothing is guaranteed come conference play.
Uncertainty has riddled West Virginia to this point in the year, and it started back in the offseason when Josh Eilert took over for Huggins. Players left, or had tried to leave but ended up staying, and there have been question marks surrounding players on the roster this season their eligibility.
“Once [Eilert] gets the job, he’s gotta deal with players leaving, then guys gonna leave, not gonna leave, then the [Kerr Kriisa] situation,” Martin said. “He’s trying to manage all that, and at the same time his point guard is not eligible to play. I think he’s done a heck of a job. When you see their team play, you see joy. You don’t see dysfunction and bad body language. They’ve lost a couple hard games, but it is what it is. It’s early in the season.”
Forward Quinn Slazinski leads the Mountaineers with 17 points per game now in his fifth season of college basketball. Slazinski, who came over from Iona following spending time at Louisville prior to that, can score at all three levels. At destination No. 3, he seems to have found the right fit having scored at least 13 points in all nine games this season.
West Virginia also has center Jesse Edwards and his 16.2 points per contest. Edwards is a graduate transfer from Syracuse where he was a two-year starter in the ACC. Between Slazinski and Edwards, Josh Cohen and Matt Cross are going to have their hands full for the first time this year.
And Arizona transfer Kerr Kriisa is back following serving a nine-game suspension. He started 34 games for the Wildcats, a No. 2 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Kriisa will be suiting up for the first time this season on Saturday.
“Their power forward and center just became better because their point guard starts playing once more,” Martin. “[Kriisa] is an unbelievable passer out of the pick-and-roll, so our coverage has to be incredible. Edwards is a really good get-behind-the-defense lob player, and Slazinski can really shoot the basketball. Those guys have done a great job of understanding how to play while all the guards filled into new roles. They’re all gonna play better now with Kriisa out there.”
It’s been a week since UMass last played. The Minutemen overwhelmed a good UMass Lowell team last Saturday and raced out to a 28-point lead before taking their foot off the gas in a 91-77 win. Cohen’s 18 points and eight rebounds a night pace UMass’ high-scoring offense — one that averages over 83 points per game.
The senior has scored double digits in all but one game, and reached 20 or more points in three. Cross is averaging 16 and 7½, yet it still feels like he can take his game to another level, even he has said so himself.
When the Minutemen’s frontcourt is clicking, and guards Keon Thompson and Rahsool Diggins are making smart decisions with the basketball, they are a tough team to beat.
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