AMHERST — There was a difference in Carl Pierre on Tuesday from last week.
After UMass’ exhibition game, coach Matt McCall made a big deal out of Pierre only shooting the ball five times. It was a point of emphasis for UMass to try and find their sophomore sharpshooter more against UMass-Lowell.
It took Pierre less than four minutes to hit his first 3-pointer and he made three of his first four attempts from behind the arc. The scoring spree was helpful to keep the Minutemen ahead of the River Hawks early as UMass outlasted Lowell for a 83-75 victory at the Mullins Center.
“I was going to put them up whether it falls or not just as a testament to the work I put in, but seeing that first one go in definitely felt good,” Pierre said. “I worked a lot over the summer and the fall before every practice putting up the kind of shots off the dribble you saw in the game. It felt good to see them go down.”
Pierre finished with a game-high 21 points, pacing four UMass players in double figures. It was the deep shots that warmed up Pierre from the floor, but it was his range inside the arc that made a difference for UMass (1-0).
The Boston native was in attack mode most of the second half and picked apart the UMass-Lowell (0-1) defense. He put the ball on the floor more often in an attempt to find shots and it ended with him shooting 9 of 16.
“I was more aggressive overall just hunting for shots,” Pierre said. “Whether it was raising behind screens or off the bounce, I was just increasing my aggression.”
Pierre’s scoring outburst overshadowed a less-than-ideal defensive performance from the Minutemen. The two teams traded baskets for most of the night in the back-and-forth contest that didn’t feature many lead changes but plenty of close calls.
UMass took a nine-point lead with six minutes left in the first half, but let it slip away as the River Hawks went on a 9-0 run over the next 85 seconds to tie the game. The Minutemen extended the lead to 16 points with a 9-0 run midway through the second half, but once again UMass-Lowell clawed its way back and cut the deficit to four with 2:31 left.
McCall blamed the defensive issues on UMass’ inability to slow down Lowell when it pushed the pace.
“Transition defense, there’s no play, it’s get back, shrink the floor and take away 3s,” McCall said. “I thought they got way too many opportunities in transition and we just need to get better there. Give them credit, they inbounded the ball fast and that ball was coming at us and we were cross-matched a bunch of different times.”
Tuesday marked the return of fifth-year senior Rashaan Holloway, and the big man didn’t wait to make an impact. He had three rebounds in his first three minutes of action and finished the game with 11 in 19 minutes. His dominance on the glass suitably complemented his inside presence, which left the crowd in awe early.
He went under Connor Bennett three minutes into the game and made a scoop shot while drawing contact. In his second stint on the court, he took a feed from Curtis Cobb and backed down his defender before depositing another layup while being fouled.
“It felt real good,” Holloway said. “I felt the love and it’s good to be back.”
McCall made it a point to go to Holloway early in the game to get him acclimated, and it worked well as Holloway drew a double team and passed it out of the post. Although the senior finished with only six points, he had two baskets wiped off the board by fouls – one on him and one on UMass-Lowell.
However, it was Holloway’s contributions on the defensive end that left McCall the most encouraged by his center.
“As a coach, I need to continue to be creative in finding ways (to get Holloway the ball),” McCall said. “I loved to get him a touch early to get him into the flow of the game, but he was a force on the glass. Defensively, he didn’t hurt us, they tried to put him in some pick and rolls, but he was a force on the glass, and we need that from him.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.