AMHERST — Thirty-three.
The number of 3-pointers UMass attempted Wednesday against St. Bonaventure at the Mullins Center stood out on a stat sheet that didn’t have much other positive news about the Minutemen’s night offensively. The shots weren’t falling for the Minutemen again, but that didn’t stop them from continuing to take their chances from behind the arc.
Those 33 longballs weren’t bad shots, either, just not a recipe for success for a team shooting just 30.7 percent from long range in conference play. In total, more than 60 percent of the Minutemen’s shots against the Bonnies were 3-pointers. And when they didn’t fall consistently, there was nothing preventing UMass from a seventh straight loss – this one a 65-51 defeat at the hands of St. Bonaventure.
“Our identity right now as a team is kind of live and die with (3-pointers), and it’s not working,” coach Matt McCall said. “There may have been games where it worked – maybe it’s worked for seven games – but it’s not working right now. We have to find ways to put more pressure on the paint. We have to find ways to get to the free-throw line more because defensively, our defense has given us a chance.”
UMass players were not made available for postgame comments.
The plethora of 3-pointers is a symptom of a larger issue within the UMass offense – a lack of easy offense. The Minutemen’s struggles in transition were on full display against the Bonnies with just two fast-break points despite seven steals. On at least two separate occasions, Luwane Pipkins stopped with a clear lane to the basket on a fast break and pitched it back for a 3-pointer. Neither of those shots went in and the Minutemen weren’t in position to contest for the offensive rebound, creating a lost possession.
And when UMass was able to secure an offensive rebound, it did very little to capitalize on those second chances. It grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and scored just three points off of them, two of which came from a herky-jerky post move from Djery Baptiste after he nearly bobbled away the ball while trying to corral the rebound.
“We never get run outs, ever,” McCall said. “We never get easy baskets. Offensive rebounds, we grab them, we bobble them, we miss layups in there. Everything we get is so earned, it’s move the floor and get Luwane in a pick and roll or send Carl (Pierre) off a baseline runner. Teams are plugging and we’re trying to make the right play, the ball’s (just) not going in the basket.”
The first half was not pretty for either side on offense until Kieran Hayward got going for the Minutemen from behind the arc. He sank three straight triples to break an 11-11 tie with a personal 9-0 run and UMass (7-12, 0-6 Atlantic 10) found a rhythm on offense. That groove helped the Minutemen maintain an eight-point advantage with 4:38 remaining, but it didn’t last long.
UMass couldn’t capitalize on a Curtis Cobb steal on St. Bonaventure’s next possession with Pierre missing two shots before the Bonnies (7-12, 3-3 A-10) collected the rebound. Those two misses were the first in a string of seven straight to end the half as St. Bonaventure scored the final 10 points to take the lead into intermission.
“We’ve got to be way more locked in, focused and getting stops,” McCall said. “We’re up, the ball’s going through the net, we’re moving around, flying around, everybody’s excited and then one thing doesn’t go well. How do you respond when that one thing doesn’t go well, and we don’t respond the right way.”
It was the same issue that plagued the Minutemen to start the second half when Keon Clergeot’s game-tying 3-pointer gave way to an 8-0 Bonnies run that put them ahead for the rest of the contest. The trend continued on each of UMass’ next four made baskets and a manageable deficit swelled to as many as 21 points in the second half.
The issue at hand was a lack of effort in contesting shots, particularly those around the rim. St. Bonaventure held a 26-16 points advantage in the paint and collected seven offensive rebounds. Whereas the Bonnies were able to alter shots near the basket by just providing pressure, the Minutemen were left flat-footed many times as St. Bonaventure threw down dunks and hit hook shots within a few feet of the hoop.
“The effort to start the game was through the roof,” McCall said. “There were some lack of effort plays in the second half and I burned the timeout there and was pretty upset with our guys. When you’re standing there and you have a chance and an opportunity to make a play on the ball when the guy is underneath the rim and you just stand there and watch them shoot it, as a competitor, how do you allow that to happen?”