AMHERST – Don’t downplay Towson.
The Tigers, who will face the UMass men’s basketball team at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Mullins Center, are scary. And Skerry, for that matter.
“When you’re going to compare them to Kentucky, you’re gonna say, ‘eh.’ You compare them to who they are,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “When you compare it to what’s happened under Pat Skerry’s watch at Towson to pre-Pat Skerry, it’s unbelievable the success they’ve had.”
Towson (1-0) won 25 games last year and captured its first CAA regular season title. Skerry has four 20-win seasons in his dozen years. The program only posted one in the previous 43 years as a Division I program.
“The team has got winning pedigree. Beating talent, it’s not easy, but it’s doable,” Martin said. “Beating a team with a winning pedigree, winning culture, that’s a problem.”
Collegeinsider.com ranks Towson as the No. 8 mid-major team in the country, ahead of schools like Iona and BYU. The Tigers took down future UMass opponent Albany 67-62 in their opener.
“They just figure out ways to win. It’s what they do, and the learning moment for us in that game is how we handle that, and I’ve got no idea,” Martin said. “I haven’t been through with these guys. I’m excited to find out.”
The preseason CAA favorites have three preseason all-conference selections: guards Cam Holden and Nicolas Timberlake (a Braintree native) and forward Charles Thompson.
“They’re returning a lot of their key good players, and I think it’s gonna be a dogfight,” UMass forward Brandon Martin said. “They’re gonna be a real tough team to play and beat. I think this is a good early test for us to move on to the next step.”
The Minutemen (1-0) won’t have much time to prepare. They beat Central Connecticut State on Monday in their opener. That quick turnaround will be good practice, however, as UMass will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C., next week for the Myrtle Beach Invitational and play three games in four days.
“I’d rather more time, but it’s a great way to have to refocus right away and not dwell on [Monday], and just no days off,” Frank Martin said. “You’ve got to real quick get rid of yesterday and move on to today.”
Thankfully the Minutemen will be well rested. The entire roster that was healthy saw time against the Blue Devils, and no one played more than 27 minutes.
“It’s one of the strengths. It’s the way I like to coach,” Martin said. “The basketball that we play, the physicality we try to play with, that I know Towson plays with it, it’s stressful on players, it beats their bodies up.”
Forward Matt Cross, who didn’t play in the opener because of an injury, practiced Tuesday and should be available Thursday if it responds well to stress. Freshman Tafara Gapare hurt his thumb in the first minute of his debut and didn’t practice Tuesday.
“We don’t think it’s a severe problem,” Martin said. “Everybody else should be good to go.”
With that depth available, Martin can continue to learn about his players and how they function together. It lets him continue to coach how he wants.
“It creates the opportunity to have your bench players impact the game,” he said. “I just like getting guys ready to play, so when their number’s called, they’ve done it. They’re a piece, they have a role, they have a responsibility and they know what they’re being asked to do. The goal for me every game is to get into the other team’s batch. I’m hoping that my players six to 10 are better prepared to compete in the game than the other team’s six to 10. That’s the give and take that I try to create.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.