AMHERST – Two last-second shots didn’t drop, and the UMass men’s basketball game fell 64-62 against Loyola Chicago on Tuesday at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen had the ball with 9 seconds remaining and didn’t call a timeout. T.J. Weeks Jr., who scored a team-high 18 points, was rejected at the rim after receiving the ball in the post. Isaac Kante gathered it and lofted a floater from the paint that bounced on the rim twice before rolling off to hand UMass its fifth loss in a row.
UMass coach Frank Martin told his team before the play he wouldn’t call a timeout if they only trailed by one or two points.
“We knew the play, and we got exactly what we wanted,” Martin said. “They did exactly what I asked them to do and had the courage to do it. The ball just didn’t go in.”
Final: Loyola Chicago 64, UMass 62. Minutemen had two good looks at a game-tying shot pic.twitter.com/ev46iHbSCA
— Kyle Grabowski (@kylegrbwsk) February 15, 2023
The Minutemen (13-13, 4-10 Atlantic 10) shaved an 18-point second-half deficit down to four after Kante muscled a tough layup through the defense with 3:05 left. That made it 61-57 Loyola Chicago and capped a 14-0 UMass run.
Weeks Jr. pulled the Minutemen to a single possession 63-60 with a 3 at the 1:33 mark. They hadn’t been that close since the opening five minutes.
UMass freshman guard Keon Thompson cut the gap to one with a pull up jumper with 32.8 on the clock.
The Minutemen defended for the entire ensuing 25-second shot clock and forced a Tom Welch miss, but Philip Alston gabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. He went 1-of-2 to give the Minutemen a chance in the final nine seconds.
“In the first half we didn’t play to our ability at all. Defensively we let them go by us. We wasn’t hitting shots,” Weeks said. “In the second half we said, ‘we’ve got to stop all that. We got to win games.’ That’s what we tried to do.”
UMass held Loyola Chicago without a field goal for the final 9:51. The Ramblers (9-16, 3-10) both shot (22) and made (14) twice as many free throws as the Minutemen (7-of-11).
“We eliminated the [complaining]. When you’ve got guys that make a lot of excuses and blame, you end up giving up a lot of uncontested layups,” Martin said. “We eliminated the nonsense. We had guys that committed to playing for each other rather than playing for themselves.”
After trailing by 14 at halftime, the Minutemen opened the second half with a 7-2 run and shaved their deficit to single digits 43-34, but Dyondre Dominguez (nine points) and RJ Luis (six rebounds, two steals), the architects of the run, both picked up their third fouls in the first 2:17.
Kante (six points, five rebounds) sank two free throws with 16:09 left to pull the Minutemen within 45-38, and the Mullins Center raised its volume from a church service to a pre-wedding ceremony hum.
It upped another level when Gapare euro-stepped his way to a tear-drop floater to cut the lead to 45-40 39 seconds later.
UMass couldn’t capitalize on that opportunity, as the Ramblers ran their lead back out to double digits with an 11-0 run over the next 4:23.
Loyola Chicago’s Ben Schwieger put the Minutemen in an 18-point hole, their largest of the game, when he swished a side-step 3 at the 9:51 mark that made it 61-43.
“I’m tired of us being embarrassingly bad defensively,” Martin said.
UMass needed to overcome more than the scoreboard, though. Forward Matt Cross injured his right leg driving to the basket five minutes into the game. It buckled as he elevated for a layup with 15:07 to halftime, and he crumbled to the floor. Dyondre Dominguez and Brandon Martin, who also missed the game with a UCL injury, helped carry Cross off the court. He didn’t put any weight on his right leg.
Frank Martin said after the game that Cross injured his MCL and would receive an MRI soon to determine the severity of the injury.
“Matt’s the guy that provides the toughness on our team, and without him out there I think we had guys looking around to see who was going to do it,” Frank Martin said. “We ended up with some guys making a lot of excuses and a lot of complaints, and I think that’s what got us in trouble. “
UMass trailed just 10-8 when Cross hit the floor thanks to his two 3-pointers, but the Ramblers registered eight of the next 10 points to take an 18-10 lead with 10:36 to halftime.
Loyola Chicago stretched its lead to double digits 26-14 when Bryce Golden snapped a 3-pointer through with 6:17 to halftime.
The advantage ballooned to 16 with 1:33 left after Braden Norris sank his fourth 3 of the first half to make it 36-20.
UMass trailed 41-27 at the break.
The Minutemen will visit Rhode Island on Saturday (2 p.m. ESPNU).
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.