AMHERST — It didn’t take long for Djery Baptiste to take ownership of the lane at the Mullins Center.
In his first game in front of his new home crowd, the transfer from Vanderbilt blocked five shots and altered several others in 15 minutes during UMass’ 69-60 loss to La Salle on Saturday. His length and athleticism gave the Explorers fits when he was in the game and gave the Minutemen a dimension they lacked in the first half of the season.
Still, the redshirt junior was disappointed in his performance, most notably securing just two rebounds despite getting his hands on numerous other missed shots.
“Not just the blocks, I didn’t do a good job rebounding at all,” Baptiste said. “I could have done a much better job on the defensive end. That’s the result of what happens when you’re playing with effort and trying to win every possession. That’s the mindset that I have right now.”
Saturday’s loss was Baptiste’s second game for the Minutemen since becoming eligible after Christmas. Last Sunday’s loss to Georgia was Baptiste’s first game action since March and he said Saturday he’s still trying to rediscover his timing and rhythm on the court. He was in foul trouble for much of his appearance against the Bulldogs, but still managed to grab five rebounds.
His hands weren’t as reliable Saturday against La Salle, but he still managed to redirect the missed shots in direction of teammates. He said he has gotten more comfortable on the court since joining practice and is looking forward to rounding into his normal form soon.
“That’s what I meant by getting back to the rhythm and getting back to that timing where I secure the ball more,” Baptiste said. “A lot of the times, the ball kept slipping out of my hands, even offensively. I just need to get back to being who I am on the defensive end as far as rebounding and just grab it and get the team going.”
INTENSITY FOUND — After three weeks of McCall continuously talking about the need to improve defensively, UMass took a big step in that direction against La Salle.
The Minutemen allowed 11 points in the first 4:02 of the game, but then bunkered down and allowed just 16 points on 27 percent shooting over the final 15:58 to take a 29-27 lead at intermission. Curtis Cobb said he felt the talk about the players taking ownership of the defensive end finally clicked this week after the intensity of practice was increased to match the speed of the game.
“It’s just more pride,” the redshirt junior said. “We’ve harped on it a lot over these last couple of days in practice, and guys have been going at each other. Making it more game-like was better and keeping it at a fast pace with guys coming off ball screens the same way they do in games. We simulated that a lot better this week.”
TOUGH LUCK SHOT — La Salle turned to an unlikely source for the shot that gave it the lead for good.
Luwane Pipkins broke the game’s seventh tie with a tough layup through traffic with three and a half minutes left in the game. But on the ensuing Explorers’ possession, David Beatty – a 24 percent 3-point shooter – was left open in the corner and he buried the shot as a defender charged at him at the last second.
It was the type of risk Cobb said UMass was willing to take because of how aggressive La Salle was at driving to the basket. It didn’t help that most of the Explorers’ points in the second half were the result of attacking the basket and either drawing a foul or converting tough looks near the rim.
“We played into the personnel,” Cobb said. “Some of those guys aren’t the best 3-point shooters, so we were worried more about the roll and helping that guy. We were OK being a little late to some of those shots, and unfortunately they fell. They’re mostly a driving team and some of those guys who made shots late were drivers, that was our scouting report.”
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.