AMHERST — Insticts took Preston Santos toward the UMass bench last Saturday at Fairfield.
Moments after poking a rebound away from a pair of Stags players, Santos sprinted toward the sideline in hopes of saving the ball for an extra possession. Many players would have let the ball go out of bounds, knowing the chances of keeping the deflection inbounds were slim. But Santos dove to keep the ball in play, knocking it back to T.J. Weeks, who eventually found Sean East for a layup.
In the stat sheet, Weeks was credited with the offensive rebound on the play because he was the one who first fully possessed the ball after the missed shot. But that play doesn’t happen with Santos’ effort from the moment Carl Pierre’s 3-pointer hit the rim until the ball was safely in Weeks’ hands.
“That’s something I’ve always been doing since I was a little kid,” Santos said. “That’s why I think my playing time has increased just because of how hard I play.”
Those type of little plays are what has earned Santos his time on the court in the first three games of the season. The freshman guard isn’t the type of player who is going to put up the flashy numbers of some of his teammates, he’s the energy guy who allows those players to shine.
He’s the one chasing down passes within the UMass press and keeping the traps as tight as possible against opposing ball handlers. He’s crashing the glass off missed shots and hustling out on the fast break to give his teammates options for easy baskets. Before the season began, Santos was challenged by coach Matt McCall to be a team leader in hustle plays, and he has bought into that role early in his first year with the Minutemen.
“That’s where he needs to put all of his focus, on playing as hard as he can,” McCall said. “That’s where Preston changes the game for us and that’s where we’ve talked to him a lot about ‘just putting all your focus on that. Get 10 hustle stats a game. Don’t worry about your offensive numbers, be the player you are that got you to this level. That’s by playing really, really hard and impacting the game with how hard you play and getting your athleticism into every game.’”
With Kolten Mitchell out for an extended period of time with a broken hand, McCall said he was concerned about who would step up and help fill that role as a strong defender within the UMass press. The coach said he was pleased with how Santos stepped into that role and helped spark the Minutemen’s game-changing run early in the second half with his energy on both ends of the floor.
McCall had such faith in Santos that he inserted him into the game with four seconds left against Fairfield in order to defend against the Stags’ final shot. Santos hadn’t played in 12 minutes of game time when he was substituted back into the game, but Santos helped to force a long shot from Landon Taliaferro in the final seconds of the game to secure the UMass win.
“It’s definitely (a confidence boost) knowing that he and the other assistant coaches trust me and they trust that I’m able to make that play on defense,” Santos said. “That’s what I’m known as, a real high-level defender.”
UMASS SIGNS TWO — UMass announced Thursday that it signed two players during the November signing period.
The Minutemen went back to assistant coach Tony Bergeron’s old school — Woodstock Academy — to sign 6-foot-5 guard Cairo McCrory. Columbus, Ohio, native Javohn Garcia also inked his national letter of intent with UMass. The 6-4 guard will play this season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.
TOURNAMENT TIME — Saturday’s 1 p.m. tipoff against Central Connecticut State is the first of four games UMass will play as part of the Air Force Reserve Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The Minutemen (3-0) will face the Blue Devils (0-3) on Saturday at the Mullins Center and then play host to Rider on Wednesday in the two campus-site contests for the tournament. UMass will then play defending national champions Viriginia at noon next Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena before facing either Arizona State or St. John’s next Sunday back in Uncasville, Connecticut.
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.