The Fire Isn’t There For UMass

AMHERST, Mass. – This surely wasn’t what any of the Minuteman faithful had in mind to open the season – certainly not for Derek Kellogg’s first home game as head coach.

No, what they had in mind was something like what the scoreboard looked like with 29 seconds left. At that point, UMass had a 74-69 lead on Jacksonville State, a young team picked last in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll of head coaches and sports information directors. But the last 30 seconds were something the new coach had seen before, and it wasn’t good.

“That was very reminiscent of something that happened to me not too long ago,” said Kellogg, referring to the ending of last season’s national championship game while he was an assistant at Memphis. “It was almost the perfect storm of everything that could go wrong in a short period of time did, from missed free throws to missed assignments to putting a three-point shooter at the line.”

But as much as that might get noticed and talked about by the casual observer, that’s not the most salient aspect of the game or the Minutemen thus far. Instead, it’s something the players wasted no time talking about and Kellogg added similar thoughts on: playing with a purpose.

“Dudes need to learn about themselves,” said senior Tony Gaffney. “Dudes need to go home and look in the mirror and decide if they want to play, if they’re going to play with heart and passion. From the jump, no one played with that urgency.”

Indeed, Gaffney was perhaps the one Minuteman who played with urgency throughout the game. He was probably the best player on the floor, and his 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots only tell part of the story there. His motor is always running, and that’s been a big thing holding up the 1-3 Minutemen right now.

Chris Lowe was great in the second half, when he scored 15 of his 20 points, but he had no assists in the second half. That means teammates didn’t set themselves up for passes like they did in the first half, and while Lowe had some big baskets, he didn’t make all of the plays on the night. And he was quick to point a finger at himself.

“Right now, Tony’s the only one playing with leadership,” Lowe said after the game. “Myself, just because I had that many points, whatever, that don’t mean nothing. I’m not providing enough leadership, and if I don’t do that, the team’s not going to be successful, to tell you the truth, so everything’s really falling on me.”

While the floor leader is important and sets the tone, Lowe is hardly alone on the court. Much has been expected of Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley, but neither gave them much on Monday night. They combined for 20 points while being capable of scoring about 35 a night, but more importantly, they seemed invisible on the court.

The Minutemen reject the notion that this is explained by the fact that they’re a young team. They aren’t off their rockers in thinking that; it’s not a team full of freshmen and sophomores. Their lack of experience is less of an issue than their lack of depth. But most of all, the lack of a consistent effort, especially at the defensive end, is a real issue.

“I thought our guys competed at times, especially in the run where we did some good things,” said Kellogg. “I just have to find a way to get them to play harder and continue to buy into what we’re trying to do on the defensive end of the floor.

“Until we improve defensively, we’re just going to be an okay basketball team.”

Kellogg had a recurring them in his post-game comments. Namely, the Minutemen have worked hard and shown some intensity, but not all the time. The consistency of effort and intensity hasn’t been there, and it’s showing as the team looks good in spurts.

“My whole speech before the game, after the game, during the game, is let’s play intense basketball for 40 minutes. Let’s go out there and compete on every play, every possession,” said Kellogg. “The only way you do that is if you do it every day in practice. We do that sometimes, but we don’t do it enough every day in practice, and I’m trying to stay on these guys and get them to compete and play harder.”

At 1-3, UMass is in a hole early. They had a chance at beating Southern Illinois, although that was far from a given since it was in Carbondale. They had Monday night’s game as well. There’s enough talent and even experience on the team, and Gaffney and Lowe are capable leaders. The latter knows, however, that he has to change for the benefit of the team, and that’s something he’s accustomed to as a point guard.

“I’m not a rah-rah guy who likes to yell and scream,” said Lowe. “I’ve just got to get out of my shell now. We’re in a hole, we’ve got to get out of this hole.”

The players certainly aren’t about to give up on their season, and the coaching staff certainly isn’t as well. They just realize they have to change course if the results are to change.