AMHERST - University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg said if his team does not build off its strong showing in Saturday's near-upset at No. 10 Xavier, then the 82-80 defeat at the Cintas Center was just another loss.

"We're going to try to use that Xavier game as a springboard for the rest of the season, not just a reason for us to be excited that we played well in a loss," Kellogg said. "This is a springboard for us to see if we can do something special in the last regular season games and in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

"I'm interested to see if our guys will play and compete every time out, no matter who the opponent is," he added.

Kellogg will get his first look at how his team responds at 7 tonight when the Minutemen (7-12, 2-4 Atlantic 10) host Richmond at the Mullins Center.

Kellogg said he is optimistic. "I feel like our team is in a good frame of mind, ready to play and compete."

The Spiders have had a back-and-forth season reflected accurately in their 11-10 overall and 3-3 Atlantic 10 record.

Richmond has not won or lost more than two games in a row all season. That doesn't bode well for UMass as the Spiders have lost two straight heading into tonight's game.

This will be Kellogg's first game as a head coach against Richmond, and he will try to match up against its Princeton-style, slowdown offense.

"Teams that play and master that style of play have been very effective and have done some good things," Kellogg said. "It's unique. It's a tempo-control style and it's hard to get teams to play their way out of it because they usually have five guys that can all pass, catch, shoot and put the ball on the floor a little bit.

"More often than not you end up playing a half-court game, trying to defend and squeak out a win at the end."

The Spiders were dealt a blow before the season began as junior big man Dan Geriot tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a summer league game. Geriot led the Spiders in scoring last year with 14.3 points to go with 5.5 rebounds per game.

Sophomore Justin Harper has emerged as a presence in Geriot's absence. The 6-foot-10 big man is averaging 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and he may challenge Tony Gaffney for the conference's most improved player honors.

Still, Geriot's presence would have helped on the glass as Richmond is among the league's worse rebounding teams. Opponents have averaged 3.5 more boards per game than the Spiders.

Junior wing David Gonzalvez is coming off a 36-point game in a 74-65 loss at Temple on Saturday. He leads the Spiders with 16.7 points per game (sixth in the A-10) and had 20 against the Minutemen last year. Sophomore Kevin Anderson has built off its strong freshman year, averaging 14.6 points per game.

Chris Lowe enters the game needing just one point to become the 40th 1,000-point career scorer at UMass, which will put him in a club that includes four of his current or former teammates - Rashaun Freeman, Ricky Harris, Gary Forbes and Stephane Lasme.

"That doesn't matter," Lowe said. "Right now I just want to get some Ws."

Lowe, who has been exclusively a point guard during his career, played at shooting guard at times against Xavier with freshman David Gibbs running the point. That lineup, which was intended to take some pressure off Lowe, had some success against the Musketeers and will likely be used in stretches again.

"It's something we've been using in practice," Kellogg said. "Gibbs is becoming more comfortable with the college game and is understanding what I expect of him. He's done some very, very good things. It's been in pieces, but now he's doing it in stretches. I'm excited to continue to watch him grow and progress."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/category/sports/umass-sports.