AMHERST — After almost a month of his team competing only against itself, UMass coach Derek Kellogg was glad to have an actual opponent on the horizon.
The Minutemen will face Carleton, a Canadian university, Friday in a controlled scrimmage. It’s the first of two scrimmages the Minutemen will play at the Champions Center this preseason.
Schools aren’t allowed to release the results or stats from the games. UMass will host Albany on Nov. 5.
Kellogg hoped both scrimmages would give him a better gauge on how far along his team was.
“We need to scrimmage somebody else just to see if the stuff that works when you’re going against yourself works when you’re going against somebody else,” he said. “Is our halfcourt defense any good or does it look good because we’re playing against each other and we know what each guy is going to do? Are we fast in transition or are we fast because you’re going against the guy you’ve gone against for the last three weeks?”
Kellogg said his team has made progress from the Sept. 30 start of practice.
“One day it feels great and another day it feels like we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Kellogg said. “They’re putting in a pretty good effort. They seem to be working hard. We could just get better in so many areas right now. It’s fun but it’s frustrating because I want to be in midseason form yesterday.
“I’m trying to be very patient,” he continued. “I’m trying to set the building blocks but also let them play enough so we look like a team when the time is right.”
Kellogg hoped his squad would have some stretches where it showed its potential Friday while at the same time wanted Carleton to expose some things his team needed to work on.
“I want have it go where it works where we can say that if we stay on this track we have a chance to be really good,” he said. “We also want some times where its tough on these guys where it’s not easy to score. What’s the next layer and next level of our offense? When a team is making baskets and we’re turning it over, how do we respond?”
These games offer an opportunity to lab test lineups. Sophomore center Rashaan Holloway’s increased stamina and quickness has enticed Kellogg to try some combinations that have one player (Holloway) in the paint and four on the perimeter.
That means in addition to Zach Coleman and Seth Berger, who are natural small forwards playing the four, Ty Flowers, C.J. Anderson and Unique McLean, who are all natural guards or wings, could all see time there.
“If Rashaan Holloway is what I need him to be, a 6-11, 300 pound center who can take up space, you can put four (smaller) guys around him if they’ll all rebound,” Kellogg said. “Then we can be a fun team to watch.”
Kellogg said Holloway will take on a larger role in the offense.
“If Rashaan is in the game we have to make sure he’s touching the ball,” Kellogg said. “It makes no sense to have a guy that size if he gets up the floor not to get him the ball.”