After coasting past UMass-Lowell in its opener, the UMass men’s basketball team faces a much harder test on Monday.
Derek Kellogg’s young squad heads south to Mississippi for a 7 p.m. game at Ole Miss.
“We’ve got a lot of things to correct,” junior C.J. Anderson said. “We have three games in six days so we’ve got to get too it.”
The game is a homecoming or close to a homecoming for three players as the game is the Minutemen’s only trip to the deep south. Malik Hines (Jackson, Mississippi), C.J. Anderson (Memphis) and DeJon Jarreau (New Orleans) are all expected to have friends and family at the Pavilion at Ole Miss.
Hines tried to play it cool.
“It’s just another game for me,” said Hines, who said he didn’t root for the Rebels or Mississippi State as a kid. “They’ll be a lot of family members there. A lot of them haven’t seen me play since high school. This’ll be good for them.”
Anderson, who lives the closest to Oxford, promised the put some UMass fans in the seats.
“It’s only 45 minutes. They’ll be a good 50-75, 100 maybe. It’s family reunion time,” he said. “It’ll be special because I haven’t seen them in so long. The last time I saw a lot of my family was Christmas. I miss them. It’ll be good.”
The Rebels were 20-12 last year and beat UMass 74-64 in Springfield. They’re 1-0 this season after edging Tennessee-Martin, 86-83 Friday.
A pair of transfers are expected to help fill Stefan Moody’s shoes for Ole Miss. Moody, who led the team with 23.6 points per game last season, graduated.
The first is junior Cullen Neal, who transferred from New Mexico where he was playing for his father Craig. The Lobos’ rabid fan base pointed its frustration with the team’s 2015-16 results at both Neals, who thought it would be better for Cullen (12.3 ppg last season) to have a fresh start.
Given his unique situation, the NCAA allowed Cullen Neal to be eligible without sitting out a year.
He had 10 points and a team-high four assists against Tennessee-Martin.
The other transfer is Deandre Burnett, who began his career at Miami. He had 23 points against the Skyhawks on Friday.
Sebastian Saiz is the top returning frontcourt player. The senior average 11.7 points and 8.7 rebounds last year. At 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, he’s the biggest player for the Rebels and will likely draw at least some of the responsibility of guarding UMass’ Rashaan Holloway, who is listed a 6-foot-11, 330 pounds.
Ole Miss’ struggles vs. UT-Martin came partially from turning the ball over as the Rebels gave the ball away 24 times. UMass forced 28 turnovers vs. Lowell, so the Minutemen will try to match that effort vs. Ole Miss.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage