AMHERST — Two days after back spasms hampered him in UMass’ loss to Georgia State, Luwane Pipkins’ status for Friday’s game was in doubt at several points.
He missed shoot-around and was the last player on the floor for warmups as he got treatment up to and during the game.
In the Minutemen’s 74-63 win over Maine, Pipkins looked both uncomfortable and essential. He had 16 points in 16 minutes and made four of six 3-pointers off the bench. When he was in the game, UMass outscored Maine by 14 points. When he was out, the Black Bears led by three.
“Pip is a competitor. He wanted to play. There was some talk about not playing him in the second half,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “He said, ‘Coach I’m ready if you need me.’ He’s now got eight days to get it right. He didn’t shoot around today. That’s why I didn’t start him.”
McCall said even when he was out of the game, sitting on the floor getting stretched and massaged by trainer Dave Maclutsky, Pipkins was an active part of the game.
“He was constantly talking to his teammates. He was Pip,” McCall said. “He’s a competitor. He’s a fighter.”
McCall said he didn’t start Pipkins in principle.
“I wanted guys to understand, just because Luwane Pipkins is our leading scorer he doesn’t get to start without going through shoot-around,” he said. “That’s not how this works.”
The Minutemen scatter for Christmas and don’t return until Tuesday. The upcoming time off is both a benefit and a concern as Pipkins heads to Chicago.
“I’m a little concerned with him getting on an airplane and how he is away from us when he doesn’t have access to treatment,” McCall said.
It was the first time all season Pipkins hasn’t started and just the sixth time in his career he wasn’t on the floor at tipoff.
DOZEN ASSISTS, NO POINTS – Senior C.J. Anderson finished the game with 12 assists, three shy of UMass’ school record (15 by Carl Smith in 1986) and one shy of Chaz Williams’ Mullins Center record.
Anderson said he didn’t know he was as close as he was to Williams until John Sinnett, UMass’ associate athletic director for media relations, told him afterward.
“Mr. John told me I was close to getting Chaz,” Anderson said smiling. “Now that I know what he has, I’m coming for him.”
Anderson didn’t score a point in the game. According to SportsReference.com, only six Division I players have had more assists in a game without a point since 2010-11. Two had 14 and four had 13.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage