KINGSTON, R.I. — Last week’s torrid scoring didn’t carry over for either Luwane Pipkins or Carl Pierre.
The Rhode Island defense and the perhaps the law of averages caught up with both guards during a 73-51 loss, Wednesday at the Ryan Center.
“We were missing layups. They were obviously physical, but teams have been physical with those two guys before. I thought they both had good looks,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “Some nights the ball just isn’t going to go in the basket. That’s the bottom line. We have to find ways to still win games.”
Pipkins, who had 44 and 27 points in come from behind wins over La Salle and Saint Joseph’s, respectively, struggled in the first half against URI sophomore Jeff Dowtin.
Pipkins had two points on 1-for-9 shooting (0-for-4 from outside) and turned the ball over three times before halftime. He opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and shot 4-for-8 to finish with 13 points.
“I love the way we guarded throughout. Our No. 1 priority was Pipkins, and he obviously got a lot of attention. To hold him to 13 points on 17 shots was our plan,” Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley said. “Jeff’s length and (Jarvis Garrett’s) quickness kind of bothered him a little bit.”
Pipkins average dropped back below 20 points per game at 19.8.
Pierre, who came in shooting 49 percent from 3-point range, didn’t get many good looks. He was 0-for-2 from behind the line and finished with five points, his fewest since scoring two at Quinnipiac on Nov. 29.
STREAK SNAPPED — With Rhode Island comfortably ahead, senior E.C. Matthews only played 29 minutes. He finished with eight points, the first time in eight career games against UMass he didn’t score in double figures. UMass was one of his finalists during his recruiting process.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DEFICITS — For the sixth straight game and the seventh time in the last eight, the Minutemen got behind by double figures. It was the third time in Atlantic 10 play and fourth time this season they’ve trailed by at least 20.
MISCELLANEOUS — The 22-point loss was biggest deficit UMass lost by all season and the 51 points matched its lowest output since Nov. 24 vs. Minnesota. … UMass didn’t have a fast-break point for the first time all year. … C.J. Anderson, who entered the game second in the Atlantic 10 with 5.6 assists per game, had none for the first time this season. … The game drew just 5,583, over 2,000 under capacity despite Rhode Island’s success.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage