AMHERST — On Monday, UMass coach Matt McCall said senior guard C.J. Anderson showed an aggressiveness offensively in practice the previous two days that had been missing in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, Anderson had 15 points and was a big part of the reason the Minutemen hung with No. 22 Rhode Island before falling 85-83 at the Mullins Center.
It was Anderson’s most points since scoring 23 at Quinnipiac on Nov. 29.
“We need that from C.J. I thought he was aggressive. He made some great plays, got down the lane,” McCall said. “He’s been through a lot since he’s been here. I want him to get joy out of playing the game and enjoy the next eight games. He’s got a lot to play for, to get better and grow. When he’s being aggressive and plays the game like that, it helps our team.”
The Minutemen have lacked consistent offensive contributions beyond Luwane Pipkins and Carl Pierre, but got a lift from Anderson and Malik Hines, who added a career-high 18. Pipkins challenged them to keep it up.
“They have to keep doing it though. We can’t play to the level of competition when big games come around. We have to do it every game,” he said. “We have to beat the teams we’re supposed to beat.”
PIPKINS 20 — Pipkins’ 27 points was the ninth time this year he’s scored at least 20. It pushed his season average over 20 points per game at 20.2, moving him into a tie with Davidson’s Peyton Aldridge for No. 2 in the conference behind La Salle’s B.J. Johnson (21.3 ppg). Only five players in school history have average more than 20 per game. Julius Erving and Clarence Hill each did it twice. The last player to do it was Marcus Camby, who averaged 20.5 in 1995-96.
Pipkins now has 801 points in his career. If he maintains his average he could reach 1,000 before the end of the season.
UMASS VS. TOP 25 — UMass has lost six straight against teams ranked in the top 25 dating back to the 2013-14 season. The Minutemen’s last win vs. a team in The Associated Press poll was over No. 19 New Mexico in the 2013 Charleston Classic.
MISCELLANEOUS — Sophomore forward Chris Baldwin missed his second straight game with a knee injury. … Rhode Island has won 18 straight Atlantic 10 games dating back to last season, including the 2017 conference tournament. … Marty Meehan, the UMass system president, was among the 4,194 fans in attendance.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage