AMHERST — Rasheen Davis isn’t looking forward to Wednesday’s game.
The UMass assistant men’s basketball coach spent the previous two years as an assistant coach at VCU, so when the Rams visit for a 7 p.m. game, he’ll be coaching against some players he’s close to.
“I want to win, but I have a very close relationship with those players. It’ll be interesting,” Davis said. “I still speak to all of them pretty often.”
UMass coach Matt McCall said the Minutemen used Davis’ familiarity with the players.
“Rasheen is a relationship guy. I’m sure it’ll be emotional for him. But once the ball is up, we’ll all go play,” McCall said. “But he knows their tendencies. It would be different if Will Wade was still the coach there.”
UMass will again be without freshman big man Khalea Turner-Morris, but there was good news on that front for the first time since he entered concussion protocol following an inadvertent collision in a Feb. 10 loss at Saint Joseph’s.
Turner-Morris could return to practice Thursday and the team is hopeful he’ll make the trip and play in Saturday’s 6 p.m. game at George Mason.
“We’re trending toward being optimistic for Saturday,” McCall said.
VCU (15-12, 7-7 Atlantic 10) is in fifth place in the conference, a game out of the coveted fourth spot that comes with a double bye into the quarterfinals of next month’s Atlantic 10 Tournament.
After opening league play 6-3, the Rams have struggled losing four of five games.
Mike Rhoades is the Rams’ third coach in the last four years as he replaced Wade, who went to LSU after two seasons.
Rhoades, who was an assistant under Shaka Smart at VCU and the head coach at Rice for the past three years, plays a style more similar to Smart.
Nine players play at least 10 minutes for the Rams, who’ll press for most of the game.
“Every time the ball goes through the net, they’e going to get in the press,” McCall said. “It’s more like it was when Shaka was there.”
McCall said the way he plans to press in the future is different than Rhoades’ style, but in terms of tempo and roster depth, watching VCU will give UMass fans a bit of a glimpse into how future Minuteman squads might look.
“Being able to play multiple bodies, having length, having athleticism, being able to press. That’s what we’re building toward,” McCall said. “With the limited bodies, we can’t do that right now.”
If VCU was playing better, Justin Tillman might be among the Atlantic 10 player of the year favorites. The 6-foot-8 senior leads the league in rebounding (9.4 per game) and is fifth in scoring at 19.0 points per game.
“He’s one of the best players in the league if not the best,” McCall said. “The respect I have for him is not just the ball going in the basket, but how hard he works to get it. His physicality, his athleticism and how hard he wants to play is impressive.”
Sophomore De’Riante Jenkins is the team’s only other double-figure scorer at 12.9 points per game.
Johnny Williams leads the league with 5.7 assists per game to go with his 9.5 points per game.
“His leadership and his ability to dog the ball and get up into guys, he’s good,” McCall said.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING — With four games left, UMass enters Wednesday essentially in last place in the Atlantic 10.
At 4-10 in conference play, the Minutemen are tied with Fordham, but the Rams won the teams’ head-to-head meeting. So if they finished the season in a two-way tie, Fordham would get the higher seed.
The top 10 teams in the conference get a bye in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. UMass is two games back of that threshold where Dayton, Duquesne and George Mason are in a three-way tie at 6-8.
UMass plays GMU and Duquesne on the next two Saturdays so there’s a potential opportunity for the Minutemen to control their own fate.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage