AMHERST — For 17 minutes Saturday, UMass fans got to witness what the Minutemen’s offense looked like without Luwane Pipkins.
The junior guard left the 64-62 loss to Saint Joseph’s with a hamstring injury, leaving UMass without its leader on the court. After going on an 11-0 run to take the lead shortly after Pipkins’ injury, the Minutemen scored on just five possessions over the last 8:54 of the game.
UMass is preparing to play without its leading scorer as Pipkins is questionable for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game against Fordham at the Mullins Center.
“We have to put more of an emphasis on moving the ball and just playing together,” sophomore guard Carl Pierre said. “There is not that guy you can look to at the end of a clock to just go get a bucket whenever he wants. It’s going to be a good challenge for this team.”
Although he hasn’t been scoring at the same level during Atlantic 10 games, Pipkins has been in full command of the Minutemen’s offense. He’s third in the conference in assists per game and has used his passing to help open up the floor for his teammates.
He is the closest thing UMass has to a true point guard with Tre Wood still not cleared for contact after sustaining a concussion on Dec. 30. If Pipkins can’t play against the Rams, the ballhandling duty will fall on players like Keon Clergeot and Curtis Cobb.
However, coach Matt McCall said he isn’t asking any of his players to do anything other than making the best decision on every possession.
“We’ve just got to make the right play,” McCall said. “Just because you come down and someone else shoots, the next possession doesn’t mean it’s your turn to shoot, you still need to make the right play. We just need to make sure we’re making the right play, whoever it is. It just doesn’t fall on Keon’s shoulders, it falls on everyone’s shoulders to make the right play.”
Over the last two games, the smart play has seemingly been to pass the ball to Rashaan Holloway in the post. The fifth-year senior center recorded a double-double in both games last week in Philadelphia with a pair of dominating efforts.
He is the good candidate to carry another heavy load on offense against Fordham if Pipkins is out of the lineup. The Minutemen have put a focus on trying to run their offense through the post more and hoping that will open up lanes for the other four players on the floor.
“I’m just working harder, I’m just trying to focus on winning as many games as possible,” Holloway said. “If we’re not hitting shots, that means I have to step up down low, get more rebounds, get more putbacks, just do my job.”
Pipkins’ absence will also take a toll on the guards, many of whom have succeeded this season as a complement to the junior. Players like Pierre must adapt their game without a slasher like Pipkins, who is unafraid to drive the lane and kick out for an open shot.
“I just have to be a little bit more aggressive and get my teammates involved,” Pierre said. “We just need to be a unit on that end of the floor.”
UMass (8-14, 1-8 Atlantic 10) will also have to contend with a multitude of different defenses from Fordham. The Rams (9-12, 0-8 A-10) are known for being unpredictable with which defense it is going to deploy on a given possession, which can slow teams down trying to identify the formation.
It might help the Minutemen slow down and correct their miscues that led to 19 turnovers — 13 of which were unforced — against Saint Joseph’s. But they will also need to be smart and not fall for the traps Fordham’s defense sets for teams by tempting them with open jump shots.
“They constantly make you guess,” McCall said. “They want you to overthink. Whether they’re in their crazy kind of triangle-and-two or box-and-one or a 2-3 zone or man-to-man, you’re coming down and they get you thinking. … They want you shooting 17-foot jump shots, and it’s easy to take the bait because they’re wide open. There’s a reason you’re wide open and you can’t take the bait.”
A-10 LOCKS DOWN TOURNEY — The Atlantic 10 announced Tuesday the location of the men’s basketball tournament through 2024. The conference is beginning a three-year deal for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next month, and will come back to the New York arena in 2023 and 2024. The league will return the tournament in Washington D.C. at Capital One Arena in 2022 after hosting the event there in 2018.