AMHERST — For the first time in Matt McCall’s coaching career, he turned to the crowd at the Mullins Center on Saturday and encouraged them to stand and make some noise.
Normally passionate and active on the sidelines, McCall’s effort and energy is typically devoted to yelling instructions to his players and arguing with referees. But with 59 seconds left, the second-year coach did his best to stoke the crowd noise in a tied game against the Atlantic 10 leaders, something he admitted he’s never done before.
It was only a minute prior to McCall’s arm waving that fifth-year senior Rashaan Holloway stood up off the bench and asked the crowd for some encouraging noise. Holloway played just five minutes in the 54-51 upset of Davidson, but was engaged as everyone else when the Minutemen trailed by a point with two minutes remaining.
Shortly after Holloway pumped up the crowd, Samba Diallo hit a 3-pointer to give UMass the lead. After McCall’s request for noise, the Minutemen got consecutive stops and Keon Clergeot came down the floor and drilled the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left. Davidson called a timeout as Clergeot was hustling back on defense, so he quickly changed directions and charged toward the basket nearest the UMass bench where he was met by an injured Luwane Pipkins to share in his excitement.
The 3,878 fans in attendance rewarded the Minutemen and their displays of emotions with the loudest cheers of the season.
“Just having the backing of the crowd gives you energy,” sophomore Carl Pierre said. “I’m sure everyone out there was tired and was battling through fatigue, and just having that crowd behind you helps you make that extra play.”
PIERRE ON FIRE — After a rough start from behind the arc against Atlantic 10 foes, Pierre has feasted on the rims at the Mullins Center the past two weeks.
In his last three games in UMass’ home arena, the sophomore sharpshooter has shot 16 of 24 on 3-point attempts, five more than he had in the first six conference games. He once again carried the Minutemen’s offense without Pipkins, scoring 23 points while making his first five 3-point attempts of the game.
He found his rhythm early with some conventional catch-and-shoot corner 3s, but really started to feel things late in the first half. Pierre beat the shot clock with a 3 with 1:33 left in the half to give UMass the lead and then hit two more 3-pointers early in the second half as part of a stretch in which he scored 10 straight points for UMass.
With Pipkins on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Pierre has become an important voice on and off the court for UMass. McCall said Pierre started to find his shooting stroke around the same time he allowed himself to be a more vocal presence shortly before Pipkins went down.
“He’s been just a tremendous leader, too, because he does all the right things,” McCall said. “Not only is he a really good player, but he’s never late to a class, he never misses a class, he’s always early, always in the gym, always working, always shooting. He’s what UMass basketball and the culture and everything is about. He’s earned the right to speak up when maybe guys aren’t doing the same things or living the culture every single day. I’ve seen him bust out of his shell recently and be a lot more vocal than he has been in the past and it’s kind of liberating for him.”
STARTING FIVE — In the ongoing fight for the culture of the program, McCall changed his starting lineup yet again Saturday.
The coach said he’s been trying to tinker with combinations to find one that works cohesively, and he found his starting fivesome during Friday’s early morning practice at the Curry Hicks Cage. He inserted redshirt sophomore Unique McLean alongside Djery Baptiste, Clergeot, Samba Diallo and Pierre, and watched as that group dominated practice. The connection continued into Saturday’s game and McCall rode it in the critical moments of the game, and was rewarded for his trust.
“That group that we started and that played a lot of minutes, they were through the roof,” McCall said. “Their energy at 6:45 in the morning was outstanding and it carried over into being able to win that game (Saturday).”