AMHERST – Trent Buttrick used halftime like a chrysalis.
The Penn State transfer struggled in the first half of his UMass men’s basketball debut Tuesday against UMBC, missing four 3s and looking lost on defense.
In the locker room, Minutemen coach Matt McCall wrote the word “effort” on the team’s whiteboard. He underlined it, circled it and added exclamation points, denting the marker in the process.
Buttrick and his UMass teammates took it to heart. They stopped forcing shots on offense and began communicating on defense, turning a four-point halftime deficit into a 77-60 victory to open the season at the Mullins Center.
“We talked about effort on the defensive end, trying to celebrate success on defense and not worry about the offensive end,” B uttrick said. “We all know we can score and have no problem getting the ball in the basket.”
Once the offense came to Buttrick, it erupted. He made his first shot of the game 7 minutes, 36 seconds into the second half, flipping in a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound to put UMass ahead 51-44. The Bloomsburg, Pa., native then ripped off 13 points in a row for the Minutemen over a 3:24 span, powering a 13-4 run that put the game away.
He canned three 3s in a row – UMass’ first triples of the game – and the recently readmitted Mullins Center crowd crested louder with each one.
“It’s kind of fun. We needed that,” UMass redshirt sophomore TJ Weeks said. “I was like ‘he’s going crazy right now.’ Follow him, he has the hot hand.”
Buttrick’s 16 points tied for the team high with Weeks, who also had 16 to go with seven rebounds. Weeks’ play helped dig UMass out of an early hole.
The Minutemen trailed 15-2 after the first 3:57. UMBC (0-1) hit three 3s and forced a timeout.
“The game was going too fast for us. We had to settle in. That’s the first time our guys have seen that many people in the stands in a long, long time,” McCall said. “I think our adrenaline was going a little too much, and we had to settle in.”
The play – and effort – of reserves Greg Jones (nine points), Dibaji Walker (five rebounds, two blocks) and Kolton Mitchell (six points, two assists) helped the Minutemen claw back. Starting guard Cairo McCrory picked up two early fouls, and McCall didn’t go back to him after UMass cut the deficit to four before the half.
UMBC outrebounded UMass 28-16 in the first half, grabbing 10 offensive boards. The Minutemen shot 40.6 percent from the field and went 0-for-7 from 3.
“I was struggling too. I was missing my free throws, missing my layups, but we just gave effort,” Weeks said. “We just gave effort. We kept hammering at it.”
UMass coalesced at the break and redoubled its defensive intensity in the second half. UMBC shot 36.8 percent in the first half but just 25.9 percent after halftime. After those first three 3s, the Retrievers went 2-of-25 the rest of the game from downtown. The Minutemen forced 13 turnovers and turned them into 18 points in the second half.
They outscored UMBC 45-21 after halftime as UMass’ new additions settled into their new home. Buttrick, Rich Kelly (six points, six assists) and Jones transferred to the Minutemen in the offseason. UMass was without newcomers C.J. Kelly and Michael Steadman, who missed the game with injuries, as well.
“You look at college basketball and the transition between seasons, right when the season ends it becomes a very selfish time. We settle in, and now it’s, ‘I gotta get stronger, I gotta improve my game.’ So it’s me, me, me, me, me. And then when you get your whole team here, you’re trying to shift that me to a ‘we.’ That started back in July,” McCall said. “Can we celebrate each other’s success when maybe it’s not going well for me on a particular night? Can we celebrate that? That is a difficult thing to do.”
In the second half, they showed they could.
UMass returns to action Friday night when it travels to play at Yale at 8 p.m.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.