Welcome to the Atlantic 10, Loyola Chicago.
UMass’s next men’s basketball opponent will visit the Mullins Center on Tuesday (7 p.m. ESPN-Plus) for a battle of the league’s bottom two teams. The Ramblers (8-16, 2-10 Atlantic 10) joined the league this season from the Missouri Valley Conference after reaching the previous two NCAA tournaments. They famously reached the 2018 Final Four as a No. 11 seed under previous coach Porter Moser (at Oklahoma since last season).
These aren’t those Ramblers. Loyola Chicago has the worst point differential in the A-10 (minus-5), a bottom-two defense (72.6 points per game) and a bottom-three offense (67.7 points per game) in the league. Combine that with the conference’s worst turnover margin (minus-3.63) and a negative assist to turnover ratio (0.8), and the Ramblers’ dismal league start comes sharply into focus.
Loyola Chicago does boast the league’s best shooting percentage (47.1) and second-worst field goal defense (44.8 percent). The Ramblers grab the fewest rebounds in the A-10 per game (31.1). UMass (13-12, 4-9) ranks second in the A-10 with 37.1 rebounds per contest and co-lead the league averaging 12.8 offensive rebounds per game.
Phillip Alson leads Loyola Chicago scoring 14.5 points per game and grabbing 5.6 rebounds per contest. He’s also the team’s best 3-point shooter at a 41.8 percent clip.
Braden Norris also averages double figures at 11.2 points per game. Center Tom Welch leads the A-10 shooting 68.6 percent from the floor.
UMass has lost its last four games and sank to 14th in the 15-team conference standings.
“We had a team meeting just players the other day in the locker room to talk about what we think is going on and cancel out the negative noise and the outside noise and lock in,” UMass forward Matt Cross said. “No matter what everyone else thinks, we still think when we’re all together and doing what we’re supposed to do we can go win the tournament and surprise a lot of people. We’re just trying to get on the same page.”
The Minutemen have been shorthanded at the guard position of late, but UConn transfer Rahsool Diggins and freshman RJ Luis both practiced Monday. Point guard Noah Fernandes remains unavailable as his ankle is reexamined.
“Some of the younger guys, you’ve got to learn how to deal with losing runs in games, how to deal with negative noise from fans, opposing fans, whatever it is, social media,” Cross said. “We’re learning to cancel that out and play for each other and together.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.