UMass center Michael Steadman and George Washington center Noel Brown battle for the ball in the first half in February at the Mullins Center.
UMass center Michael Steadman and George Washington center Noel Brown battle for the ball in the first half in February at the Mullins Center. Credit: CHRIS TUCCI/UMASS ATHLETICS


What difference does 40 minutes make?

For the UMass men’s basketball team, it can extend their season. It could keep Matt McCall the Minutemen’s head coach for at least another day. It can push them another step closer to an Atlantic 10 championship.

UMass (14-16, 7-11 A-10) opens the Atlantic 10 tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday against George Washington at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.

“It would mean a decent amount,” coach Matt McCall said. “Not because it’s GW, but because it would give us an opportunity to play 40 more minutes of basketball.”

The 10th-seeded Minutemen haven’t beaten No. 7 George Washington since 2014. The Colonials won their only regular season matchup 77-68 on Feb. 9. A lot has changed in the month since.

UMass announced last week that it would make a coaching change after the season but that McCall would lead the program until then. The Minutemen have been playing like they want him to stick around a little longer. They’ve won their past two games: an emotional victory over Fordham at the Mullins Center and a thrilling overtime triumph at George Mason that helped set up Thursday’s second-round matchup.

“It was an emotional week, let’s call it like it is.  Our player are in a relatively good spot, all things considered. For me, I haven’t had a ton of time to digest anything,” McCal said. “With what happened, something I want these guys to understand is adversity hits, you don’t just quit. You keep battling, you fight to the end.”

UMass has played with a passion and freedom that eluded them for stretches of the season. They’re bringing that to bear against the Colonials.

“We know that if we lose we’re done, the mentality is a little more aggressive and focused,” UMass forward Trent Buttrick said.

In that February matchup, George Washington guards James Bishop and Joe Bamisile (both named third-team all-A-10 this week) combined for 37 points despite being the focus of the scouting report.

“They’re both two good players with extremely green lights. That makes them dangerous,” UMass guard Rich Kelly said. “We’ve got to be aware at all times of their whereabouts and be really aggressive when they have the ball.”

As a team, George Washington stands out statistically in few areas compared to other A-10 teams except for the one part of the game that UMass excels: defending the 3-point line. The Colonials allow opponents to shoot just 30.2 percent from beyond the arc, the second-best mark in the conference behind VCU (26.8 percent).

The Minutemen lead the A-10 with 287 3s this season and are tied for second in the league making 37.3 percent of their triples. Six Minutemen are shooting at least 35 percent from 3, lead by Rich Kelly’s conference-best mark of 47 percent.

“I think we’re pretty dangerous because of our offensive potency as well as our mentality right now, playing free flowing and having fun,” Rich Kelly said.

The winner will face No. 2 Dayton at 6 p.m. Friday. 

SNUBBED? – No Minutemen received any postseason honors from the Atlantic 10. They were shut out across the three all-league teams even as there were six players to a team. No UMass player made the defensive team (UMass doesn’t have any freshman eligible for the rookie team).

“A lot of times the majority of The people that made those teams are from the top four teams in the league,” McCall said. “I think you’ve got to put that in the back of your mind and use it as fuel to drive you.”

ROLE MODELS – The Minutemen tracked the UMass women’s basketball team as it powered through the A-10 tournament to win its first conference title and claim its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998.

“You see another team be able to do it that’s as close as we are to them, they want to go out there and try to do the same thing,” McCall said.

They watched their first-round game from their hotel room before the George Mason game and all went to greet the Minutewomen when they returned from Delaware victorious with the trophy.

“It’s also inspiring because ether come from the same school and hopefully we can do the same thing,” Rich Kelly said.

WELCOME TO MARCH – McCall watched his former team Chattanooga win the Southern Conference title on a buzzer-beater by David Jean-Baptiste in overtime.

Jean-Baptiste redshirted his freshman year, McCall’s final with the Mocs before coming to UMass and took his extra season of eligibility for playing last year to remain with the team.

Minutes before the shot went in, McCall received a call that one of his former players at Chattanooga Eric Robertson had passed away during a pickup game.

“He hit that shot and it’s like E Rob helped guide the ball in the net,” McCall said. “It was a tough night, but what a shot by David.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.