AMHERST — Still energized by Sunday’s win over La Salle, the UMass coaches and players were eager to get back on the court for Wednesday’s home finale against Richmond (7 p.m. Mullins Center).
“We’re going to try to have that energy carry over,” said junior guard C.J. Anderson. “Coming off a win, everybody is energized and ready to go chase another one.”
With one fewer day to work with after playing Sunday instead of Saturday, the Spiders (17-11, 10-5 Atlantic 10) figure to be a tough task. Richmond doesn’t play a pure Princeton-style offense, which is slower, but it has a lot of Princeton principles with its ball movement and back cuts.
The Minutemen freshmen have never seen it before so the team crammed for it Monday and Tuesday.
Part of what makes the Spiders offense run as well as it does it senior big man T.J. Cline. The 6-foot-9 forward is the only player in the conference to be in the top five in scoring (18.9 points per game), rebounding (8.2 rpg) and assists (5.5).
Having a passing big man “is really, really important,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “Usually a center or power forward would have a hard time passing or making reads. To have someone who can pass makes it that much more fluid and hard to defend. Obviously those guys are rare and T.J. is especially rare.”
UMass (14-15, 4-12 A-10) will try to wear down Cline by making him battle Rashaan Holloway at both ends of the floor.
“They’re obviously going to double-team him some in the post, but I’m hopeful he can take advantage of his size, his good hands and his ability to create space,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “We have to make them work on defense some so they’re not so sharp on offense.”
Holloway was looking forward the matchup.
“He has to guard me the same way I have to guard him,” he said. “I have to try to take him out of his game the best I can and be ready to dominate.”
UMass is alone in 12th place, a game behind Saint Louis (5-11) and a game ahead of Saint Joseph’s (3-13) and Duquesne (3-13). A win or a St. Joe’s home loss to Rhode Island (Wednesday at 7 p.m.) would mean the Minutemen could finish no lower than 13th, and a UMass win combined with a Dukes loss (at George Mason, Wednesday 7) would assure it at least 12th.
The Minutemen would need to win Wednesday and Saturday (at St. Bonaventure 4 p.m.) and have SLU lose twice (at home vs. La Salle, Wednesday, at Richmond, Saturday) to finish 11th.
PIPKINS PROBABLE — Kellogg said he expected freshman Luwane Pipkins to be ready despite playing just six minutes in Sunday’s win over La Salle with an ankle injury.
“He tweaked it a little in practice before the game Sunday,” Kellogg said. “I think he’ll play (Wednesday), but that’s one of the reasons he didn’t play as much in the second half the other day.”
SENIOR NIGHT — UMass will honor senior walk-on Zach Turcotte and senior managers Derek Schulman and Ryan Chiasson prior to the game.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage