AMHERST — Two weeks ago, Tory Verdi walked into a film session and just wrote the word “toughness” on the whiteboard.
It was the term he knew would dictate whether or not UMass would take the next step as a program this season. There was plenty of optimism within the building about the potential of the Minutewomen this season and how the freshmen would complement the veterans around the court.
Yet when the lights turned on for the first time in a real game, UMass blinked against an opponent playing its first Division I game. Merrimack came into the Mullins Center on Tuesday and dominated from the opening tip, leaving Amherst with a 79-64 triumph in its first contest since moving up from Division II at the beginning of the year.
“I’m excited that this happened to us, and I say that because we’re going to learn from this,” Verdi said. “… We got out-toughed in every single category here (Tuesday), we got outworked, we got outplayed, we got outcoached, we got out everything here.”
The Minutewomen (0-1) found themselves in early trouble trying to battle against Merrimack Denia Davis-Stewart. The senior rejected nine shots in the first half and kept UMass from being aggressive in the paint. As a result, the Minutewomen settled for awkward – and at times rushed – jump shots and fell out of rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.
Even as Verdi and his staff tried to use their forwards higher in the lane to open up lanes closer to the basket, the shot selection did not improve. UMass finished 4 of 17 from behind the arc and shot just 33.8 percent from the floor, which Verdi attributed to his team’s reaction to Davis-Stewart.
“The fact that Davis blocked several of our shots early on, our players started to hesitate and it became that we were one-dimensional,” Verdi said. “We just shot the ball, we missed, we were just very passive against their zone. We didn’t do a very good job offensively attacking their zone.”
Nothing worked for the Minutewomen on the other end of the floor either as Merrimack (1-0) was able to run its offense almost unimpeded. The Warriors shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, but really hurt UMass from behind the arc by knocking down the open shots the Minutewomen gave them. Merrimack made 14 of 27 from behind the arc with Kate Mager making 6 of 9 attempts and Davis-Stewart sinking 4 of 6.
Verdi said his team did not communicate well on defense, and that opened the door for the Minutewomen to miss rotations and not close out on shooters. He said there were certain times his players weren’t even in the same defense with some following the call from the bench and others missing the sign completely.
UMass returns to the court Saturday at home against Providence, and Verdi said he’s curious to see how his team responds to receiving an early wake-up call.
“I’m glad that this happened to us because my question to my team is who are we,” Verdi said. “Are we going to be resilient? Do they have enough character to respond to this? We’re facing adversity right now and I want to see who they are as players and if they can respond to this.”