BOSTON — Before Saturday’s game even tipped off at Lavietes Pavilion, a loud chant began in the stands.
In such a small arena, the echoes of “Let’s Go UMass” from the overwhelming contingent of UMass fans were noticeable as the Minutemen’s starters were introduced prior to their game against Harvard. When Carl Pierre connected on a 3-pointer on the Minutemen’s first possession, it sounded like the junior made that shot in the Mullins Center.
But by the middle of the first half, the Harvard supporters were the only ones who could be heard in Cambridge. The Crimson took the lead on the possession that followed Pierre’s triple and kept increasing their advantage for the next 39 minutes, culminating in an 89-55 rout of the Minutemen.
UMass coach Matt McCall apologized to the Minutemen supporters who made the trek, calling the performance his team put on the court in front of them “embarrassing.”
“They were there and they were ready to get loud and ready to cheer for us and we never really gave them anything to cheer for,” McCall said.
The Minutemen (5-5) never looked to be completely into the game as Harvard (6-4) outhustled UMass in every facet of the game. When a loose ball hit the floor, the Crimson were a second or two faster to retrieve it. When a shot went up, Harvard was quick to find a player and box him out for the potential rebound. Even on defense, the Crimson were flying around in their rotations while the Minutemen seemed lost as to who was guarding which player.
“We didn’t play to our capabilities, we didn’t play as hard as I thought we could have, and it showed,” Pierre said.
UMass showcased a lack of urgency that troubled McCall, who said it was crazy that his team wouldn’t have been excited for facing an in-state rival on the road. Yet for 40 minutes, the Crimson were the hungrier team and kept outworking the Minutemen.
“There were times in the first half when shots were going up and we were watching, we’re not hitting anybody, we’re not blocking out, we’re not doing the types of things that go into winning a game like this,” McCall said. “I don’t know how many loose balls they had in the first half, but I guarantee you we struck out on all of them. They played more determined, they played more desperate and the game was way, way more important to them than it was to us, and that was disappointing.”
Harvard took control of the game by slicing up the UMass defense with its speed and physicality. The Minutemen struggled to keep the Crimson out of the paint and were scrambling to recover after Harvard slipped by them to get to the rim. And even when Harvard did miss shots near the basket, it always seemed to have a player in the perfect position to clean up the rebound, scoring 17 second-chance points on just 12 offensive rebounds.
“We could not keep them in front of us off the bounce, we were in constant rotations,” McCall said. “Whipped off the bounce in the press, not in the press, in the half court, in the full court, we could not guard the ball, we could not keep any of them in front of us and we couldn’t rebound.”
The lack of defensive effort translated over to the offense where UMass strayed away from its offensive identity. Although the Minutemen did find ways to create the open shots they normally want to take, they didn’t create much of the inside-out action that has made them successful.
When they drove to the rim, they rarely kicked out for open shots and instead settled for contested off-balanced shots or tough floaters over defenders. When the ball was worked into the post, it rarely came out of it as the forwards tried to make a post move work and free space for themselves to attempt a difficult shot.
McCall suspects the selfish nature came from some lineup changes the third-year coach made to combat Harvard’s lineup. UMass re-inserted Keon Clergeot into the starting lineup in place of T.J. Weeks to help clamp down on Crimson star guard Bryce Aiken and subbed in Sy Chatman for Samba Diallo to help deal with Chris Lewis’ athleticism in the post. McCall said he wasn’t sure if the Minutemen were selfless enough and completely bought into the changes.
“I felt like the entire game, everything was a little bit selfish and a little bit too much ‘me, me, me, I, I, I,” McCall said. “You move some things around due to matchups. How are we going to attack Aiken? How are we going to attack Chris Lewis? What’s the best lineup to start the game and what’s the best lineup to also bring off the bench to keep fresh bodies on those guys and I don’t know how well we handled that.”