Men's Basketball Heads to Amherst to Face UMass

The Harvard men’s basketball team will travel to Amherst, Mass. for its first true road game of the season as the Crimson will do battle with Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m., A-10 All-Access). The Crimson is coming off a sloppy home loss against Holy Cross, a team that the Minutemen defeated on the road last Sunday.

UMass (3-1) will be the first of three Atlantic Ten opponents that Harvard (1-2) will face in an eight-day period. The game will mark the farthest road trip for the Crimson until the team’s clash with Houston on Dec. 23. Beat writer Stephen Gleason highlights three things to watch in Saturday’s Thanksgiving weekend matinee.

OFFENSIVE CONTRAST

The Minutemen enter the contest averaging 79 points per game. UMass boasts a balanced scoring attack led by junior guard Donte Clark, the heart and soul of Derek Kellogg’s young team. Five Minutemen players average in double figures, including sixth man Zach Lewis.

UMass will be the first team Harvard has faced with a true Division I center. Sophomore Rashaan Holloway is 6’11”, weighs 310 pounds, and will be a difficult assignment for senior center Zena Edosomwan and freshman forward Chris Lewis down low.

While Holloway provides size inside, UMass’s scoring is driven primarily by its guards. The Minutemen are adept at getting to the free throw line. UMass averages 26.5 free throw attempts per contest and is making 68.9 percent, right around the NCAA average.

While the Crimson has a size advantage on the wings with sophomore Corey Johnson (6’5”) and freshman Seth Towns (6’7”), it will have to do a better job on the offensive end than it did against Holy Cross on Tuesday. Edosomwan, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder from a season ago, is only averaging three points and four rebounds a game this season.

The Minutemen are holding opponents to 37 percent shooting from the field, including a 29 percent clip from beyond the arc. Ole Miss, the only team that has beaten UMass this season, capitalized on 38 points in the paint and 33 points via free throws. Lewis, Edosomwan, and the rest of the Harvard front court will have to have strong showings in order for the guests to bring a victory back to Cambridge.

TURNOVERS

The Minutemen’s Achilles’ heel through four games this season has been ball protection. UMass is averaging 20 turnovers per contest and conceded 25 points off turnovers to Ole Miss and 24 to Holy Cross. While the Minuteman guards can shoot and get to the free throw line, a key for Harvard will be making sure that they do not get easy shots or to the line in the first place.

The Crimson has struggled on the defense at times this season and has had its fair share of turnovers on the offensive end. Harvard has only averaged five steals per contest this season and turned the ball over 19 times against Holy Cross. The team that wins the turnover battle will likely leave the Mullins Center with the win.

FRESHMAN SHOWDOWN

While Harvard’s highly touted freshman class has seen significant minutes early on this season, UMass boasts its own crop of first-years which has been up to the challenge in key moments thus far. The five-member class was ranked 33rd in the nation by 247Sports.

Kellogg starts two of his freshmen, and two more have seen considerable playing time off the bench. DeJon Jurreau, a shooting guard from New Orleans, is the crown jewel of the class and is averaging 12 points, six assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game. Luwane Pipkins, a point guard who had to sit out last season for academic reasons, is second on this year’s team in both minutes and points per game. Forwards Chris Baldwin and Tryn Flowers have combined to average over 20 minutes per contest off the bench.

The Crimson’s seven freshman have been on the court a lot for Harvard coach Tommy Amaker. Five have started at least one game and five have scored in double figures at least once. Amaker’s rotation is by no means set at this point in the season, but it will no doubt include a large proportion of the freshman class. If Edosomwan continues to struggle, look for Lewis and classmate Henry Welsh to keep receiving major playing time.

The strong freshman classes for both teams will help to ensure that this Bay State rivalry will remain competitive for years to come. The Minutemen took the matchup last season and leads the rivalry, 2-1, since Amaker and Kellogg have been in charge.

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.