FAIRFAX, Va. — Nearly a year ago, Tre Wood was in the stands as UMass and George Mason battled through overtime.
Wood was still a senior at St. John’s College High School in Washington D.C. – a short drive from George Mason’s campus in Fairfax, Virginia – and watched as the Minutemen rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to take a three-point lead with 11 seconds left. The Patriots would hit three free throws in the final seconds to force overtime and eventually defeated the Minutemen by two.
A year later, Wood was on the floor and in the middle of the action in front of dozens of friends and family as George Mason and UMass battled in yet another overtime affair on Wednesday. The freshman point guard scored a career-high 13 points and tied a season best with eight assists, but UMass squandered a late four-point lead and lost to the Patriots in the extra session. The similarities of the two games was not lost on Wood, who said he felt the same way playing Wednesday as he did watching the Minutemen play last year.
“We were just in the locker room talking about the whole scenario from last year and how we’ve just got to learn at the end of games just to close them out,” Wood said after Wednesday’s 80-75 setback. “We can’t just keep coming out flat every half, we played a good half in the first half (Wednesday), came out the second half a little flat and that’s something we can’t do.”
Wood’s breakout performance came at a critical juncture of his first season of college basketball. The freshman missed the first 10 games of conference play after suffering a concussion on Dec. 30 against Georgia and didn’t return to action until Feb. 9 against Davidson. The time off was difficult for Wood to accept mentally and the unpredictable nature of healing from a head injury can be hard on the psyche.
“I was going through a lot mentally not being able to play, so it bothered me a little bit, the 10 games I had to sit out,” Wood said. “It felt good to just get back out and just run and just play.”
His return was timed perfectly for the Minutemen (9-16, 2-10 Atlantic 10), who have been short a ballhandler the last three games while playing without Luwane Pipkins. Wood took over much of that duty on Wednesday against George Mason, playing a season-high 33 minutes, a total that would have been higher if Wood hadn’t suffered cramps in the second half.
Every time Wood returned to the bench, Pipkins would find his way over to the seat next to the freshman and whisper in his ear. The messages were helpful as Wood battled through the pain in his calves to hit clutch shots.
“He was telling me to keep being aggressive, keep getting my team involved and keep playing hard,” Wood said. “He just told me to keep my head and keep playing hard. I listened to him because he’s being doing it for a bit at a high level.”
UMass is cautiously optimistic Pipkins will return Wednesday when it travels to George Washington, but there are no guarantees with hamstring injuries. Wood proved against George Mason he was ready to take on a larger role and excelled when given the chance to run the offense. Although he is still raw in many aspects, he brings some needed speed to the Minutemen’s offense and helps them push the pace even more.
“Huge props to him,” sophomore Carl Pierre said. “Coming in, playing with poise, not being afraid to take the big shots and just being steady for us. I really commend him, he came in (Wednesday) and gave us huge minutes.”
SAMBA STRONG: Wood wasn’t the only freshman who shined Wednesday against George Mason.
Samba Diallo anchored the UMass defense for most of the first half and kept George Mason’s top scorers out of rhythm from the field. He also grabbed eight of his game-high 12 rebounds in the first 20 minutes and added three steals in 37 minutes.
He had a brief glimmer of offense when he scored six straight points for UMass early in the second half, but it is his defensive intensity and effort that has kept him in Matt McCall’s starting lineup.
“That’s what he’s great at, he impacts the game in so many ways defensively,” McCall said. “The things he’s doing – he makes a lot of mistakes on offense – but defensively and rebounding, he’s impacting the game in so many ways. That’s why he’s out there, he’s got to continue to grow and learn, but I’m proud of his effort because he brings that every day.”
COBB OUT: Curtis Cobb missed the loss to George Mason with a foot injury and was wearing a boot on the UMass bench. The injury occurred last Monday during practice and McCall said he expected Cobb to miss another week or two.
