AMHERST
Without the scoreboard at the Mullins Center telling you UMass defeated Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, it would have been hard to know based on Matt McCall’s postgame demeanor.
The second-year men’s basketball coach could have applauded his team’s grit from overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit. He could have been proud of his team’s three crucial defensive stops that allowed the Minutemen to win. He could have even spoken about how well his team shared the ball in the second half to shoot 75 percent from the field and assist on 13 of 18 made field goals.
But McCall isn’t one to sugarcoat anything when it comes to his team. He’s not afraid to call out the big issue with this year’s squad, and do so without anyone asking him a question. For the first three minutes of his postgame press conference, McCall focused in on the major reason UMass is 7-5 at Christmas and not 9-3 (or even better).
“I’ve never been more disappointed after a win,” McCall said. “Not because of how we played, but because of our perspective – or lack thereof. What I mean by that is, Randall West has perspective. Being a part of this program means something to Randall. He got his number called and he did his job and he did it as hard as he possibly could. That’s the stuff that goes into winning. Not the ball going in the basket, not a nice dunk or an assist, having perspective and having a level of appreciation of being a part of this program – and he has that. To me, we don’t have enough guys that have that, and that’s why I was disappointed.”
It has become abundantly clear over the past two months that UMass has the talent. The Minutemen lead the Atlantic 10 in scoring and have five players averaging double figures. Luwane Pipkins is the conference’s second-leading scorer and leads the league in assists. Jonathan Laurent leads the A-10 in 3-point field goal percentage and Rashaan Holloway is second in field goal percentage.
But what UMass has lacked at times this year is a will to do the little things that actually determine who wins the game. They’re the simple plays that coaches preach all the time but will never appear on any of the highlight shows. The opportunities to inject life into your teammates by taking a charge or securing a rebound or even locking down your man and not letting him get off a shot.
Far too often this season, we see sequences like the one that played out Friday with four minutes to go and UMass protecting a three-point lead. Fairleigh Dickinson missed two 3-pointers and collected the offensive rebound with relative ease after each miss. On the second miss, Xzavier Malone-Key made a layup while being fouled so he had a chance for a three-point play. He missed the free throw, picked up his own rebound and 20 seconds later hit an open 3 to give the Knights the lead.
That sequence of events was not a product of Malone-Key being more talented than any of the Minutemen on the court, he just wanted it more. He put forth more effort at a critical juncture to make a play that could have won his team the game. It’s the type of complacency that McCall spent so much time worrying about before Friday’s game.
So yes, McCall was frustrated after Friday’s win, and he had every reason to be mad at his team. The players know what the issues are and are forthright in pointing them out. Yet they still continue to pop up every night the Minutemen take the floor for a game.
A lackluster first half against Providence turned into an energetic second half performance to beat the Friars. A gutsy effort in the opening 20 minutes against Temple preceded a letdown over the final 20 in a loss to the Owls. And the pattern continued against Fairleigh Dickinson with a mediocre beginning leading to a strong enough finish to win the game.
“We struggle with having a feel for the game all the time,” Holloway said when explaining how Fairleigh Dickinson made nine of its first 13 shots to take an eight-point lead. “When we lock in and we actually come in and play defense, we get it done. That’s what we have to do every game before we start. Sometimes we get caught up in the offense and if it’s not going then we don’t play defense. We learn and we go over it every day.”
That is where it all circles back to McCall’s magical word – perspective. At this point in the season, consistency should not be as big of an issue as it’s been for the Minutemen. The anger that is building within the players needs to be channeled onto the court. There isn’t time for players to be consumed with the wrong things or take their spot for granted.
On Sunday, UMass will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule at Georgia. Then it’s 18 Atlantic 10 contests in a league where parity is at an all-time high. And there’s only one thing the Minutemen need to make a second-half charge.
“Perspective,” McCall said to punctuate his opening remarks. “We don’t have enough of it and we better get it.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
