UMass Basketball: Scare in the Air Doesn't Damper Minutemen

AMHERST, Mass. — Mentality can undoubtedly have an effect on performance, and after the University of Massachusetts basketball team’s plane made an emergency landing due to smoke in the cockpit en route to Olean, NY, on Tuesday night, the Minutemen had a reasonable excuse not to play well against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night, after being rattled by the experience.

But despite the unsettling events and lack of practice time, the maroon and white took it in stride and were able to put together another strong road performance in conference play, out-pacing the Bonnies 78-69 at the Reilly Center.

Senior guard Anthony Gurley (20.4 points per game) had another dominant performance, following up his 30-point showing against Richmond, with 28 against St. Bonaventure. Sophomore Javorn Farrell played an important role with 16 points, which upped his average to 10.1 ppg (second-best on the team).

The win marked the second straight road victory in the conference, the first coming against Charlotte (73-54) last Wednesday, which have been difficult to come by in recent years for the Minutemen in the competitive Atlantic 10 schedule. Last year UMass went 2-6 in road games in the Atlantic 10, while in Kellog’s first year (2008-2009) they finished 3-5 on the road in conference. So far in 2010-11 UMass is 2-1 on the road in the A-10, with the only loss coming to first-place Xavier (79-50) at the Cintas Center, one of the toughest places to play in the country.

UMass currently sits at 12-7 (4-2 Atlantic 10). The 12 victories match the win total in each of the first two years of a Kellogg era (12-18, 2008-09) (12-20, 2009-10), and with 10 regular season games remaining there is a strong possibility of the team finishing with a winning record for the first time since Kellogg took over.

The UMass program is headed in the right direction, after a pair of rebuilding years, and to currently sit five games above .500 at this junction is a good accomplishment. Not only is UMass winning in tough environments in the A-10, but they are also taking care of business against the teams that they should beat, which may not have seemed like a given after falling by 29 to Central Connecticut State in the non-conference finale and to Maine earlier in the season. Three of UMass’ four conference wins have come against the bottom five teams in the conference, including St. Bonaventure (10-9, 2-4 A-10), La Salle (9-11, 1-4 A-10), and Charlotte (9-11, 1-5 A-10), and it still has four games remaining against teams in the bottom of the ranks (St. Joe’s twice, Fordham, and La Salle again).

The Minutemen’s two conference losses came at the hands of perennial contenders and potential at-large NCAA tournament teams, Richmond and Xavier. However on the bright side, UMass picked up arguably its biggest win of the season Jan. 9 against the defending NIT champion Dayton Flyers. The Flyers may be headed to the NIT again, as they sit in the second tier of the top half of the conference.

The maroon and white will be back in action on Sunday when they take on Rhode Island, in a rivalry game at the Mullins Center. It will be another opportunity to knock off a team from the top half of the A-10 conference.