 "Photo: Brian Tedder, Collegian")
For three of its last five losses, the Massachusetts men's basketball team has seen what it's like to be surprised by teams it's heavily favored to beat.
Tomorrow, the Minutemen (1-5) hope to bring that feeling to Boston College in their first game at the Mullins Center since losing to Jacksonville State Nov. 24.
UMass is off to its worst start since the 2002-03 season, where the Minutemen lost five of its first six games before beating Florida International at home. A loss to the Eagles would be the first time they went 1-6 since the 2000-01 season.
UMass has had almost all its games on the road. In its previous game against Toledo, Justin Anyijong had a tip-in at the buzzer to beat the Minutemen, 57-56.
While UMass coach Derek Kellogg didn't get the offensive results he was looking for, he saw plenty of improvement from center Tyrell Lynch. The freshman finished with nine rebounds in 33 minutes.
"He could've had 15 [rebounds]," Kellogg said. "When he gets in playing shape and playing condition, that's what we're going to expect."
BC (5-2) will come into Amherst with two straight wins and plenty of confidence after finishing with a 4-12 conference record last season. Since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference during the 2005-06 season, the Eagles have otherwise held their own in a competitive basketball conference.
This year, BC is a lot more competitive and should give UMass problems with its size. While the Eagles aren't incredibly big and aren't deep in the frontcourt, but they're still bigger overall than the Minutemen, who have two active men above 6-foot-7.
"It's an important game because they're an ACC team and they're two hours down the road," Kellogg said.
Besides being close in proximity, Kellogg is simply looking for UMass to snap its five-game losing skid. He believes the team is starting to come together, but the Minutemen's short rotation will continue to test their character.
BC comes off a dramatic 57-55 win over Iowa after sustaining a 10-0 surge from the Hawkeyes with two minutes, nine seconds left to play.
The Eagles' main offensive weapon is point guard Tyrese Rice (who scored 15 against Iowa). The senior leads the team with 17.7 points per game and 4.8 assists.
For UMass, senior Chris Lowe should get the assignment for shutting down the catalyst to the Eagles' offense. Considering the point guard's recent struggles on both ends of the court, Lowe is looking forward to the challenge of stopping the sixth best scorer in the ACC.
"I guarded him for three years now, so I'm just going to play him man-up and give it all I've got," Lowe said of his defensive assignment.
The Minutemen are no strangers to facing the Eagles. The two teams have met 10 of the last 12 years with a total of 51 meetings in the "Battle of the Commonwealth."
BC has the all-time lead with a 23-18 record. In their last meeting, UMass won, 83-80, on the road Dec. 12, 2007. Prior to last year, the Eagles won eight straight meetings.
If the Minutemen hope to snap their five-game losing streak, they'll have to take better care of the basketball. UMass has the worst assist-to-turnover ratio (0.60) in the Atlantic 10.
Lowe believes the key to cutting down on turnovers will be giving his teammates easier passes to get better shots. In the game against the Rockets, Lowe had as many turnovers (four) as he did assists.
"I'm going to have to feed them like a little baby, just like how you feed a little newborn," Lowe said.
Game notes
Kellogg is looking for redshirt senior Luke Bonner to come back from his knee injury soon after the Dec. 13 against Kansas … Prior to the injury, he averaged four points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Adam Miller can be reached at ajmil0@student.umass.edu.
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