Miami defeated UMass earlier this season in Oxford 86-84 on Jan. 27. The key is shutting down UMASS big man. Or more precisely not getting in foul trouble. UMass is currently 15-11 (6-7 MAC), as the Minutemen most recently dropped a pair of road games to Coastal Carolina (91-94, 3OT) and Akron (92-99). UMass went 12-20 (7-11 A10) last year. Head coach Frank Martin is in his fourth season with the Minutemen. Heading into the 2025-26 season, UMass was selected to finish fifth overall in the 2025-26 MAC Preseason Men’s Basketball Poll. Senior forward Daniel Hankins-Sanford was named to the Preseason All-MAC Second Team.
Graduate student forward Leonardo Bettiol leads the Minutemen in points (17.6/game) and graduate student guard Marcus Banks Jr. follows closely behind (16.9/game). Bettiol has brought down the most rebounds (7.7/game), freshman guard Danny Carbuccia has recorded the most assists (6.5/game), guard/forward Jayden Ndjigue has totaled the most steals (1.4/game) and Hankins-Sanford has produced the most blocks (0.7/game).
They were a half court shot away from bearing us in Oxford, though we were also without Skaljac. I think we will win, but it will be close again. 81-78 Miami
The other thing to remember is that UMass came out absolutely on fire in the first half from 3. Some of that was poor perimeter defense but it’s probably not repeatable. Bettiol is going to get his, but if they don’t go off from 3 again I think we will be ok.
Rewatching the first game, we’re going to have to be more attentive defensively tomorrow night. UMass will score, but I think there are ways we can limit their output.
Just as Buffalo killed us with out-of-bounds set plays in the 1st meeting, UMass destroyed us with their 1-man fast break 3 weeks ago. More so after makes, Carbuccia or whoever the primary ballhandler is will push the ball up the floor and get a seal from a big to open the lane for a layup. UMass scored at least 4 times off this in the first meeting. So just like shutting down Buffalo’s out-of-bounds plays ended up being the difference in the 2nd meeting, so could shutting down the 1-man fast break. The ballhandler isn’t looking to pass; he’s looking to go all the way.
The other adjustment I’d make would be to play behind UMass’s posts, including Bettiol. When we fronted or half-denied Bettiol or their other bigs, they would get position and score. When we played behind them and forced them to initiate a 1-on-1 move, they would sometimes score, but be less effective.
I would continue to hedge hard on screens, run Banks and Parker off the 3 point line, living with 2s. And last but not least, we need to rebound, at both ends.
Offensively, having Skaljac should help us be even more effective. Their bigs are not good defensively, especially on the perimeter. Whether it be ball screens or dribble handoffs, our guys should attack once they get in a situation where a big is involved. No one pass and jack a 3 offense. Let’s work the ball to get in a matchup that favors us.
Keep running back cuts to take advantage of their aggressiveness and I’d like to see us attack their token pressure more.
It’s still about defending home court and stealing games on the road, getting ready for March. If we bring it like we have on the road this year, we’ll have a great chance to win.
Having Luke to run point should make a big difference. We really need Antwone to stay on the court, which he’s done a good job of outside of last game. Atlason can also cause real problems for their bigs. If he has a hot hand, they are in trouble and will get burnt on either open shots or getting blown by.
Came here to emphasize this. Having Luke active not only adds scoring and playmaking, but enables Suder to be more aggressive and not shoulder the load being the primary ball handler.
