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UMass Returns To NYC To Face Fordham On Wednesday Night
Complete Release in PDF Format
UMASS (8-13, 3-5) at FORDHAM (3-17, 1-7)
UMass Returns To NYC To Face Fordham On Wednesday • UMass comes off a tough 68-64 loss to Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon. The Minutemen have lost their five Atlantic 10 games by a total of 24 points (4.8 per game) and none by more than eight points. The Minutemen led most of the way on Sunday as UMass honored the decade of the 1990s at halftime as part of the 100 Seasons of Basketball. Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley topped the scoring charts with 18 points apiece. Tony Gaffney, hindered by foul trouble had eight points, 13 rebounds and a career-high tying four assists. Chris Lowe had seven points and nine assist. • UMass now has three players listed in the top 10 in the NCAA in the statistical leaders as Gaffney ranked second in blocked shots at 4.3 and ninth in rebounds per game at 10.7. Lowe has risen to a tie for 10th in the NCAA in assists per game with 6.4. He is deadlocked with Charlotte's DiJuan Harris, who is the Atlantic 10 co-leader with Lowe. • In a return to his home area, the Mount Vernon, N.Y. native Lowe is just 15 assists from becoming the all-time UMass career assist leader. He stand second to Carl Smith (633) with 619. Lowe is just the seventh Atlantic 10 player and first at UMass to have 1,000 career points and 600 career assists. He stands eighth in career assists in the Atlantic 10.
UMass-Fordham Series • Before last year's loss, UMass had won seven home games in a row in the series. Overall, for games played in Amherst, the Minutemen lead the series 13-3, with a 10-2 mark at Mullins. The Minutemen have won 11 of the last 13 games in Amherst, dating to 1973. • Before the 2007 win, UMass had not won at Rose Hill since Feb. 16, 2000, an 81-72 Minuteman win at Rose Hill. Overall, in games played at Rose Hill, Fordham leads, 8-7. The schools also met once at Madison Square Garden, with the Minutemen recording a 73-47 victory on Feb. 6, 1996. • The Rams have not won consecutive games in the series since taking three straight from 1970-72. • The teams first met on Dec. 13, 1967 at Fordham, with the Rams winning by a score of 77-66. • UMass coach Derek Kellogg will coach against Fordham for the first time. As a player at UMass from 1991-95, the Minutemen won an NCAA Tournament game in Worcester, 85-58 in 1992. Fordham coach Dereck Whittenburg stands 3-4 all-time against UMass winning last year and twice at home since he took over in 2003-04.
The Last Two UMass-Fordham Games • TWO SEASONS AGO (FEB. 15, 2007): Two unlikely heroes emerged as UMass won at Fordham for the first time in seven years, 74-59 on Feb. 15, 2007 at Rose Hill Gym. Brandon Thomas scored a season-high 12 points while Dante Milligan, playing on his 23rd birthday, had nine points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Senior Stephane Lasme a game-high 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The Minutemen improved to 18-7 overall and 8-3 in the Atlantic 10. UMass took over in the second half as they outscored the Rams, 44-32. Lasme had 12 in the half while Gary Forbes scored all 11 of his points in the period. The Minutemen opened the half outscoring Fordham 26-9 to go up by 20 points at 56-36 with 7:27 left in the game on a Milligan lay-up.
UMass Playing 27th-Toughest Schedule • The A-10 has three teams playing schedules in the top 40 in difficulty: Xavier plays the 17th-toughest, UMass is playing the 27th-toughest and Temple faces the 37th-toughest.
Gaffney Among The NCAA Leaders • Gaffney is tied for 58th in steals per game with 2.0 per game, which is second in the Atlantic 10. • He is having a breakout senior season averaging a double-double with seven double-doubles this season after none in his career in 81 games entering the season. He also had grabbed at least seven rebounds in 17 of 21 games and at least 11 in 13 of the 21 games. His most recent double-double came against La Salle (1/24) when he had 19 points and 11 rebounds along with four blocked shots. • Gaffney has three games with 15 or more rebounds, most recently at Houston (12/30) with 16. He also had 19 at Memphis (11/17) and 18 vs. Boston College (12/6). • Gaffney has five or more blocks in nine games this year including seven against Dayton (1/10). After that game, UD coach Brian Gregory called Gaffney "the best non-scoring player in the nation" for his all-around game. His career-high of nine came vs. Boston College (12/6). • Gaffney nearly had triple-doubles in back-to-back games on Dec. 6 and 10. In those contests he has a combined 32 points, 29 rebounds and 17 blocks. Against Holy Cross, (12/10), he had 17 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks. That followed a titanic effort vs. Boston College (12/6) with 15 points, 18 rebounds and a career-high nine blocked shots. • Gaffney's 90 blocked shots already rank as the sixth-best single-season in UMass history. At No. 5 is Marcus Camby with 103 in his sophomore season of 1994-95. Gaffney's 149 career blocks is seventh in a career at UMass. Kitwana Rhymer (184) is sixth all-time. • Many of Gaffney's best performances of 2008-09 have come against national powers. At #25/23 Kansas (12/13), he posted 13 rebounds and six blocks. Against Boston College when he had 15 points, 18 rebounds, and a career-high nine blocked shots, his put-back of a missed Chris Lowe free throw sent the game to overtime, giving UMass a chance for its second-straight win over BC. Another outstanding game came at Memphis (11/17), one which Memphis John Calipari called him the best player on the court. Against the No. 13 Tigers, Gaffney scored 16 points and grabbed 19 rebounds along with five blocks. It was his second career double-double. He opened the year with 16 points and 13 rebounds against Arkansas-Monticello (11/11). • Gaffney played 31 or more minutes in the first nine games, all more than any game he previously played at UMass, and that many in 19 of 21 games. He set a career-high in minutes, playing 43 of the 45 against BC. He played a then career-high 39 minutes when he had his third double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds along with eight blocked shots vs. Jacksonville State (11/24) in the home opener. The 20 points were also a UMass high. He scored 20 while at Boston University vs. Stony Brook in 2006.
Lowe Nears Assists Mark, Nets 1000th • Lowe is tied for 10th (with Florida's Nick Calathes & Charlotte's DiJuan Harris)in the NCAA with 6.4 assists per game, which also is tied for the Atlantic 10 lead with Harris. He has led the league in assists in each of the last two years and would become the first player to lead the A-10 in assists for three years in a row. • Lowe became the 41st player in UMass history to pass the 1,000-point plateau. Ricky Harris became the 40th earlier this year. Lowe has become the first UMass player with 1,000 points and 600 assists and just the seventh in Atlantic 10 history. • Lowe stands eighth in career assists in the Atlantic 10 with his 619. Carl Smith is next on the list (633) followed by George Washington's Shawnta Rogers (634). • Lowe has seven 10-assist games this season and 13 in his career, all in the last two seasons (all in the last 34 games). He racked up 10 assists vs. Richmond (2/4)for his last double-figure game. Lowe had 10 or more assists in four of five games in December with 10 each vs. Hofstra (12/20) and IUPUI (12/27). Lowe had 12 vs. Holy Cross (12/10) and 11 against Boston College (12/6). He also did it vs. Temple (1/17). • The Mount Vernon, N.Y. product became the fourth player with 500 career assists at UMass after he gained five against Jacksonville State (11/24). He passed his coach Derek Kellogg (453) most recently at the end of last year. • With a career-high 14 against La Salle (3/5/08) - part of the sixth triple-double in UMass history (14 pts, 10 reb), Lowe moved past UMass Hall of Famer Joe DiSarcina (431) into fifth. Last season, he also passed two illustrious coaches who played at UMass: BC Coach Al Skinner (320) and Louisville coach Rick Pitino (329). • With his 214 assists last season, Lowe had the third-best single-season in UMass history after passing Smith (212), Smith (191), Alex Eldridge (174) and Rick Pitino (168).
Harris Shoots Up 1,000-Point List • Next on the list for Harris to pass are No. 20s Anthony Anderson (1,211) and Jim Town (1,211). • Harris has picked up where he left off last season, when he was named the A-10 Chris Daniels Most Improved player. Harris is leading UMass with a 19.0 scoring average and led the team in scoring in 14 of the first 21 games with 20 or more in eight games. Harris is 42nd in the NCAA in scoring per game and third in the Atlantic 10. He dropped a season and career-high 35 points on BC (12/6). The 35 points were good for the 13th most in school history and only six behind the school record of 41 held by Billy Tindall on Feb. 10, 1968 vs. Vermont. It was also Harris' second ever 30+ point scoring effort. Two games prior, he netted 27 at Green Bay (11/29) and had 24 points at Southern Illinois (11/12).
Harris Rises on 3-Point Charts • Harris, who tied Carmelo Travieso for the single-season mark for made treys last year with 104, is rising on the career charts. Harris stands fifth in career made 3-pointers with 185 and fifth in career attempts with 489. With four treys at Green Bay, he passed Edgar Padilla (136) and his coach Derek Kellogg (138). Next on the list at No. 4 is Rafer Giles (221). • On the attempts list, Harris is fifth, passing Sutton(424), James Life (425) and Edgar Padilla (431) after passing Kellogg (362) earlier this season. Next on the attempts chart is Rafer Giles (592). • Harris had his streak of 26 games in a row with at least one 3-pointer ended in the loss to Vanderbilt (1/3).
Gurley Going Great Guns • Gurley has scored in double-figures 13 times this season most recently with 18 against Saint Joseph's (2/8). Gurley's best scoring game with UMass came against Hofstra (12/20) when he tallied 19. • He has been great in the second half of two of UMass' biggest wins of the season as he netted 13 of his 16 in the final 20 minutes of the win over Dayton (1/10), making four 3-pointers. A week later against Temple (1/17) on ESPN2, Gurley knocked down 13 of his 16 points in the second half including a 4-point play as he was a perfect 3-of-3 in the second half on 3-pointers. Gurley hit a second 4-point play against La Salle (1/24).
Big Nights For Bonner • Bonner, who was injured on Nov. 12 at Southern Illinois, returned to action on Dec. 20 against Hofstra with a career breakout game. He posted then-career bests 15 points and nine rebounds. That came in just 18 minutes off the bench. • In 14 games (11 starts), he is scoring 6.9 points per game along with 5.7 rebounds. He has also made 21-of-52 3-point field goals for a team-best 40.4 percent. • He also had a huge game in an all-around sense with 14 points including three 3-pointers and four drawn charges at #10/10 Xavier (1/31). • On the defensive end, Bonner has been just amazing at drawing charges. He has taken 21 offensive fouls in just 14 games, more than one a game including a career high four on twice at #10/10 Xavier and vs. Hofstra (12/20). Bonner has 21 of UMass' 29 drawn charges as a team this season.
Off To See The United States
UMass Against Ranked Teams • UMass has won four of its last 12 games against ranked teams dating to 2004. UMass lost at Memphis, 80-58 on Nov. 17, 2008. Last season the Minutemen were 1-2 against ranked teams with the win at Dayton, 82-71 on Jan. 16, 2008. • Last season, UMass broke a five-game losing streak against ranked teams with its 82-71 win at #14/18 Dayton on Jan. 16. The Minutemen's previous win over a ranked team came at #21 George Washington (76-74 in OT on Jan. 15, 2005). That was the second win a row over a ranked team that season as UMass also beat #7 UConn (61-59 on Dec. 9, 2004). In both those wins, three-time first-team All-Atlantic 10 honoree Rashaun Freeman hit the game-winning shot, beating UConn with 4.3 seconds left and topping the Colonials with a lay-up with 0.4 left in overtime.
UMass 5-1 Vs Defending NCAA Champs • UMass head coach Derek Kellogg has been a part of three of the wins over the champ as a player in 1993 and 1994 and the head coach in 2008 vs. Kansas. • On Dec. 9, 2004 as the Minutemen downed No. 7 UConn at the Mullins Center, 61-59 as Rashaun Freeman scored with seconds left to lift UMass to the historic win. The game marked the first time a defending champion visited the Mullins Center. • UMass knocked off North Carolina, 91-86, in overtime on Nov. 24, 1993 in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden. • One year later, UMass thumped Arkansas, 104-80, on Nov. 25, 1994 in the Tip-Off Classic at the Springfield Civic Center. • That win over No. 1 Arkansas is symbolic, as it vaulted UMass to the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll for the first time in school history. Last week was the 14-year anniversary of the school's first No. 1 ranking, as the Minutemen played their first game as the No. 1 team on Dec. 3, 1994. • UMass' only loss against a champ came on Nov. 22, 1999, as the Minutemen lost to UConn at Gampel Pavilion, 79-65, on Nov. 22, 1999.
Notes On UMass' Win Over Kansas • UMass won a non-conference game against a ranked team, away from Massachusetts for the first time since it beat Georgetown in the 1996 NCAA Elite Eight on March 23, 1996. • For head coach Derek Kellogg the win was sweet as his Minutemen picked up their first win over a ranked team under his watch in just his ninth game as a head coach. The previous fastest UMass coach to beat a ranked team was Bruiser Flint, who beat then-No. 19 Boston College in his 17th game as the head man on Jan. 18, 1997. Kellogg also gained a win against Kansas, the team which downed Memphis in the 2008 NCAA title game when Kellogg was an assistant for former UMass coach John Calipari. • UMass beat a non-conference ranked team on the road for the first time since win at #21 Louisville on March 2, 1996, 62-59. • UMass beat a non-conference ranked team for the first time since topping UConn, 61-59, on Dec. 9, 2004. Since that game, UMass is 4-7 against ranked teams (1-1 this season, losing at Memphis). • UMass last beat a ranked team at #14 Dayton on the road last season, 82-71 on Jan. 16, 2008. • The Minutemen have won the last two games against Kansas, winning at the Mullins Center in 1999. All-time Kansas leads the series, 3-2. All five games have been played in different states (New York, California, Kansas, Massachusetts and Missouri).
UMass' Big Win In Springfield • It marked the fourth game in a row, UMass has beaten the Flyers and third which ended a significant Dayton win streak. Last year, the Minutemen ended No. 14/18 Dayton's 13-game win streak at UD Arena, 82-71, last season on Jan. 16, 2008. It was UMass' first win over a ranked team in three years, since UMass won on Jan. 15, 2005 at George Washington (76-74). Two seasons ago, UMass ended Dayton's home dominance in 2006-07, handing the Flyers their first loss after a 14-0 start at UD Arena, winning 77-69 on Feb. 22, 2007. The win was also UMass' first at Dayton since 1999. • For UMass, the win was the first in Springfield since 2001 when the Minutemen downed Oregon, 62-58 on Nov. 27. Oregon had three players on that squad who turned pro: Luke Ridnour, Luke Jackson, and Chris Christoffersen. UMass is now 39-23 all-time at the MassMutual Center, formerly Springfield Civic Center.
100th Season Of UMass Basketball • The next event will be the 1990s Celebration on Feb. 8 against Saint Joseph's. • The following players were on hand for the BC game: Don Akerson, Frank Barous, George "Trigger" Burke, John Edgar, Dick Eid, Wray Gunn, Paul Kollios, Ned Larkin, John MacLeod, Condon McDonough, Ed McGrath, George Morin, Alex Norskey, Bill Prevey, Bill Stephens and William Walsh. • The 1960s Celebration was held at the Vanderbilt game on Jan. 3. Here are the players who attended: Jim Babyak, Peter Bernard, Dennis Chapman, Chuck Demers (trainer), Joe DiSarcina, John Dreyer, Robert Eichorn, Ray Ellerbrook, Gary Gasperack, Jim Girotti, Paul Gullicksen, John Lisack, Bob Murphy, Richard Perkins, Ed Rubin (manager), Dick Samuelson, Rich Starsiak, Frank Stewart and Billy Tindall. • The 1970s Celebration at the Temple game honored: Jim Burke, Bob Dempsey, David Dibble, Mark Donoghue, Billy Endicott, Michael Littman (manager), Tom McLaughlin, John Moynihan, Charles Olsen, Bob Powers (manager) Sam Provo, Mike Pyatt, Peter Trow, Rick Vogeley and Ray Witkos. The family of the late John Murphy was also recognized. • At the La Salle game on Jan. 24, the 1980s Celebration was held and the following players attended: Matt Anderson, Bob Braun, Tony DePina, Kurt Funk, Bill Hampton, Cary Herer, Dennis Jackson (assistant coach), Sean Nelen, Horace Neysmith, Hal Shaw, Jack Sheehan, Fitzhugh Tarry, Keith Whitt and Ron Young. • The 1990s night was the biggest of the celebrations with the following players in attendance: Craig Berry, Ronell Blizzard, Ross Burns, Charlton Clarke, Ted Cottrell, Darryl Denson, Dana Dingle, Francois Firmin, Jason Germain, Will Herndon, Derek Kellogg, Lari Ketner, Chris Kirkland, Andy Maclay, Rigo Nunez, Tommy Pace, Edgar and Giddel Padilla (flew in from Puerto Rico), Kennard Robinson, John Tate, Tyrone Weeks and Mike Williams. • In looking back at UMass basketball, the program started with its first season in 1899-1900 with the first game played on Jan. 10, 1900, a 14-9 win over the Northampton YMCA. • The program had several hiatuses in its history as, this is the 100th season with the program starting 109 years ago. UMass did not field a team in 1900-01, 1909-10 to 1915-16 and during World War II in both 1943-44 and 1944-45. • Under the leadership of John Calipari, the Minutemen become A-10 Tournament Champs five consecutive times (1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96). Overall, UMass has appeared in the NCAA Tournament eight times, in addition to those five A-10 title years (1961-62, 1996-97 and 1997-98). They have two appearances in the Elite Eight (1995, 1996) and a Final Four appearance (1996). Last year UMass, went 25-11 in reaching the NIT Championship game. It was UMass' 10th NIT appearance including each of the last two season.
UMass Alum Leading UMass • Prior to McLaughlin, the last UMass alum to lead his alma mater was Lorin Ball (Class of 1921), who coached the team from 1945-52.
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