April 12, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - Gary Correia (Providence, R.I.) and Trey Lang (Marietta, Ga.) have signed National Letters of Intent to attend the University of Massachusetts as announced by head coach basketball coach Travis Ford on Thursday.

Correia is a 6-foot-1, 180 pound point guard who just finished an outstanding career at the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Mass., while Lang is a 6-foot-7, 215 pound forward who is a top-20 recruit from the state of Georgia.

The pair join UMass' fall class of: guard Matt Glass (Underhill Center, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union H.S./Northfield Mount Hermon School), guard Max Groebe (North Miami Beach, Fla./Michael M. Krop Senior H.S.), forward Matt Hill (Middletown, Conn./Tilton School N.H.), forward Papa Ousmane Lo (Thies, Senegal/Winchendon School, Mass.), guard Marcus Matthews (Valley Stream, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin H.S.) and forward Travon Wilcher (Springfield, Mass./Lee Academy, Maine).

"We've added a lot of new players, a lot of new, young, fresh faces. We've added a lot of guys who will have to come in and learn the system. We're very excited and we've fit a lot of different needs for our basketball team," said Ford who on Tuesday agreed in principle to a new five-year contract extension which runs through the 2014-15 season.

"We've filled some spots that go with our system: big guys, shot blockers, shooters. We've got a little bit of everything which we needed with the losses that we feel. Some of these guys will be able to come in and help us right away," said Ford.

Correia will be familiar with one of those incoming recruits who signed in the fall as he and Matt Glass teamed up this past season to help Northfield Mount Hermon to a school record 23 win season. Correia, a two-time team captain, averaged 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds as he led NMH to a 23-5 season highlighted by a win over No. 1 ranked Notre Dame Prep. NMH defeated Notre Dame Prep to win the Boys' Club Of New York Tournament with Correia hitting the game-winning free throw with 0.6 seconds to play.

The 46.2 percent three point shooter was also recruited by Drexel, Iowa State, Penn State and Saint Louis.

"Gary is a player that really fits our style of play. He can play either the point guard position or the two guard. He is a player who can really shoot it from the outside and with great range. That's something that this basketball team needed to add," said Ford. "Not only is he great on the court, he's great off the court. He's a very good student. He was a leader on a team that won 23 games this past season and he is going to be a true asset to our team."

Lang averaged 10 points and six rebounds for Wheeler High School and posted the sixth-best single-season total of blocked shots (67) this past season. Rated the No. 18 recruit from the state of Georgia, Lang is also a 70 percent free throw shooter.

The son of former NBA 12-year veteran Andrew Lang, Trey was also recruited by Oregon, Rhode Island, Wake Forest and Auburn.

The Wheeler High School program is one of the best in Georgia producing alumni such as Shareef Abur-Rahim (Cal, NBA), D.A. Layne (Georgia), Antawn Dixon (Florida State) Jamareo Davidson (Alabama) and Sharaud Curry (Providence).

"Trey is a post player we have been looking for as he possesses both size and strength. He comes from one of the best basketball programs in America," said Ford. "Trey's got a great bloodline of basketball. His dad was a 12-year veteran in the NBA. He has a great work ethic and very good skills. He is a player who I believe will get better every single day through individual instruction. Trey is going to have a great career at UMass."

UMass had its best season in 11 years in 2006-07 as the Minutemen posted a 24-9 record, the fifth-most wins in school history. UMass captured a share of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Regular-Season Championship, for its first title since 1996. The Minutemen advanced to national postseason play for the first time since 2000, advancing to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament including a thrilling 89-87 overtime win over Alabama on ESPN in the first round.