Lowe provides the highlights for UMass
AMHERST -- Now comes the hard part.
After yesterday's 72-56 victory over last-place Richmond, the University of Massachusetts basketball team has one month and eight games left in the regular season. The Minutemen have put themselves in position to realize some of their hoop dreams. At 16-6 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic 10, they have a legitimate shot at winning the conference title and getting into the NCAA Tournament.
"A lot is at stake," said point guard Chris Lowe, who turned in a game- and career-high 19 points. "There are eight games left. We're in the midst of everything."
The critical stretch begins at home Thursday night against Rhode Island (14-9, 7-2). The winner will stand alone atop the A-10.
But first UMass had to take care of the lowly Spiders, who came to the Mullins Center having lost six straight and 13 of 14. Richmond (5-17, 1-8) is young, thin, and distinctive in its slow-down style filled with Princeton-esque back cuts.
For a while that approach gave UMass fits as the Spiders opened a 23-14 lead. UMass coach Travis Ford was literally pushing his players back to the bench during the ensuing media timeout. His fury seemed to awaken the Minutemen, who went on a 10-0 run to take the lead. Richmond recovered to take a 31-30 advantage at the break, but in the second half UMass's physical superiority proved too much.
UMass's formula for success all season has been pounding the ball into the post to Stephane Lasme and Rashaun Freeman. The secondary option has been the 3-point shooting of James Life, who averages 3.43 treys per game, second most in the league. Yesterday the senior trio had minimal impact.
Freeman was decent, but scored (13) and rebounded (8) below his season averages. Lasme was held to 8 points, 5 rebounds, and a season-low 1 blocked shot. Life couldn't find the range all game, going just 1 for 8 from behind the arc.
Fortunately for the Minutemen, junior Gary Forbes was a menace, scoring 16 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. In a statistical rarity, Forbes actually outrebounded Richmond himself, and UMass finished with a startling 39-13 edge on the glass.
Lowe finished 4 of 5 from the field and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, and was at his best during a game-clinching sequence with UMass ahead, 58-50, with just under three minutes left. First the sophomore knifed into the lane with the shot clock running down and fired up a running one-hander to push the lead to double digits. Off a Freeman block on the other end, Lowe blazed up court, found a gap, got bumped, and flicked the ball over his shoulder as he went skidding on his backside. Somehow the shot went in.
"That's a different game than we played all year long -- not just style of basketball, but how we won the game," said Ford. "We won it with our point guard who never scores scoring the most points. We won with our leading rebounder being Gary Forbes. We won with only making one 3. We had to do some different things to win the basketball game."
Ford knows that is not the blueprint for the future.
"We're going to win big games by Steph and Ray doing their job, and James Life has got to make some 3s," said Ford. "But it's good to see that those guys [Lowe and Forbes] stepped up.
"As I told them, 'There are eight games left. Now it's time to see what you're made of.' " 