After senior forward Tony Gaffney picked up his third foul late in the first half Saturday against Kansas, University of Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg sent senior Luke Bonner out of the locker room early during intermission.

It's been a month since Bonner strained his medial collateral against Southern Illinois. The 7-foot-1 center was medically cleared to play, but Kellogg was reluctant to use him heading into the Kansas game.

However, with Gaffney's foul trouble, Bonner went to stretch and shoot a bit in case the Minutemen needed a few minutes from him.

But Gaffney avoided further whistles and Bonner stayed on the bench. He'll return to full practice today and is expected to play against Hofstra at 4 p.m. Saturday.

"He could have played a little bit," Kellogg said. "I just didn't want to put him in that situation where he hadn't had any contact and I didn't want him to come in and play terrible because he wasn't in any sort of game shape."

Kellogg said the senior big man's return won't affect other players' roles drastically.

"It's going to impact them some. But a few guys were playing too many minutes anyway," said Kellogg. "Tony Gaffney could use a break every now and again and Tyrell (Lynch) is playing too many minutes, even though he had a great game last game. Matt Glass can maybe even play some three a little bit."

CONGRATULATIONS - By the time Kellogg picked up his cell phone in the locker room after Saturday's 61-60 win over Kansas, many friends, relatives, supporters and colleagues had left him congratulatory voice mails and text messages.

"I had almost 70 text messages, 15 voice mails and another 20 missed calls," Kellogg said. "Everybody wanted to say that was fun to watch ... We're getting some great national exposure which helps in the recruiting and makes the kids feel pretty good."

Kellogg had not been back to Amherst to experience the fan excitement in person. With his players taking final exams, Kellogg hit the road recruiting Sunday and Monday.

Kellogg dedicated the win to the fans.

"We've been drawing pretty well and people have been very supportive," he said. "That was a great gift to give them, especially this close to the holiday season."

After trying to pick his team's confidence up when it was struggling, Kellogg said he now has to keep it under control after the Kansas game.

"The kids have kept a pretty level head. The reality is we still have a lot of work to do," he said. "One win doesn't make a season."

SPEAKING OF THE HOLIDAYS - The pun value of his last name alone makes people root for Dionte Christmas to play well in late December. Saturday, after a month of being both bad and good, he was good for Temple's sake.

Bad jokes aside, Christmas got attention for more than his festive sounding last name. He scored 30 of his 35 points in the second half as the Owls thumped Tennessee 88-72 Saturday.

"When you're hot, you're hot," Christmas told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "The second half the basket looked like an ocean."

Christmas currently leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 21 points per game.

He's trying to win the conference scoring title for the third straight season.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Christmas was the obvious choice for the Atlantic 10 player of the week, an award he shared with Aaron Jackson of Duquesne, who averaged 27.5 points in the Dukes' win and a loss last week.

Christmas also was named national player of the week by ESPN.com.

Jio Fontan of Fordham was the rookie of the week after averaging 17.5 points and 5.5 assists in a Rams' win and a loss last week.

GAMES OF THE WEEK: Duke vs. Xavier, 2 p.m. Saturday, at the IZOD Center, East Rutherford, N.J., CBS - The 9-0 Musketeers have sure looked like an elite team. This is their chance to prove it.

Temple at Kansas, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2 - Temple can prove its pasting of Tennessee was not a fluke, while Kansas tries to rebound from losing to the Minutemen.

During the Atlantic 10's weekly conference call Monday, Kellogg jokingly apologized to Temple coach Fran Dunphy for awakening the Jayhawks.

"Tell Coach Dunphy I apologize because they're probably woken up a bit now," Kellogg said.

FOUR FORWARDS - La Salle and UMass might considering working out a trade. The Explorers have plenty of size, but are lacking in guards, while the Minutemen are short of inside players.

La Salle coach John Giannini started four forwards Sunday against Villanova as Vernon Goodridge (6-foot-9), Kimmani Barrett (6-6), Yves Mekongo-Mbala (6-7) and Jerrell Williams (6-8) took the floor with Rodney Green.

STEALS TOO - While Gaffney's rebounding and shot-blocking prowess have been well-documented, he also is among the Atlantic 10 leaders in steals. He's third in the conference with 2.44 per game.

POLL POSITIONING - Xavier continued its climb, moving up to No. 7 in both polls. The Musketeers are tied for seventh with Gonzaga in the coaches poll.

Dayton is receiving votes in both polls, while Temple earned two points in the Associated Press poll.

After losing to UMass, Kansas dropped down to receiving no votes in both polls.

QUOTABLE - The fact that the Musketeers don't have a football team hasn't stopped the Bearcat football players from trying to get in on the rivalry between Xavier and Cincinnati.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, at a halftime ceremony honoring the Cincinnati football team during the annual Crosstown Shootout Saturday, Bearcat defensive end Connor Barwin took the microphone. "If Xavier had a football team, we'd whip their" butt, he said.

The Musketeers won the basketball game 76-66.

Information from personal interviews, newspaper articles and sports information releases was used in this report.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/category/sports/umass-sports.