AMHERST - For starters toss out the final score of the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team's exhibition victory Saturday night. It doesn't matter.

Exhibition scores or even results never matter. Plenty of bad teams have won by 20 in preseason games and good teams have squeaked out wins and in some cases even lost their tune-ups.

The score is not a reliable indicator of what's coming when the games start to count.

That caveat out of the way, there were plenty of items to note in the first public look at the 2009-10 Minutemen, who held on to eke out an 80-78 win over Dowling in an exhibition attended by 2,305 fans at the Mullins Center.

* The Minutemen need to play defense better than they did against the Golden Lions. An astute understanding of basketball isn't required to draw that conclusion.

Dowling got far too many open shots. If UMass doesn't guard better, it's going to lose a lot of games.

Until they get much better on defense, the Minutemen are going to have to shoot really well to make up for it. They struggled out of the gate shooting and it set the tone for what turned out to be a very tight game.

* Javorn Farrell is going to be a crowd favorite because of how hard he plays. The least heralded of the incoming freshmen for UMass had the best debut.

The Minutemen trailed by six with just under four minutes left and would have lost the game if not for Farrell's intensity. In those final minutes he had a layup, a steal that led to a layup by David Gibbs, two offensive rebounds and a defensive rebound before fouling out.

The team fed off his energy and held on to win.

Farrell played just 10 minutes, but had eight points and five rebounds. He displayed the best defensive instincts for a freshman wing player in a long time at UMass.

While many of his freshmen teammates looked nervous in their first college action, Farrell wasn't and it showed.

"I wasn't nervous, surprisingly," Farrell said. "Everyone says in a freshman's first game you should be nervous, but it felt like a normal game to me."

Senior Ricky Harris was impressed.

"I told him in the locker room that he was the reason that we won. He came out and made some plays," Harris said. "In my first exhibition game I was nervous as hell. I was shivering.

"That showed with the other" freshmen, he added. "They didn't play up to their ability. I've seen them in practice. But Javorn made the most of his opportunity."

Minuteman coach Derek Kellogg added to the adulation for Farrell.

"I thought he played like an upperclassman tonight," Kellogg said. "He doesn't have a true position and he's not really great at any one thing.

"But he competes and plays tough," he added. "I was impressed with him even through it was his first game of the season."

* As replacements for graduated big man Tony Gaffney go, Sean Carter looked pretty good. The sophomore transfer from Oregon State doesn't have Gaffney's shot blocking instincts, but few people do.

But Carter's athletic enough to play at the front of the press and he rebounded well. Carter finished with six points, 12 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block and his teammates seemed to feed off his effort and energy.

"I feel like I played OK," Carter said. "That was my first game in a year and a half. I can get better. I need to start finishing better around the rim. I'm going to lay it on the line no matter who we play."

* A Ricky Harris slump or injury could spell big trouble for UMass because he's so clearly the most important player on the roster. Harris had 28 points and the Minutemen needed them all.

* Terrell Vinson (four points) and Sampson Carter (six points) both showed glimpses of what they could be, but were inconsistent overall.

* Given his reputation as a shooter, Freddie Riley didn't shoot the ball especially well. He missed eight of nine shots, all from behind the arc and some from way behind it. But he looked pretty nervous as the beginning and shooting isn't really something you can judge from just one night.

But when was the last time UMass brought in a freshman with a reputation as a great shooter who turned out to be a great shooter? Jeff Viggiano, Matt Glass, Max Groebe, Kyle Wilson and Willie Jenkins found varying degrees of success as players but weren't the shooters they were predicted to be.

* Anthony Gurley is still too often tunnel-visioned when he has the ball on offense and still needs to defend better, but his rebounding (eight boards) was better and his shot selection improved as the game progressed.

* At some point when Hashim Bailey scores, the Mullins Center public address announcer is going to call out simply "Big City" like he once did for Jeff "Big Deli" Salovski.

Bailey is far from a finished product at this point, but for a big man off the bench, four points, four rebounds and three blocked shots in 10 minutes is a useful contribution.

* Don't be surprised if Gary Correia starts some or plays meaningful minutes. Gibbs has more talent and loads of potential, but Correia is more settled and steadiness will be important with the youth of this team.

"Gary was great," Kellogg said. "It's a great combination if I can get them both playing the way I want them to play.

"We can really push tempo with David and GC comes in and gives you a guy that can come in and knock down the open shot," he added. "He's a guy you can rely on to come in, play hard and compete."

* Raphiael Putney had a 3-pointer in four minutes of action, but looks a bit overmatched physically as he tries to get stronger.

* Trey Lang played sparingly with a blocked shot in five minutes of action.

* Matt Hill didn't play at all. Kellogg said it was his decision and not anything related to Hill's health.

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