ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Massachusetts men's basketball team got concrete proof in Friday night's season opener of something it probably already knew. When Ricky Harris struggles to score, the Minutemen are going to have a hard time finding enough offense.

After a hot start, Harris could not find the range against a Central Florida defense designed to stop him. His teammates could not pick up the slack and UMass lost 84-67 at Central Florida.

The Minutemen attempted a school-record 38 3-pointers, but made only 12, too few to stay in the game.

"We're a good 3-point shooting team, but we don't want to take that many threes in a game," Harris said.

UMass coach Derek Kellogg agreed.

"Thirty-eight threes in a game is a lot of threes," Kellogg said. "We have to do a better job getting to the free-throw line and getting into the gut of the defense. They did a good job of keeping us in front of them and getting their big guy in the middle of the lane."

The Minutemen (0-1) return to action in their home opener Wednesday when they take on defending Ivy League champion Cornell at 7:30 p.m. at the Mullins Center.

After a Javorn Farrell basket tied the score 43-43 early in the second half, UMass appeared to be successfully weathering Harris' shooting slump in what had been an up-and-down game to that point.

But while Harris continued to miss, the Golden Knights began finding the range. A jumper by Dave Diakite with 16 minutes, 32 seconds left started a 9-0 run that put the home team in control. A three-pointer by Harris slowed the Knights briefly, but they scored six straight to take a 58-46 lead. That was a deficit the Minutemen could not overcome.

"It was a momentum run," UMass freshman Freddie Riley said. "We took some bad shots and we put our heads down. They took advantage of that. We can't put our head down and expect things to go our way."

Kellogg elected to have junior Anthony Gurley, who started on and off last year as well as the Nov. 7 exhibition game against Dowling, came off the bench Friday night. He finished with 14 points.

Two freshmen made their collegiate debuts as starters as Terrell Vinson and Sampson Carter lined up for the opening tip alongside Harris, David Gibbs and Sean Carter.

Harris finished with 15 points, but had just four in the second half as he missed six of his seven shots after intermission. Kellogg said that UMass needed someone to step up when Harris struggled.

"But right now I don't know who that is," Kellogg said. "We need Ricky to play well every night and score the ball and do it efficiently ...

"We relied a little too much on him getting open on his own. I'll put a few sets in to get him some screens. We're going to need him to score and to do it in a better fashion than he did tonight."

Isaac Sosa led the Knights with 26 points, and A.J. Rompza added 13 points and five assists.

Riley led the Minuteman rookies in scoring with 12 points on four 3-pointers. Farrell added nine points, and five rebounds, and Vinson had a game- high seven rebounds before fouling out. "I was pleased with (the freshmen's) effort and attitude," Kellogg said. "I'm not sure if they did enough productivity wise."

Riley said the loss got the players' attention. "Coming into this game and getting beat the way we did, we know we have to work," he said.

NOTES:Raphiael Putney was the only Minuteman on scholarship not to play in the game.

NBA Legend Michael Jordan was one of the 8,727 in attendance to watch the collegiate debut of his son Marcus Jordan, a freshman guard for Central Florida.

Sitting in a second-level suite in the corner of the arena, the elder Jordan watched his son go scoreless with two rebounds in 11 minutes.

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.