UMass drops home opener to Big Red
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AMHERST - University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg did not like the result or the turnovers, but he left Wednesday's home-opening 74-61 loss to Cornell encouraged.
"I think that's a pretty good Cornell team," said Kellogg, who was hoarse at the end of the game at the Mullins Center. "We have a lot of work to do, but I thought that was a good first step in a good direction."
"... We executed quite a bit of our game plan but didn't finish it off," he added. "But it was much better than the Central Florida game."
Senior Ricky Harris, who led the Minutemen with 26 points, agreed.
"Against Central Florida we didn't play up to our ability," he said. "Tonight we played better, but there's still strides we can make. "We have to continue to come to practice and get better."
The shot selection by UMass improved, but turnovers replaced missed 3-pointers as the Minutemen's most concerning statistic.
UMass gave the ball away 20 times.
"That killed us," Harris said. "Late in the game you have to take care of the basketball. Every possession matters."
The Minutemen (0-2) will return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they host Arkansas-Fort Smith at the Mullins Center in another Legends Classic game.
Cornell (2-0) led for most of the first half, most of the time by about six points.
A 3-pointer by Harris brought UMass within 31-28 with just under a minute left in the first half.
But Jeff Foote hit two free throws for the Big Red to end the half with a 33-28 lead. That started an 8-0 run by Cornell that extended its lead to 39-28 and gave the defending Ivy League champions firm control of the game.
While the Big Red could not pull away, the Minutemen never got closer than six.
"When the game was in the balance I thought their experience really came through," Kellogg said.
A bright spot for UMass was the play of freshman Terrell Vinson, who provided a glimpse of why he was so highly touted coming out of high school. He had 11 points and four rebounds, showed an ability to score inside and knocked down a 3-pointer.
"I thought Terrell Vinson played great tonight. He played rough, tough and mean," Kellogg said. "That's what I want to see."
Vinson said he felt more comfortable.
"It was more getting used to the offense. It's a little more complicated, different than what I used to play," he said. "I played good, could have played better. I'm not really happy because we lost."
Anthony Gurley added 13 points for the Minutemen. Louis Dale led Cornell with 24 points.
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. Get UMass updates delivered to your Facebook newsfeed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMass.
