AMHERST - A win in November against a Division II team doesn't generally mean much.

But University of Massachusetts big man Sean Carter said the Minutemen (0-2) badly need a win in Saturday's game against Arkansas-Fort Smith.

"We have to win this game. There's no question about it," Carter said. "We need to win this game and get our momentum going.

"We took two tough losses. We could have helped ourselves by executing better," he added. "We made a few changes defensively that's going to help us more. I think we're going to have it together for Saturday's game."

Minuteman coach Derek Kellogg agreed.

"A win or to play really, really well would be good for everybody," he said. "We're putting in work and everybody is competing hard every day, "It's a process. But you do want to show some signs that you're improving."

Kellogg said he is trying to be hard on his players to push them to improve, but does not want to demoralize them.

"When you're trying to build a program and you're losing games, you want to be careful to keep the team in a certain frame of mind," he said. "You want to push them, but you can't beat them down and bury them. You have to find that fine line."

The game is part of the Legends Classic, but like Wednesday's 74-61 loss to Cornell the result will not affect UMass advancing to the tournament semifinals Friday in Atlantic City. The Minutemen will play Rutgers at 5:30 p.m.

Arkansas-Fort Smith is technically a transitional Division II program. A year ago, the Lions were still a junior college, a level at which they were a power. They were ranked No. 2 in the national junior college rankings and won the NJCAA national championship in 2006.

Their roster features five transfers from other junior colleges, one Division I transfer and seven freshman.

Arkansas-Fort Smith is in the Legends Classic because the Gazelle Group could not get enough Division I teams to fill out the field.

The Lions faced two Division I teams in exhibition games, losing to Saint Louis 79-51, and Nebraska 86-66. But they won their Division II debut, cruising past the University of the Ozarks 87-65 on Tuesday.

"They're a good team. For where they are as a program, they've done a nice job," Kellogg said. "They competed really well with Nebraska and Saint Louis.

"It should be a good challenge for us," he added "We just need to play our game. It wasn't like we blew (Division II exhibition opponent) Dowling out. When Division II teams come in they play like it's their Super Bowl, their national championship."

NOTES: This is the second straight season that UMass has played a Division II team from Arkansas early. The Minutemen opened last season with a 90-71 win over Arkansas-Monticello in the 2K Sports Classic, another Gazelle Group event.

UMass is 4-0 all time against schools from "The Natural State."

The Minutemen beat Arkansas to open the 1994-95 season and again in the Sweet Sixteen of the 1996 NCAA Tournament. UMass also beat Arkansas-Little Rock 66-60 to open the 2001-02 season.

Ricky Harris needs six points to pass Edwin Green (1,393) who is No. 11 on the Minutemen's career scoring list. And 40 points will get Harris into the all-time top 10 at UMass.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.