Riley not shy about shooting
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AMHERST - When a couple of Freddie Riley's 13 shots went up Saturday night, University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg cringed.
"I kind of shook my head, but when they went in I said 'Great shot Freddie,'" Kellogg said, laughing. "But he gave a little taste of what he's going to do here in the future."
The freshman from Florida made six of those 13 shots, including four-of-nine 3-point attempts, and he scored 17 points in 19 minutes off the bench as the Minutemen defeated Arkansas Fort-Smith 94-68.
"A couple shots I made were bad shots but they just happened to go in," Riley said. "I'm a lot more confident now than I was in our exhibition game and our first regular-season games."
Riley also acknowledged he has plenty to improve. "My shot selection and my defense most of all," he said. "I can score, but my defense is the most valuable thing I can bring to the team if it's a lot better. We already have scorers. It's improving a lot, rapidly."
MILESTONES - The 18 points scored by Ricky Harris gave him 1,406 for his career, passing Edwin Green (1,393) to move into 11th place on the school's all-time scoring list. Next up is No. 10 Horace Neysmith (1,428).
BAILEY HURT - Minuteman junior big man Hashim "Big City" Bailey did not play Saturday after suffering a pulled groin in practice on Friday. His status for Tuesday's game at the Mullins center against St. Francis (N.Y.) is uncertain.
LANG AND HILL - Bailey's absence opened the door for more playing time by reserve big men Trey Lang and Matt Hill.
Lang was the first big man off the bench. He played two minutes and scored his first collegiate point on a free throw. Lang has played nine minutes this season, matching the total for all of his freshman year in 2007-08.
Hill had four rebounds, tying his career total.
"Matt did some pretty good things," Kellogg said. "... Matt rebounded the ball, but he didn't quite finish and put the ball back in the basket."
MISCELLANEOUS - The game concluded the Amherst regional of the Legends Classic. Despite UMass splitting two games in the regional, the Minutemen resume play in the Legends Classic against Rutgers at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Atlantic City, N.J.
Attendance at Saturday's game was 2,866.
Kellogg kept the option open to redshirt freshman Raphiael Putney by not playing him in Saturday's blowout victory. Barring an injury, any appearance by Putney in a game would eliminate the redshirt possibility.
David Gibbs had a career-high six assists. He has 12 assists and one turnover this season.
Lex Mongo had his first career assist.
For the second straight season UMass got its first win against a University of Arkansas branch campus. Last year the Minutemen defeated Arkansas-Monticello 90-71 in the 2K Sports Classic.
For the fourth time since 1994, the Minutemen got their first win of the season over a school from the Arkansas system.
UMass is now 5-0 all-time against teams from Arkansas.
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.
