Minutemen freshmen not ready
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Before the men's basketball season started, University of Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg predicted that on some nights his freshman would look promising and on others they'd look very young.
After showing considerable potential against a pair of weaker foes, the Minutemen - especially rookies Terrell Vinson, Freddie Riley, Sampson Carter and Javorn Farrell - didn't look ready to play a team as good as No. 2 Michigan State on Saturday. The group struggled, especially defensively as the Spartans got open shots throughout their 106-68 victory.
"I don't think we were ready for a team that good, especially that early in the season, especially our young guys," Kellogg said. "I don't know if they really knew the caliber of a Final Four team and now they have a taste of it. They were a little quicker, faster and better than us at every position tonight."
UMass senior guard Ricky Harris said he wasn't ready to have his team's youth be an acceptable reason for its problems.
"They're young, but I don't want to keep using that. They have to get stronger and they have to get better," he said. "Me and Anthony have to bring our A game every single night for us to win games."
Anthony Gurley agreed.
"We had a talk the other day that we have to stop making excuses for ourselves," he said. "We all have to step our games up from here on out. We have a game on Wednesday, but it starts Monday in practice."
STARTING LINEUP - Kellogg shuffled his lineup to put a bigger, older squad on the floor against the Spartans (5-1). Center Hashim "Big City" Bailey made his first start as a Minuteman as Sean Carter moved to power forward.
Harris moved to point guard in place of David Gibbs, while Gurley replaced Harris at the other guard spot.
Bailey made the most of his start with a career-high seven rebounds.
NEXT UP - UMass returns home to host Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mullins center. The Bobcats are 3-1 win wins over Hartford, Yale and Maine, and a 79-71 loss at Lehigh. They play at Navy Monday before heading to Amherst.
UMASS IN ATLANTIC CITY - The Minutemen's woes in America's Playground continued. The losses Friday and Saturday extended their Boardwalk Hall losing streak to five games.
IZZO MILESTONES - With the win, Spartan coach Tom Izzo became the all-time winningest coach at Michigan State with 341 wins. He has 138 losses.
The considerable contingent of green-clad Spartan supporters held up signs that read "341" as the game neared completion.
UMASS VS. NO. 2 - While UMass has a pretty good history against teams ranked No. 1, Saturday's loss dropped the Minutemen to 0-4 against No. 2 squads.
It was the first game for UMass against the poll's bridesmaid since falling to No. 2 Saint Joseph's 83-58 on Feb. 25, 2004. UMass also lost to No. 2 Kentucky in the 1996 championship game, and to No. 2 Wake Forest early in the 1996-97 season.
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.
