UMass men's basketball shakes up rotation, crushes Towson by 30
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AMHERST - After a tough trip to the Bahamas, University of Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg shook up his rotation and took guards Freddie Riley and Chaz Williams out of the starting lineup.
The move worked as the duo shined off the bench as UMass crushed Towson 86-56 Wednesday at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen (6-2) never let the winless Tigers (0-6) get any confidence. They scored the first five points and led 28-9 with 11 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first half. UMass was never threatened.
"Any time you lose big you want to redeem yourself as quickly as you can," said Riley, who shot 1-for-10 in Saturday's loss to the College of Charleston in the Battle 4 Atlantis finale. "That's what we wanted to do."
Kellogg said Wednesday's lineup shift wasn't disciplinary. Raphiael Putney and Jesse Morgan started in place of Riley and Williams, respectively.
"I wanted to let them know there was no set lineup. I wasn't happy with the way things went in the Bahamas and I thought shaking it up a little bit would get their attention," said Kellogg, who wasn't sure how the lineup would look going forward.
Both Williams and Riley checked in 4:38 into the game. Williams, who had eight points and no assists in Saturday's loss, put that game behind him with 12 points, eight assists and two steals against Towson.
Riley, whose shooting has been hot and cold this season, was hot. He made 6-of-8 shots with three 3-pointers and two athletic dunks. He led UMass with 15 points and said he didn't mind coming off the bench.
"I'm comfortable with whatever role coach wants me to play," Riley said.
Freshman big man Cady Lalanne was the third double-figure scorer off the bench with 11 points to go with nine rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. His defense early in the second half squelched any chance of a Towson comeback.
Tiger big man Robert Nwankwo kept Towson in the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds before halftime as UMass led 44-28 at the break. He scored four quick points against Sean Carter right away in the second half, causing Kellogg to send Lalanne in. Nwankwo had just one point and three boards the rest of the game as Lalanne neutralized him.
"I wasn't happy with (Lalanne) in the first half, but I thought when we inserted him, we kind of put the game away," Kellogg said. "He starting to come along slowly. He should be a double-double guy every night."
Lalanne said he's gaining confidence.
"I feel like I'm getting a lot better," said Lalanne, who sat out last year as an academic nonqualifier. "Just being back playing basketball and getting back in shape, I feel a lot more comfortable."
The lead allowed Kellogg to give extended minutes to his bench. Morgan saw time at point guard and responded with nine assists to go with his eight points.
"I thought he did a great job tonight," Kellogg said. "For us to be good, he's got to get better. He showed some great signs in the Bahamas and I thought he did some good things tonight."
Senior Matt Hill saw his first extended action of the season and had six points in 13 minutes. Redshirt freshman walk-on center Andrew McCarthy played a career-long six minutes and scored two points, the first of his career, to go with two rebounds. All 11 UMass players who saw action scored. Riley said the regulars wanted to get the reserves extra minutes.
"It's satisfying because we know they don't get to play a lot," Riley said. "Winning by a lot is important to us because we want them to get game time minutes as well."
UMass heads south again this weekend for its third game against an ACC team when it plays at Miami at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Towson coach Pat Skerry said he was impressed with the Minutemen.
"I thought UMass was the most athletic team and the deepest team we've played this year," said Skerry, whose Tigers have played Michigan and Kansas.
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.
