UMass (10-6, 0-3) hosts Dayton (12-3, 3-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Flyers have lost five straight regular-season games in Amherst, Mass.
“(The Flyers) do a great job of moving the basketball,” said Kellogg on the weekly A-10 coaches teleconference. “In the St. Bonaventure game, I don’t think it even hit the guys’ hands before it was swung around. They’re very fundmanetally sound.”
The Minutemen start two freshman guards: Luwane Pipkins (11.2 points per game) and DeJon Jarreau (9.0). Dayton will start a senior backcourt of Scoochie Smith and Kyle Davis and perhaps Charles Cooke, if he returns from injury. That difference in experience concerns Kellogg.
“The thing that’s given us problems is going against more mature guards,” he said. “Especially at the point spot. We’re going to have to play really really well to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Injury update: Rhode Island forward Hassan Martin sat out the last eight-plus minutes in a 67-64 loss to Dayton on Friday. Coach Dan Hurley said Monday there was no further injury to the quadriceps muscle that caused him to miss five games.
“He’s completely healed from the injury,” Hurley said. “It’s just one of those things. He’s such a powerfully built guy that relies a lot on his legs and athleticism and power. He was just flat and just kind of dead in the Dayton game. The body just didn’t respond and didn’t recover from the 20-minute output in the St. Joe’s game.”
Big difference: Hurley pointed to his team's turnover total as the biggest reason for the loss to the Flyers.
“The difference in the game was our lack of ball security,” Hurley said. “I loved the 19 assists, but hated the 18 turnovers, which led to run-outs and transition opportunities.”
Lost season: Saint Joseph's lost junior guard Shavar Newkirk for the season with a torn ACL. He suffered the injury Dec. 30 in the team's A-10 opener against George Washington. Newkirk was leading the team with 20.3 points per game.
Strong start: Richmond is 3-0 in the A-10 for the first time since joining the conference in 2001. The Spiders won 77-70 at George Washington on Sunday. They opened A-10 play with an 82-80 victory at Davidson. They then beat Fordham 80-72.
Freshman guard De’Monte Buckingham averaged 19 points in two victories last week and was named A-10 Rookie of the Week.
“We certainly feel good about how we played in Washington, D.C.,” coach Chris Mooney said. “Probably the biggest stat for us was we were even in the rebounding department against a very good rebounding team. It’s a good stat for us. We really passed the ball well and played together and had a big lead and probably could have done some things better as they came back, but I was really pleased with the entire game and that we were able to finish off a road win.”
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