Game Recap: UMASS

X escaped with victory Saturday afternoon at Cintas Center. The Minutemen kept it interesting all the way down to a final tip. 82-80 was the final with the trio of Anderson, Brown, and Raymond having 64 of those points for the Muskies. And we needed all of three of them to be on because we surrendered 23 turnovers that gave UMASS 36 points. Way TOO MANY turnovers. Unfortunately 'Tutu' hurt his ankle and we probably won't learn the full extent until Coach Miller's show on Monday night. We need the kid because he gives us a bonafide option at point guard for a good run in March. This is starting to feel like 'deja vu all over again' with the Lavender injury last year. Overall I thought Dante' played poorly and Redford has now gone three games without scoring.

UMASS is an enigma. They seem to play up to their level of comp. We were lucky that Tony Gaffney didn't hit a tip off Lowe's missed free throw at the end. Not sure we could have survived overtime with these guys. Overall if Gaffney would have brought his 'A' game this could be a different story. But it's not and the X men now sit at 19-2 overall and 7-0 in the A10.

Temple is coming to town Thursday night in what will be one tough matchup. They are very skilled and very long on the perimeter. X will need to take better care of the ball (duh!) to beat this team. They added a point guard named Fernandez at the winter break who compliments them very well. The Owls are well coached and remain in the top 50 of the RPI. A win on the road against the Musketeers would make them bubble worthy.