UMass point guard Chaz Williams, the team’s leading scorer (16.0) and the Atlantic 10 assist leader (6.3), was 2-for-12 from the field and finished with 11 points and three assists. He was coming off a 29-point, nine-assist game against Xavier.
“It starts with our ability to pressure the ball. It starts early on,” Miller said. “When a team comes into your building and crosses half-court, what are you telling them by the way you’re playing? I feel like our ball pressure is up. I feel like our ball-screen defense is much, much better and our way to impact these guards has changed.”
UMass coach Derek Kellogg thought Williams’ off night was a factor in the outcome.
“Chaz wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, honestly,” he said. “I thought it was a combination of their defense and him not being as good as he’s been.”
But Kellogg was impressed with the Flyers, who forced the Minutemen into 4-for-17 shooting on 3-pointers.
Since allowing Duquesne to make 12-of-23 threes in a loss on Feb. 1, UD has limited opponents to 24-of-111 from long range (21.6 percent) in the last six games. Before that, foes were shooting 36.6 percent.
“I thought in the second half, we battled to a point and got it to six at one time,” Kellogg said. “And from that point, they totally dominated the game. It looked like a team that’s an NCAA tournament-level team.”
Heating up: UD senior forward Luke Fabrizius made three straight 3-pointers and scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He was 5-for-24 from the field in the previous five games, scoring 16 points. He played a season-low six minutes at Duquesne on Wednesday after losing his starting spot, attempting one shot.
He was in the game because his replacement, Devin “D-MO” Oliver, picked up two fouls in the first 5:10.
“I give credit to my teammates, telling me to stick with it,” Fabrizius said of battling through his mini-slump. “Going through it the last couple years, you see everyone has a stretch when they struggle. You’ve got to stay with it.”
Asked about losing his starting spot, Fabrizius said: “It doesn’t bother me. D-MO is playing great. He deserves it. He’s had a great last couple games and a great last couple weeks in practice. I’m completely fine with it.”
Nothing easy: UMass was first in the A-10 in scoring at 76.4 points per game and had been held below 60 just once, scoring 53 against Florida State in a 20-point loss.
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