Turnovers Prove Costly as Men’s Basketball Falls at UMass

Photo credit: GW men’s basketball

By Scott Greaney (@ScottGreaney_)

In a game that was tied 31-31 at halftime, men’s basketball lost to UMass, 81-67, courtesy of a 17-0 second-half run from UMass. Saturday’s 67-point performance matches the Revolutionaries’ lowest-scoring game of the season. 

Coming into Saturday’s matinee, both teams seemed to be heading in opposite directions. The Revolutionaries (14-4, 3-2 A-10) entered the Mullins Center on a three-game winning streak looking to pick up their second straight conference road win. UMass (12-6, 3-3 A-10) returned home on a two-game skid, including a March Madness-esque heartbreaker against Loyola Chicago.

The first half was a gritty, physical dogfight as the largest lead of the half for either team was four. Both teams struggled to shoot the ball, especially from deep, as both teams shot under 40% in the first half. The Revolutionaries found themselves in a fortunate position to head into halftime tied up despite coughing up seven turnovers. 

“I thought, in the first half, we played exactly the way we wanted to play,” GW head coach Chris Caputo said. “We limited them on the glass, I thought we got great looks, we shared the ball, we just missed some shots and a couple of costly turnovers. But going into halftime, I felt like the game was going in a way that I think we could predict, and we would hope a team that had shot the ball as well as we had would make a few in the second half.”

Coming out of halftime, GW knocked down their first two shots, which initially signaled brighter things to come. However, following the 19:16 mark, the Revolutionaries would turn the ball over on three straight possessions, leading to a cold spell lasting just under six minutes in which they gave up 17 unanswered points. This stretch drastically swung the momentum away from GW, effectively deciding the contest. The Revolutionaries found themselves unable to take care of the ball and establish any sort of rhythm on offense.  

“We are working towards trying to take care of the ball better…We’ve gotten better on the defensive glass, but the turnover battle is something that we fight every single day,” Caputo said. “We turn it over in transition a lot, it’s kind of odd, but we’ve got to continue to make better decisions.”

Despite a disappointing showing from the team, there are a few bright spots when looking at the box score. Redshirt sophomore wing Maximus Edwards notched his fourth double-double of the season despite battling foul trouble for most of the second half. The dazzling redshirt freshman duo of forwards Darren Buchanan Jr. and Garrett Johnson continued to shine, as they combined for 31 points and 11 rebounds while both shooting over 50% from the field. However, if GW is going to be a threat on the road, they are going to need a stronger performance from star veteran James Bishop IV. Equally important, they cannot afford to have 15 turnovers and give up 19 points off turnovers. 

GW will have a chance to bounce back Wednesday night as they will travel down to Richmond to face a tough team in the Spiders, who are currently riding a seven-game winning streak and are tied for first place in the A-10. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm and the game can be streamed on ESPN+ and WRGW.