UMass coach Derek Kellogg still confident, says Minutemen playing some of their best basketball
University of Massachusetts basketball coach Derek Kellogg has said all season that he wants his team to be hitting its stride as the calendar flips over to March. With the month of college basketball madness finally here, Kellogg feels like UMass is close to doing that.
"I think if you look at it, we are probably playing our best basketball," Kellogg said Wednesday. "We've been in just about about every game and, a few plays notwithstanding, we're competitive right now every night out. We've just got to finish out a few of these games."
After a painful 7-game losing streak in January, the Minutemen bounced back with a 4-4 record in February, highlighted by an upset win at home over first-place VCU. That might not sound like much, but for a team that's battled to stay out of the Atlantic 10 Conference's bottom four seedings, it's been a big help.
That record would be 5-3 had a last-second, game-winning 3-pointer not been waved off at St. Bonaventure last time out. Even so, Kellogg's seen enough out of that game and others to believe his players are competing at a high enough level to be a potentially dangerous team at the A-10 tournament in Brooklyn next week.
"I'm confident. I've been confident about this team for a little while now," he said. "Since we've gotten things moving in the right direction and had everybody healthy, I think we've done some good things. We haven't done everything correct and haven't done everything perfectly, obviously, but the guys feel confident. That's more important than how I feel."
What kind of success UMass has, he said, will be determined on how well all the team's pieces can come together at the right time.
"It's going to be imperative that guys like Rashaan (Holloway) come along and Seth (Berger) plays well and even C.J. (Anderson) plays up to his capabilities. And I think Zach (Coleman) staying healthy and out of foul trouble should help," Kellogg said. "We don't have a ton of room to maneuver, but there's definitely a window of opportunity over the next couple games and into the tournament."
--UMass beat writer Daniel_Malone
University of Massachusetts basketball coach Derek Kellogg has said all season that he wants his team to be hitting its stride as the calendar flips over to March. With the month of college basketball madness finally here, Kellogg feels like UMass is close to doing that.
"I think if you look at it, we are probably playing our best basketball," Kellogg said Wednesday. "We've been in just about about every game and, a few plays notwithstanding, we're competitive right now every night out. We've just got to finish out a few of these games."
After a painful 7-game losing streak in January, the Minutemen bounced back with a 4-4 record in February, highlighted by an upset win at home over first-place VCU. That might not sound like much, but for a team that's battled to stay out of the Atlantic 10 Conference's bottom four seedings, it's been a big help.
That record would be 5-3 had a last-second, game-winning 3-pointer not been waved off at St. Bonaventure last time out. Even so, Kellogg's seen enough out of that game and others to believe his players are competing at a high enough level to be a potentially dangerous team at the A-10 tournament in Brooklyn next week.
"I'm confident. I've been confident about this team for a little while now," he said. "Since we've gotten things moving in the right direction and had everybody healthy, I think we've done some good things. We haven't done everything correct and haven't done everything perfectly, obviously, but the guys feel confident. That's more important than how I feel."
What kind of success UMass has, he said, will be determined on how well all the team's pieces can come together at the right time.
"It's going to be imperative that guys like Rashaan (Holloway) come along and Seth (Berger) plays well and even C.J. (Anderson) plays up to his capabilities. And I think Zach (Coleman) staying healthy and out of foul trouble should help," Kellogg said. "We don't have a ton of room to maneuver, but there's definitely a window of opportunity over the next couple games and into the tournament."
--UMass beat writer Daniel_Malone
